How to Prune Wild Azaleas
Azaleas are brilliant bushes that flower throughout the spring and summer. Their colors are vivid and bright, including yellow, pink, orange, blue and white. Caring for these beautiful shrubs can be easy if you arm yourself with adequate knowledge and the right tools. Azaleas are perfect for edges, corner pieces and centerpieces of intensely colored gardens. Prune to maintain the shrub's health and encourage blooming. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Hand shears
- Bypass loppers
- Thick garden gloves
- Manual or electric hedge trimmer
Instructions
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Shape Your Azaleas
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1
Choose the height you would like your azalea bush. Many popular varieties are classified with a 10-year height of 3 to 5 feet, without pruning. Other vigorous types have the potential to grow 2 to 10 inches in a season depending upon moisture, fertilizer and temperature.
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2
Decide whether you want to form the bush into a circle or other pattern, or perhaps allow it to grow loosely.
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3
Begin with sharp hand shears, removing overgrown stems and/or browned stems and leaves.
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4
Use bypass loppers, with their double curved blade, to reach inner branches that are dead or clustered causing bad growth.
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5
Use bypass loppers to reach tall branches if your azalea is over 5 feet.
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6
Trim using hedge trimmers to cover more area quickly, if your azalea bushes are grouped together. These trimmers are ideal when used at shoulder height, mostly on the tops of the bush itself.
Create Lush Late-Summer Growth
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Allow the azalea to grow untouched through the spring. Prune with hand shears after spring blossoms have appeared.
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Follow up with bypass loppers to create the shape and height.
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9
Trim drastically to force the azalea to flower once more. Cut out branches to a point down inside the plant or beyond its general foliage outline. By doing so, you will encourage the plant to produce as many as five or six new shoots.
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Tips & Warnings
Prune azaleas in the spring prior to blooming. Azaleas begin to form new growth buds right after their initial blooming, so if you prune after mid-summer, you destroy the following year's flowers. In early to mid March, prune to clean up the bush, as well as promote healthy growth that will encourage flowering throughout the summer.
Always use sharp tools, the duller they are, the greater the chance is you may cut your hand.
Do not use anvil-style shears, which have one sharp blade and one flat blade. Anvil-style shears can damage the stem, leading to weaker blossoms and more brown spots.
Always begin with thick, protective garden gloves to avoid insects and the possibility of cutting yourself.
