Azalea Help Please

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone can help me, I guess I need general tips. I've planted several azaleas in my front and back gardens, and they've never thrived, and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I have acidic soil (Magnolias, Camelias and Rhododendrons all grow well, can't grow Thyme, etc), and have tried them in both the rear garden (very exposed, north facing) and front garden (south facing, well sheltered). The ones in the back garden very slowly lost leaves until nothing was left, and the one in the front just never grew in the three years it was there. I think a storm the other night has killed it now though, there's about a twig's worth left, with a couple of sad looking leaves.

In all cases I started with small, cheap plants, either from eBay or the supermarket, but I normally manage fine with that sort of thing.

I'm in the Midlands, so not normally excessively cold, but it can be quite windy as I'm on a hill.

Maybe there's something obvious I'm missing? Do I need to buy bigger ones to start with? My parents have a beautiful Azalea which turns into a stunning pink carpet every spring, and I'm desperate to emulate it! Any variety recommendations would be welcome too.

Thanks!

Matt.

 

Thanks. I'll take a look. I have used tap water, I didn't know that was bad.

 

Can you post pics? It would be useful to know what types of Azalea you have. Some of the ones you get from local supermarkets are not particularly hardy in our climate.

 

Sorry to hijack this thread, thought id post it here rather than making a new one so apologies!

But i've just bought an Azalea (Purple) from Homebase & just wondering the best way to look after it?

As mentioned in other threads im a complete newbie so no idea whether i have acidic soil or what! I've kept it in it's pot and will place it in an area of sunlight but not sure what I should be doing in terms of watering...

I see on this thread that Tap Water is bad - as a general rule I always thought tap water was okay for plants - so my next question is, what should i be using instead of tap water then?

here is a picture of what i've bought, any advice on whether i should keep it in the pot also.

 

As Merlewood suggested some photos would be good Matt K. You don't say whether your Azaleas are deciduous or evergreen varieties. My guess is that they are evergreen and as such are not that hardy and can be extremely difficult unless you give them ideal growing conditions. They don't like it cold, they don't like full sun, they do like plenty of moisture but don't like poor drainage. Best probably grown in pure peat beds and certain varieties are a lot easier than others. I have a few but to be honest they are only here because they were here when we bought the house. Personally I think the majority of evergreen Azaleas are best suited as house plants, you can find gorgeous deciduous Azaleas which are pretty easy given reasonable acidic growing conditions and they often give a wonderful autumn display of leaf colour. only snag is that most deciduous Azaleas are much bigger than evergreen ones.

Hi Grant 1992, your Azalea looks like a deciduous 1 to me, Living in Dumfries it's extremely unlikely that you will be in a limey area so no real problems with your purchase! Tap water should be fine in your area too. I'd plant your purchase in a fairly sunny spot. A good dose of peat in the planting hole would help matters. Just make sure that for it's 1st year you don't let the plant get dry. A mulch of bark chip would also help keeping the plant moist.

 

Thanks for getting back to me, It's actually an Evergreen type according to the little card that came with it, I have plenty of Multi-Purpose compost, do you know if the PH levels of that is okay for this? or should i go ahead & buy proper Ericaceous soil as it will be in a large pot in my garden thanks for the tips!

Also, am i okay to leave it in its pot & place that in a large clay pot, or should i carefully take it out & place it in the bigger pot itself?

 

Hmmm doesn't look like an evergreen type to me but I maybe wrong! Only been gardening for a good 40 years . Anyway I would give the multi purpose a miss as it will probably contain some sort of lime. I'd buy peat rather than Ericaceous compost, cheaper and just as effective. The majority of lime hating plants really don't need much feeding at all, soil structure and moisture being much more important than grub. Definitely take it out of it's current pot and repot in the bigger clay one. Hope the clay pot is very much bigger otherwise you will have to water a lot in periods of drought. Unless it's not possible I would plant in your garden rather than in a pot purely because of the watering situation. Obviously a pot is a foreign environment for plants like Azaleas. Hope your new plant does well for you.

 

Matt - I've got a couple of evergreen Azalea and have found them to be generally quite tough, although they do like more sun than Rhodos and don't need as much water. If, however, they are Azalea Simsii which are quite often sold in supermarkets, then they are generally too tender for our climate (although I do have one which I have had outside for several years and it's doing okay in a sheltered position). As I said, photos would be useful.

I always use tap water on my Rhodos and have never had any problems, but then I live in Manchester where it rains a lot and we have the benefit of soft water. If you have a water butt you can use that to water it when necessary.

Grant - If you are going to put it in a pot use some ericaceous compost and keep it in a semi-shaded position for now (take it out of the plastic pot as it's likely the roots have filled the plastic pot and put it in the larger pot, with something in the bottom to aid drainage). If it's going in the ground then mix in some ericaceous with the soil when planting. Can you show us a pic of the label? It does look more like a deciduous Azalea from that pic but if you can take a photo of the leaves close up it would help.

 

If im putting it into a claypot, what sort of things can i do to aid drainage, and also looked on YouTube and i see people tying their trees down when putting them into pots, as wind damages the roots of the tree, is this really necesssary?

Pictures below:

 

It does look like an evergreen Azalea, just hasn't got many leaves for some reason (they can lose some leaves in winter).

You won't need to tie it down - I would imagine that's only really necessary for taller plants rather than low growing ones.

For drainage you can either use stones/gravel, broken pots or (as I do) pieces of polystyrene.

 

Would i need to put holes at the bottom of the pot even though id have polystyrene in it? Incase it gets waterlogged with a downpour

 

I stand corrected and the close-up makes it obvious it is the evergreen variety. Any pot you intend to use will need holes in the bottom of it. Very few plants like their roots sitting in water apart maybe from aquatic ones. Good luck with the Azalea. Hopefully if you are fairly near the sea you won't get really cold weather and the Azalea will flourish.

 

I popped back into Homebase earlier, and noticed they had a new batch of Azaleas that had already flowered, how come they have flowered already and mine hasn't? If Gravel is placed in the bottom of the pot, does it still need holes in the pot?

Pretty sure the big pots i have outside dont have holes, will need to double check tomorrow.