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Key characteristics

Family: Ericaceae
Height: 2 to 4 ft
Width: 3 to 4 ft
Flower color: Bright cherry-red to deep red flowers
Foliage color: Glossy, dark green evergreen leaves with rusty colored undersides
Bloom time: Early to mid spring
Light: Part shade to part sun
Water: Consistently moist
Maintenance: Low to moderate; remove spent flowers after bloom; light pruning only if needed for shape
Growing zone: USDA zones 6 to 9
Wildlife: Spring blooms attract bees and other pollinators; evergreen foliage provides shelter and cover for birds and small wildlife

Shrubs

Rhododendron 'Cherries and Merlot'

Cherries and Merlot Rhododendron

Rhododendron 'Cherries and Merlot' is a compact evergreen shrub with glossy dark green leaves and copper-colored undersides that show when branches move or are planted above eye level. In early to mid spring, trusses of funnel-shaped flowers open cherry red, with wavy lobes, a few dark spots on the upper petal, and pale stamens.

Bred by Frank Fujioka on Whidbey Island, Washington, this hybrid, with its dense mounded habit, colored leaf undersides and red spring bloom, is well suited to banks, raised beds, and mixed rhododendron borders where foliage and flowers can be enjoyed up close.

Light

Part shade to part sun

Water

Consistently moist

Bloom time

Early to mid spring

Find this plant

Works well in

Shade Gardens
Containers
Borders
Slopes & Banks

Companion plants

Sarcococca · Rodgersia · Cyclamen · Fatsia · Lungwort · Primrose

Design tip

Grow ‘Cherries and Merlot’ on a raised bed or slope where its coppery leaf undersides become more visible from below. Its dense, mounded form can define the front of a shrub grouping while keeping taller companions from obscuring this distinctive foliage.