Rhododendron siimsii

[BendandBreak]

Hi

Can anyone help with my rhododendron please?
Photos attached!

I got it as a gift 😕 in a double pot, and didn't realise initially that I was over watering it and it was sitting in too much water.
I have now let it dry out as the short roots don't like to be saturated apparently. But it doesn't seem to be recovering.
I've given very small amounts of water but the whole lot seems to pour straight through :(

Also I've read it doesn't like lime in the water- I am in a very hard water area, do you think this is the problem?
And do you think I could put it in the garden for the rain to look after it?

Feeling very disappointed that I've killed it off!

Thank you to any experts who might be out there and can offer advice

It needs to be outside in partial shade and ideally water it using rain water. You could also try repotting it with ericaceous compost, or if you have acidic soil you can put it in the ground, it doesn't look too far gone so should recover!

It will wither indoors, you need to plant it out and leave it alone.

The effect of hard water is that the calcium stops it taking up nutrients, so if it's being affected by that the leaves start going yellow. Yours seems OK on that front so far. But do change to rain water.

If any leaves are actually dead, remove them - this is for your benefit rather that the plant's. I think it's had a set-back but you should be able to nurse it back. This link has some useful advice basically, bigger pot, soak root ball for half an hour (by putting pot in a bowl) whenever you water. Don't over-water but don't let it get bone dry. Don't keep it in full sun.

Hey, thanks for all these replies and suggestions, I will plant it outside tomorrow and see how it gets on!