Low temperature is a major abiotic stress that limits the growth, spread, and ornamental value of evergreen shrubs. Rhododendron yedoense var. poukhanense is an important evergreen ornamental shrub from Northeast China. It often suffers winter damage when temperatures fall below freezing. Past work has shown that exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) can help plants tolerate cold better. But we still do not understand how ABA protects evergreen shrubs at subzero temperatures. And this is especially true for non-model species that lack full genome data.