Rhododendron ‘Orange Flirt’

A compact hardy shrub with flowers that are chubbily pink in bud but open to a dazzling, mottled pinky orange. This one is broader than it is tall, growing eventually to around 1 x 1.25 metres.

Being small(ish) yet mighty, one of the best aspects of this rhododendron is its compactness of form while still managing to produce grown-up-sized trusses of blooms. That’s quite rare among this group of glossy-leaved shrubs and we definitely recommend this one. Big pompoms of wavy-edged flowers pop out of fat pink buds in spring, and their colour romps through almost all the orange spectrums, from apricot to marmalade to salmon. Delicious to look at. The leaves of ‘Orange Flirt’ are typically rhododendron-like with a crisp central fold and a nice dark shiny green to their upper sides, paler below. Good for a mixed planting of evergreen shrubs and trees of varying heights, the broad-but-low habit of this one creates a very pleasant rolling mass of expansive green in a garden design, and it’s one which you can let tumble right to the front. If you’re on chalk you can still flirt with these: just pop one in a big planter.  

Best positioned in dappled shade in acid soil which is moist but free draining

N.B. When clipping several plants with the same tool, have a bucket containing a 5% bleach solution and swish your blades around for 30 seconds between plants to sterilise them. This will help avoid the chance of cross contamination of disease.

As with all woody plants, plant high, exposing as much of the taper at the base of the trunk as possible. Allowing soil to accumulate round the base of a tree can be fatal. Keep very well watered when first planted.