Growing And Caring For Rhododendrons And Azaleas
By Michael J. McGroarty, Fri Dec 9th
You are welcome to use this article on your website or in yournewsletter as long as you reprint it as is, including thecontact information at the end. Website URLs must be activelinks. You are welcome to use this article with an affiliatelink, http://www.freeplants.com/resellers.htm
Azaleas can be either evergreen or deciduous. Deciduous Azaleasare known as Mollis or Exbury Azaleas. They bloom in the earlyspring with vivid orange and yellow colors. They can be grownfrom seed if the seeds are collected in the fall and sown on topof moist peat at about 70 degrees F.
Evergreen Azaleas are known as broad leaf evergreens becausethey do not have needles. They bloom later in the spring, andare usually propagated in the fall over bottom heat, discussedin detail at http://www.freeplants.com Rhododendrons are alsobroad leaf evergreens and are also propagated over bottom heatin early winter.
The best time to prune Rhododendrons and Azaleas is in thespring right after they bloom. These plants start setting nextyear's flower buds over the summer, and late pruning will costyou some blooms next year, so get them pruned as soon as theyfinish blooming. It's also a good idea to pick off the spentblooms 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 inmind that they don't come true from seed.
Seeds from a red Rhododendron are likely to flower palelavender. Cuttings ensure a duplicate of the parent plant. Howdo you prune Rhododendrons and what does pinching a Rhododendronmean? These are frequently asked questions.
Pinching is a low impact form of pruning that is veryeffective for creating nice, tight full plants when you aregrowing small plants from seeds or cuttings. Typically aRhododendron forms a single new bud at the tip of each branch.This new bud will develop into another new branch, another budwill form and the process will continue. If left alone this willproduce a very lanky plant with a lot of space between thebranches, forming a very unattractive plant.
So if you are starting with a plant that is nothing more thana rooted cutting all you have to do is pinch off this new growthbud as soon as it is about 3/8" long. Just grab it between yourfingers and snap it completely off. When you do this the plantusually responds by replacing that single bud with two, three,or even four new buds in a cluster around the bud that youpinched off. Each one of these buds will develop into branchesand eventually a single bud will appear at the tip of each ofthese branches, and of course you should come along and pincheach one of those off, forcing the plant to produce multiplebuds at the end of each of these branches.
The more often you pinch off these single buds, the morebranches the plant will form, making a nice, tight, full plant.This is especially helpful with young plants such as rootedcuttings or young seedlings.
But what about larger plants, how do I prune them? I prunemine with hedge shears!!! I just have at it and trim them like Iwould a Taxus or a Juniper, and guess what? The result is a verytight compact plant loaded with beautiful flowers. MyRhododendrons are so tightly branched that you cannot seethrough them, and that is the result of vigorous pruning withhedge shears. Sure you can use hand shears, and you'll have anicer plant because of it, but I just use the hedge shearsbecause that's the tool that I happen to have in my hand as I amgoing by.
Keeping Rhododendrons and Azaleas healthy and happy is assimple as understanding what they like. First of all, they liketo grow in a climate that suits their tastes. Many varieties ofboth don't like it in the north, and to prove the point theywill up and die as soon as extreme cold weather hits. Buy plantsthat are known to be hardy in your area.
Here in zone 5 (northern Ohio) the following
5 / 5
