Re: Pruning Azaleas - was: Plant Delights
- To:
- Subject: Re: Pruning Azaleas - was: Plant Delights
- From: M* T*
- Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 02:21:18 -0400
Donna,
Evergreen Azaleas can be pruned easily. Time to do it is NOW,
*immediately* after bloom as they set their flower buds for next year by
late summer.
They will sprout new leaves from dormant buds all up and down their stems,
particularly on relatively new wood. Very old wood may not resprout and
may die on you. A very old branch that is growing where you don't want it
to should be cut back to the main stem or a lower set of side branches,
rather than just headed back.
I've seen people shear Azaleas like a hedge - wrong IMO as it ruins their
natural form. Best to go at them with a nice sharp pair of secateurs and
head back branches that have outgrown their space or are sproinging up
above the major part of the shrub to the detriment of overall form.
Dead wood should be removed - often there's a lot of it in the center of
the shrubs. Tiny dead branchlets can be snapped off by brushing your hand
up and down. Larger ones need to be cut cleanly at the base.
Unless the form has gone haywire or they have outgrown their position,
there is no need to prune Azaleas. But, if you want to, they won't mind
at all as long as you do it now. If pruned late in the season or before
bloom, flowers will be sacrificed.
How to approach this...I start by removing dead wood (this can be done at
any time of the year). Then, I look at the form. If there are stray
vertical branches sticking out and looking goofy, I cut those back to just
below the general outline of the plant. I seldom prune to retain size, but
do have a few that are supposed to remain "small". These I occasionally
give a haircut, if bambie hasn't already done it for me, by determining
what size I want them to be and cutting selected branches back to that
point. I don't like a sheared look for these plants, so I don't cut *all*
branches back to the same spot, if you see what I mean. Most Azaleas tend
to put out a branch and on either side of this branch they will send out
branches and each of those branches will do the same. You can cut back to
a lower pair of branches, if this makes any sense.
Don't worry, Azaleas are tough and if you screw up and cut a bit too far,
they will grow out again and in a year you'll never know you'd goofed.
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor: Gardening in Shade
current article: Spring - Beauty and Beast - Part 2, Beast
http://suite101.com/welcome.cfm/222
All garden topics welcome page:
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/3425#top5
----------
> From: James & Donna Davis <dsdavis@intop.net>
> Date: Friday, May 07, 1999 1:25 AM
>
> thanks for the URL on Plant Delights Nursery
>
> Need Advice: if there is anyone out there that can give me some advice
> on pruning Azelias I would be ever so grateful.
> I have over 100. some of them could use a good pruning, but you know
> I'm afraid to touch them for fear of destroying or damaging them.
> Mine have finished blooming and I feel like this is a good time to
> tackle the job, but I don't know how to go about doing this. I don't
> know how much to prune, or if the is in fact the time of year to do it,
> so if anyone has any suggestions, I need instructions
>
> thanks
> Donna in NE Mississippi (zone 7)
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
