Azaelia assistance please

The best time to prune Azaleas is just after they've finished blooming, so now's your chance FC. Don't go berserk with it but give it a tidy up and it will soon replace gaps with new foliage.

 

Hi Sheal, I have a very large one in the garden so this information has been really helpful also, I have one good size potted ready to go into the ground and 3 small ones (bargains in good health) once planted should I do the same to them? Hopefully they will have their place tomorrow

 

Hi FC. It's a Rhodo (Azalea leaves tend to be much smaller) and can be dead headed now. Have a look here. Just pinch out the spent flower heads with your fingers, being careful not to damage the new leaves which sit just underneath the flower head.

You can give it a trim now to tidy it up a bit - I'd cut the taller bits by the fence down to the same height to give it a bit more of a rounded shape on top which should remove some of the dead bits and disguise the others. Give it a liquid ericaceous feed or a liquid seaweed feed and a good mulch and keep watered and those new leaves will soon bush out and hide the baldy bits.

@Apple Blossom they don't normally require much pruning apart from shaping if they get a bit leggy.

 

I didn't think about the fact it's a Rhodo but the treatment is the same. Merleworld is the expert for Rhododendrons and Azaleas, not me.

 

Not an expert Sheal. Just have lots of them

 

Ditto! I'd just add to the mix that when at Glendoick (fantastic garden started by the Cox family who were/are still world renowned for their Rhododendron and Azaleas many of which were originally discovered and brought back from China etc and they have cross bred)a couple of years ago I noticed a large elderly group of Rhododendron which had been pruned almost to the ground....that's why I noticed it as was severe. I visited the garden again this year as , hmm they have a LARGE garden centre and I have been known to break my bank account there! To my great surprise the severely pruned group had put on a huge amount of growth and was flowering very well. So if you don't mind waiting a couple of years you can rescue very overgrown Rhododendrons by severe pruning. I have a Luteum Azalea which had got very leggy. I pruned it to within about 2 ft of the ground and it's come back very well with no feeding but I do tend to mulch a lot to preserve moisture. Photo is of the Azalea about 3 weeks ago.