Rhododendron fortunei is flowering now in the valley below the Pagoda

They are spectacular plants that seem to build up phytophthora in their systems year after year until they....you know, die. Carmen, a new volunteer, and I broke off dead branches today. I have had luck with native rhodies by just constantly removing the dead wood. Reinfection occurs from the already diseased sections so my plan is to reduce the amount of inoculum...we'll look next year and see how we did!