Rhododendrons: Woodland Trust urges gardeners to steer clear of popular plant which 'destroys native wildlife'

A conservation charity is urging green-thumbed Brits to forgo planting rhododendrons in their gardens, in a bid to stop the spread of a deadly tree disease - and protect native wildlife.

The medium to large evergreen shrubs - which also go by their scientific name Rhododendron ponticum - are popular for their attractive clusters of brightly-coloured flowers, which appear throughout May and June. But the Woodland Trust says it alone spent £360,000 over the past year on invasive plant control, including removing rhododendrons, which spread fast and crowd out other plants - and have notoriously difficult to remove roots.

The plant is capable of wiping out huge swathes of native woodlands, the Trust continued, and is particularly dangerous for Britain’s rare temperate rainforests. Imported rhododendrons also frequently carry a deadly plant disease called Phytophthora ramorum, which can be fatal to more than 150 other plant species. In the UK, attempts to control this disease has resulted in large scale felling of larch plantations, which harms the domestic timber industry too.

Woodland Trust tree disease expert Rebecca Gosling said that more needed to be done to tackle the threat rhododendrons pose, including action from the government. “Rhododendron ponticum is a real problem for the UK’s native plants and trees. It is choking native woodland and shading out characteristic plants, including in important temperate rainforests, which cover just 1% of land in the UK.

“Action must be taken to protect further species and habitats from the same fate,” she continued. Increased trade and the growing impacts of climate change were increasing the likelihood of new species being introduced, she continued, one of the top five drivers of biodiversity decline.

The Trust is calling on the government to start treating invasive non-native species as a priority issue, and to increase its funding in this area. “A failure to get a grip on these, and the pressure this places on struggling wildlife populations, will also make it harder to meet nature recovery targets and halt the decline in species abundance by 2030,” Ms Gosling added.

The public can also help by not buying or planting rhododendron ponticum in their gardens, the charity added, or perhaps considering a native tree instead. Rhododendrons are able to spread from gardens via seed dispersal - but overgrown plants are also able to grow roots anywhere their branches touch the ground.

Amber Allott is NationalWorld’s environment and sustainability specialist, covering all things green - from climate to conservation. If you liked this article you can follow Amber on X (Twitter) here and sign up for the free daily NationalWorld Today newsletter here - with Amber bringing you the UK's most important, pressing, weird and wonderful environmental stories every Tuesday.