Beauty, a Year Later

Over a year ago, a customer (prospect at the time) contacted me about having me come out to severely cut her azaleas back to about a foot above ground level.

Although the azaleas were way too tall as foundation plants, I asked her if she would rather not have them pruned and not wait several seasons to enjoy their robust height and width. She agreed and I did so as well as pruned some trees, removed some unwanted plants and pruned a slightly diseased red tip for better air circulation and to get some branches from hugging the ground, which doesn't help either, with the fungus, entomosporium.

Susan contacted me this year to come out and prune her azaleas again; both of us knowing less would be required this time because of the previous years' pruning.

Well, I had recently posted How Not to Hack Azaleas and Other Shrubs and a few days after doing so I was contacted by a garden club to come speak in the future. I was and still am flattered and then, while still at Susan's property, she tells me of her winning Yard of the Month from her garden club. Okay, I was beside myself.

Susan is a remarkable lady and I was so pleased at the joy she obviously was experiencing. 

I also removed a hopeless small cluster of red tips which had no chance (at least, aesthetically), diseased or not. But, I did notice less disease on the red tips I had pruned the previous year and a quite attractive plant. I'm not taking full credit for this one because the entomosporium battle is usually not won without a serious regimen of fungicide(s), and perhaps, still not.

And another thing, if you don't get a chance to prune or trim your early spring bloomers before early summer, after the blooms die or before flower buds begin to set up for next spring, there are still ways to prune, properly, without losing all your blooms next year. In fact, you may end up with larger blooms, a more attractive backdrop and much healthier plants.