Evergreen azaleas have peculiar evergreen characteristics. They appear to be evergreen because they grow two sets of leaves each year. Their spring leaves are thinner, larger, and grow along the stems. They drop off in the fall. Their summer leaves are thicker, smaller, grow crowded at the branch ends, and remain through the winter. They remain for several years on some varieties. In colder climates or extremely cold weather, evergreen azaleas may drop most of their leaves during the winter. Sometimes this is called being semievergreen.

Shawn, assuming you loosened the rootball well, didn't plant deeper than the azalea was growing in the nursery container, and gave it a site with reasonable drainage (reasonable for the unreasonable amount of rain we've had)...your leaf loss is probably normal. The lower oldest leaves will generally drop off at approx three years of age.

If more of a mounded full shape was your goal, you could prune some of those longest stems back right after Elsie blooms to encourage denser branching...I tend to like the more natural shape myself :)

Spread a little more of than compost over the root zone this Spring; your azalea shouldn't require anything else.

Thank You rhodyman! I appreciate your knowledge. :) So when can I expect the lower leaves to come back? I don't even see any growth at all on the lower stems like I do on my other plants.

Thank you too Morz8!!

I didn't see your post till just now so that helps a lot too! I appreciate you taking the time too!! :)

We did break up the roots but I can't remember if they were that root bound or not. I had so many plants last spring. It is planted at the right depth too.

I will just watch it and see what happens.

Thank you again both! I really appreciate your knowledge.

Shawn

your 'elsie lee' looks normal to me. i have 4 of them (in my warmer zone) and they behave the same way. for me, this one grows more upright, almost columnar in form, and usually appears sparse concerning the leaves, making it appear more semi-evergreen than my other evergreen azaleas. i don't prune these so i can't advise if that would make them fill in but maybe so.
those beautiful lavender flowers more than make up for the foliage issue.

Thanks Jeff!

Yes I still think it's a beautiful plant. :) AND yes I love the flowers too and don't plan on pruning. I was just concerned when I looked out and saw this pile of leaves underneath it one day and thought, hmm I thought that was an evergreen. I am new to gardening and didn't even know the difference between evergreen & deciduous until 2 years ago. :)

Thanks again for letting me know it will still look amazing. :)

Shawn