Amazing Azalea

I met this girl about four years ago. And, like so many mature azaleas (and other shrubs) which have had little attention, she had some issues. As beautiful as they can be, azaleas can be their worst enemy as every branch aggressively competes for sunlight and may cause harm to or beat out others, resulting in dead or awkwardly shaped (diverted growth path) branches. Hey, they all want to survive, grow and get in on the reproduction of the overall plant.

This one, because of the path of the sun, proximity to the home and nearby tree foliage was only getting sun light for a few hours from, more or less, directly above. Because it was not thinned out often enough or at all, all new growth, much beginning as water sprouts (suckers) as many shrubs do, were not seeing much sun and most branches were weeping, weak or dead.

As I do with most plants, I take a look around them, get inside them and try to figure out what they want to do and can do.

I took all branches below a height I determined based on sound healthy growth, strength, sun exposure and cut back lateral branches as far as possible and removed as many water sprouts as possible - effectively raising the canopy considerably. Then I shape the crown.

I would not recommend this for a large number of azaleas, those receiving plenty of early or morning or late afternoon sun or for a hedge row as you may not want to perform the needed maintenance below the canopy. Because they are so much more obvious with the canopy raised, you will need to address water sprouts and adventitious stems more often to keep the look.

But you may want to do this as a specimen azalea or two as they do become more of a center piece than a foundation, cluster or screen plant.