Rhododendrons are real showstoppers in the yard. When in bloom, the large bushes are covered in colorful, ball-like clusters of bell-shaped flowers. Most varieties are evergreens, and will retain their glossy, dark green leaves through bitter winters.
It is these leaves that have earned them the nickname of nature’s thermometers. The leaves are thermotropic – the colder it gets, the more they protectively curl and roll up, unfurling once the weather warms up again. Their reaction to changes in weather are an accurate gauge of just how low the temperature has dropped.
