I recently moved into a home with small, scraggy azaleas planted all over in strange places. They almost look like several children just kept giving them to mom for mothers day, and mom had to find a place to plant them :) I'm talking literally 30+ of these things. I'm sure they could be beautiful, but I have NO idea what to do to try to get them to fill in. They're all different kinds, some deciduous, some evergreen.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
Rachel
It could be a number of things. First, azaleas like a moist, well drained acid soil. They don't like a lot of fertilizer, especially after early summer. I recommend using HollyTone now per the instructions on the package. It will help acidify the soil. If you need to increase the acidity more, use powdered sulfur. Garden centers sell aluminum sulphate, but it is a bad idea. It will eventually hurt aluminum sensitive plants. That could be your problem now. If you have a poor clay soil, then the azaleas should be moved to a raised bed with good rich acidic soil like a mixture of top soil and peat humus. For more, visit my website.
Many azaleas do not like sun. Some, however, tolerate part sun. Identifying the variety would help to determine this.
If your soil is mostly clay, broadcast a generous amount of gypsum around each azalea at least once a year. It reacts with the clay to make it porous. Azaleas like soil that is constantly moist but never really wet. The gypsum will improve the drainage to prevent root rot.
Once an azalea starts to show good growth, pinching the growing tips will make it bushy.
Don't try to grow anything close to or under an azalea. They really do not like the root competition. However, they do well just beyond the spread of larger shrubs. I have 'George Taber' azaleas forming a low hedge at the front of a bed of four camellias. The rest of the bed is merely a leaf mulch.
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