Plant ID please.

Grays

Hi everyone,
Could anyone help with identifying this plant that we have had in a pot for maybe 3 or 4 years now? For some reason it struggles to flower, hopefully this year the pink flowers that are slowly appearing will cover it.
There is also some leaf damage, that I have tried to show in one of the photos, any idea what is causing this?

Many thanks.

Hostafan1

looks like a dwarf rhododendron with leaf cutter bee damage

Papi Jo

Agree with @philippa smith2 rhodos are not meant to live in pots.

Grays

Thanks for the replies, I will have to try find a place for it somewhere in the garden.

Regarding the leaves, any idea how to improve or stop what is happening to it?

punkdoc

If you are planting it out, they need acidic soil and partial shade.

BobTheGardener

The holes on the edges of the leaves could have been caused by adult vine weevils.  Those lay their eggs in the soil and then hatch into white C-shaped grubs which eat the roots.  Because vw much prefer laying their eggs in pots rather than the soil (where there are natural predators), planting it out will probably alleviate the issue, especially if you wash all of the old potting compost from the roots just before you plant it.  As pd says, they do need acidic soil though, so if yours is alkaline, you would be better off repotting it into a larger pot using ericaceous compost (but still wash the old stuff off with cold water as a precaution against possible vw eggs/grubs.)

Grays

BobTheGardener said:

The holes on the edges of the leaves could have been caused by adult vine weevils.  Those lay their eggs in the soil and then hatch into white C-shaped grubs which eat the roots.  Because vw much prefer laying their eggs in pots rather than the soil (where there are natural predators), planting it out will probably alleviate the issue, especially if you wash all of the old potting compost from the roots just before you plant it.  As pd says, they do need acidic soil though, so if yours is alkaline, you would be better off repotting it into a larger pot using ericaceous compost (but still wash the old stuff off with cold water as a precaution against possible vw eggs/grubs.)

Thank you Bob.
Excuse my ignorance, I am still a novice at gardening, but I am taking a keen interest lately...... but how do I find out what kind of soil I have in the garden?

Thanks again.

BobTheGardener

Have a look at the soilscapes website which will tell you what your general area is like by zooming in to your location.  Click 'Legend' on the right and it'll show what the colours mean:

http://www.landis.org.uk/soilscapes/

Grays

Thanks Bob,
This is what the site said about the soil in my area -Slowly permeable seasonally wet slightly acid but base-rich loamy and clayey soils.

So, "slightly acidic" - would this be suitable to plant it out in the garden?
Struggling to find a place at the moment, so may go buy a bigger pot tomorrow and the compost type you mention, is that a "common" type of compost btw? I have some in the garage so will check to see if it is suitable.

Thanks again.

Fairygirl

Neutral soil is fine for rhodies. They just don't like alkaline soil.
If you don't have room for it to planted in the ground, you can keep it in a bigger pot, but don't use compost alone, as it needs more substance. If you get a mix of soil and compost that will be fine.
You may need to do  a bit of pruning each year or two to keep it happy. That's best done immediately after flowering, to give the shrub a chance to put on growth and prepare for the following year's flowers.

Grays

Fairygirl said:

Neutral soil is fine for rhodies. They just don't like alkaline soil.
If you don't have room for it to planted in the ground, you can keep it in a bigger pot, but don't use compost alone, as it needs more substance. If you get a mix of soil and compost that will be fine.
You may need to do  a bit of pruning each year or two to keep it happy. That's best done immediately after flowering, to give the shrub a chance to put on growth and prepare for the following year's flowers.

Thanks for the advice.