ALLURING BUT HARDY AZALEAS
Hardy azaleas please the eye, fill the landscape, and reward the gardener for long years with very little care. Though they only put on a show in spring, what a show that is! Sometimes huge, often fragrant, blooms in ice cream shoppe colors glow against dark green foliage, lighting up the whole yard.
All members of the rhododendron family require acid soils, something we have in abundance here in northern New England. I've a 30-year-old deciduous azalea that's never had any special care aside from pruning, pest control, mulching and fertilization with regular, not acid-based, fertilizer. However, if your soil has a pH higher than 6.0, you will want to amend it with peat moss or powdered sulfur. Do not use aluminum sulfate as the aluminum can build up to toxic levels in the soil.
Siting your new azalea is crucial. It's going to be there for a long time. It needs partial or dappled shade. Mine receives about four hours of morning sun with afternoon shade and it has thrived. You also need to consider the size of the full-grown plant. Some, if allowed, could reach 8 feet tall by 4 feet wide. Give your azalea plenty of space to grow in. Also, be careful to not plant it near any newly lain concrete. Lime can leach from the cement and raise soil pH. Another consideration when choosing a site for your azalea is proximity to a butternut or any other member of the walnut family. Plant it at least 50 feet away. These trees secrete juglone, a hormone supposedly toxic to rhododendrons and members of the nightshade family.
Prepare the planting hole as you would for any tree or shrub. Azaleas are shallow-rooted, so dig it no deeper that a foot and twice as wide as the rootball. If you've bought your azalea from a local nursery then set your plant an inch shallower than it was growing in the pot.
Mulch the planted azalea to retain moisture, but avoid heavy mulch, as it will deprive the roots of necessary oxygen. Wood chips make excellent mulch and help keep the pH low.
Do not amend the soil other than adjusting for pH. Research has found that adding fertilizers and compost to the planting hole encourages roots to stay in the hole, rather than reaching out for nutrients. This provides a poor support for the plant. Fertilize your azalea in the spring of the second year.
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