Clear pale yellow flowers with frilly edges open in abundance against deep green foliage, and yellow is scarce in a rhododendron this cold hardy. Rhododendron 'Capistrano' grows 6 to 8 feet tall and wide in part shade, hardy from Zone 5 through Zone 8.
At six to eight feet in both directions this is a screening shrub or a back-of-border plant.
The large-leaf rhododendrons hold their foliage year-round rather than thinning like the small-leaved types. Below about 25 degrees the leaves droop and curl up, curling tighter the colder it gets, and they open again within hours once temperatures rise. It looks alarming the first winter and it is entirely normal, a water-conserving response rather than a sign of trouble.
Acidic soil is necessary, roughly pH 4.5 to 6.0, with good drainage and steady moisture. Mulch the shallow roots.