I took a picture of my sad rhodeodendron to MGC and they told me to feed it Holytone. I did last year and it flowered a little. I repeated this year (with more) and it's gorgeous.

Rhodies form those buds early and they might have been cold damaged. Also, look into 'Bud Blast', a fungal disease.

so, we moved in november and have a giant rhododendron in our yard and i have been waiting for it to bloom and nothing is happening. its budding and it has green leaves (but is a little sparse - deer got to it in the winter, but now we have a deer fence). some of the buds seem to have opened and are dried up/brown but i never saw a flower ever, so ithink they are opening to brown and wither. thoughts?