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Alabama Gardening

Azalea Question?

16 years ago

First, a little background. I bought a house "as is" 2 years ago. One of the many things to fix was the very overgrown back yard. When cutting back privet I found 3 big azaleas. Two have white flowers and one has purple/white (Taber, I think is the name). These azaleas did not bloom the first year so I fertilized them after the blooming season. Last year they put out tons of flowers. I did not fertilize them after last years blooming season. This year the purple/white one has set a lot of buds but the white ones only have a few. Is there anything I can do at this point to help them bloom this year? Any help would really be appreciated.

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Comment (1)

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
16 years ago
I always think of George Lindsey Taber as being pink and white....and sooooo fragrant! It's probably my favorite of the Indicas.

Perhaps your azaleas need to settle into a regular cycle of maintenance. Fertilize them regularly but conservatively during the growing season, prune as needed after the bloom period, provide a good layer of mulch to the root system, etc.

Azaleas set their buds for the next season's bloom period not too long after they are done with this year's display. SO...there's not much you can do to encourage blooms this spring, I'm sorry to say. But it's a good time to plan for next year.
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