Tips For Planting Azaleas Perfectly
 Azaleas are a flowering plant with a lot of panache. They put off an impressive show, and if done right, will continue to do so for years to come. However, like any plant, you need to give them a good start for good results. Planting them in the proper spot, giving them the right amount of water and food and providing the appropriate maintenance will help you have perfect azaleas. Following is a guide to ensuring the success of this beautiful flowering shrub.
Most azaleas are store bought. When choosing the azalea in the store, be sure to choose a plant that has green leaves and lots of flower buds. If the plant is at all weepy or the leaves are limp, this plant will probably not do well and may be diseased. A good choice will produce a rewarding plant.
When you are ready to plant your azalea, you must first prepare the soil. Azaleas prefer an acidic soil and need to have good drainage. Therefore you must loosen the soil that it will be planted in about six to eight inches down. Also, be sure to test the acidity of the soil and adjust it accordingly. When creating the hole that it will be planted in, be sure to give it just enough room so that the root ball will be even or just above the earth. If planting more than one bush, be sure to space them with a few feet between to give the roots ample room to spread.
Azaleas prefer to be fertilized after they've had a chance to establish their roots. When the plant has successfully been put in the ground, water it thoroughly; about five to ten minutes with a garden hose, but do not fertilize. When it's been in the ground for a week or two and it's obvious that it's taking root and flourishing well, then fertilize and water regularly. When there's very little precipitation outside, water with a garden hose daily for five to ten minutes.
In the fall, prune the bush back to promote new and full growth for the following spring. Be sure to allow for fresh spring growth when pruning. The second growing season tends to have small amounts of growth, but in the third and thereafter the plant will really take off. Keep that in mind when pruning. Be sure there's enough room for growth above the ground as well as below.
Lee Dobbins writes for Backyard Garden and Patio where you can learn more about gardening and get tips on flower planting.
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Growing and Caring for Rhododendrons and Azaleas
Azaleas can be either evergreen or
deciduous. Deciduous Azaleas are known as Mollis or Exbury Azaleas. They bloom
in the early spring with vivid orange and yellow colors. They can be grown from
seed if the seeds are collected in the fall and sown on top of moist peat at
about 70 degrees F.
Evergreen Azaleas are known as
broadleaf evergreens because they are do not have needles. They bloom later in
the spring, and are usually propagated in the fall over bottom heat,
discussed in detail at http://www.freeplants.com Rhododendrons are
also broadleaf evergreens and are also propagated over bottom heat in early
winter.
The best time to prune
Rhododendrons and Azaleas is in the spring right after they bloom. These plants
start setting next year's flower buds over the summer, so late pruning will cost
you some blooms next year, so get them pruned as soon as they finish blooming.
It’s also a good idea to pick off the spent blooms so the plants don’t expel a
lot of energy making seeds, unless of course you’d like to grow them from seed.
But keep in mind that they don’t come true from seed.
Seeds from a red
Rhododendron are likely to flower pale lavender. Cuttings ensure a duplicate of
the parent plant.
How do you prune
Rhododendrons and what does pinching a Rhododendron mean? These are frequently
asked questions.
Pinching is a low
impact form of pruning that is very effective for creating nice, tight full
plants when you are growing small plants from seeds or cuttings. Typically a
Rhododendron forms a single new bud at the tip of each branch. This new bud will
develop into another new branch, another bud will form and the process will
continue. If left alone this will produce a very lanky plant with a lot of space
between the branches forming a very unattractive plant.
So if you are starting
with a plant that is nothing more than a rooted cutting all you have to do is
pinch off this new growth bud as soon as it is about 3/8” long. Just grab it
between your fingers and snap it completely off. When you do this the plant
usually responds by replacing that single bud with two, three, or even four new
buds in a cluster around the bud that you pinched off. Each one of these buds
will develop into branches and eventually a single bud will appear at the tip of
each of these branches, and of course you should come along and pinch each one
of those off, forcing the plant to produce multiple buds at the end of each of
these branches.
The more often you
pinch off these single buds, the more branches the plant will form, making a
nice, tight, full plant. This is especially helpful with young plants such as
rooted cuttings or young seedlings.
But what about larger
plants, how do I prune them? I prune mine with hedge shears!!! I just have at it
and trim them like I would a Taxus or a Juniper, and guess what? The result is a
very tight compact plant loaded with beautiful flowers. My Rhododendrons are so
tightly branched that you can not see through them, and that is the result of
vigorous pruning with hedge shears. Sure you can use hand shears, and you’ll
have a nicer plant because of it, but I just use the hedge shears because that’s
the tool that I happen to have in my hand as I am going by.
Keeping Rhododendrons
and Azaleas healthy and happy is a simple as understanding what they like. First
of all they like to grow in a climate that suites their tastes. Many varieties
of both don’t like it in the north, and to prove the point they will up and die
as soon as extreme cold weather hits. Buy plants that are known to be hardy in
your area.
Here in zone 5
(northern Ohio) the following Azaleas seem to do well. Hino Crimson (red),
Stewartstonia (red), Herbert (lavender), Cascade (white), Delaware Valley
(white), and Rosebud (pink). Hardy Rhododendrons include Roseum Elegans (pinkish
lavender), English Roseum (pinkish lavender), Nova Zembla (red), Lee’s Dark
Purple, Chinoides (white), and Cunningham’s (white).
How should you
fertilize Rhododendrons and Azaleas? These broadleaf evergreens are laid back
and like to take it slow and easy. Do not fertilize them with quick release
nitrogen fertilizers, it could kill them. Instead give them an organic snack,
like Millorganite or well rotted cow manure or compost. Millorganite is an
organic fertilizer made of granulated sewage sludge.
No it doesn’t smell any
worse than other fertilizers, and plants like it because it is plant and soil
friendly. It won’t burn the plants, and it actually reactivates the
micro-organisms in the soil. That’s a good thing. Most full service garden
centers carry Millorganite.
A long time ago
somebody let the word out that Rhododendrons are acid loving plants, and people
are always asking me if I think their struggling Rhododendron needs more acid.
The answer is no. Your struggling Rhododendron probably needs a great big gulp
of oxygen around its root system.
Rhododendrons do not
like wet feet. They don’t even like high humidity let alone wet soil around
their roots. They like to be high and dry, and like an unobstructed flow of
oxygen to their roots. You can accomplish this by planting them in a bed raised
at least 10” with good rich topsoil. They will be smiling from branch to
branch.
A few years back my
friend Larry and I had several hundred small Rhododendrons that we were going to
grow on to larger plants. We planted most of them in Larry’s backyard which is
fairly good soil, but a little sticky. We didn’t have room for all of them so we
planted the last 105 down the road from my house in a field we were renting.
(Never heard of anybody renting a field? You should get out more.)
This location had
absolutely no water for irrigating and the soil was very dry and rocky. Other
plants at that location often struggled during the dog days of summer due to the
lack of water, but those Rhododendrons were as happy as pigs in mud. They
outgrew the ones at Larry’s house by twice the rate and we sold them years
earlier than the others.
My point? Rhododendrons
don’t like wet feet. They do well in the shade, but contrary to popular belief
they do even better in full sunlight.
Michael J. McGroarty is
the author of this article. Visit his most interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for
his excellent gardening newsletter. Article provided by http://gardening-articles.com.
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