Deciduous Azalea Techniques

[Bonsaidoorguy]

View attachment 379327This is my Mandarin Lights azalea. I wasn't sure if I wanted to try to bonsai it, but it has a nice base and I'm able to chase the green back a little and still be confident I'll get some blooms next year. How many we'll see. I'm assuming that repot is like any other deciduous tree and timed just before bud break? It's in an azalea pot, but I'd like to get it into something different.View attachment 379328

That long hanging branch is going to get ground layered in a little pot and stay attached till rooted.

 

[0soyoung]

Buds on a swamp azalea (rhododendron viscosum) in response to simply cutting back to a leaf or two after blooming.



I am unable to photograph the fairly easily seen 'eyes' along these stems from which these buds popped.

 

[Underdog]

I have exactly 2 flower buds on each of the 3 trunks. Looking back thru my notes and this thread I still see no rhyme or reason. Will be a long overdue repot this spring for sure. I missed doing almost everything last spring by playing in Florida too long.
2 are on the leggy back branch w/long internodes and the other 4 are on the ones cut back to the closer nodes. I need to be more methodical on my notes/trimming to understand this.

 

[berzerkules]

I just recently learned about the northern lights azaleas and have no experience with them but, I am very interested in extreme cold hardy plants since I live in zone 2. I found a pdf of a few pages from The Azalean Summer 2009 that mentions pink, rosy and orchid light are cold hardy to -40f to -45f. I was wondering if anyone has experience keeping these at temps close to that or if there are other azalea cultivars that had a chance of surviving my -40 winters.

Sorry, I know this wasn't the point of this thread but wasn't sure if I should start a thread or just ask here.

 

[shinmai]

Personally, I’m amazed that people can survive forty below.
You need to add into your equation the fact that the stated cold-hardiness values are for plants in the ground. As a rule of thumb, I raise those nominal thresholds by twenty degrees for a tree in a pot. All of my azaleas—evergreen or deciduous, Japanese or domestic—are kept at 37 degrees for the winter in a small heated greenhouse. I doubt very much that any rhododendron or azalea will survive exposure to the temperatures you describe.
Leo, you want to jump in here?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Surprisingly, Northern Lights Azaleas, developed by the University of Minnesota, are mostly rated to USDA Zone 4a. Mandarin Lights is rated to zone 3, as is Orchid Lights, which is specifically posted as hardy to-40F.

There are sites listing to -40F for Northern Lights. Morton Arboretum states -35F. It could be because different cultivars are a bit more cold hardy then others.

Here’s a bit of background on their genetic make up from Dave’s Garden.

One of the new hybrids is Electric Lights Red azalea

One of my favorites is Lemon Lights sadly it rarely looks good out here unless we have a dry period during blooming time.

R. dauricum, cultivars of which are seen in the US for sale on and off, a semi evergreen azalea from Siberia is rated variously -25F and below for the native plant. I’m working on one to see how these bonsai.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@shinmai - Deep Sea Diver is right. In the ground these are incredibly hardy. The further north you go the more likely there will be a layer of snow cover on the ground. I have found that the deciduous azalea trunks, branches and flower buds are very cold hardy. I have lost a few deciduous azalea that were not heeled into the ground. The roots are not as cold hardy as the tops. So the way you are wintering yours, in a cold greenhouse is just fine. My last remaining deciduous azalea I bring into my well house. Pots have to be heeled in to have the zone 4 hardiness.

At least that seems to be my experience.

 

[Bonsaipadawan]

Hello, I am fairly new to the forum, the practice of bonsai and to owning what I've been told is a decideous azalea. I am hoping for some advice. I have thumbed around a number of pages in this thread but haven't read jt all and was wondering if i could get some advice in regards to a thread I made. I'll share that thread link here. Not sure if that will be sufficient.

Recently purchased azalea. Advice

Hello everyone as the title says I recently purchased an azalea and I am looking for some tips and advice on what you would do with the material. I am thinking of removing a couple of the very large branches and even trying to see if I can wire up and bend any of them. The larger ones do feel...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Hello, I am fairly new to the forum, the practice of bonsai and to owning what I've been told is a decideous azalea. I am hoping for some advice. I have thumbed around a number of pages in this thread but haven't read jt all and was wondering if i could get some advice in regards to a thread I made. I'll share that thread link here. Not sure if that will be sufficient.

Recently purchased azalea. Advice

Hello everyone as the title says I recently purchased an azalea and I am looking for some tips and advice on what you would do with the material. I am thinking of removing a couple of the very large branches and even trying to see if I can wire up and bend any of them. The larger ones do feel...

www.bonsainut.com

Read all 7 pages of this thread, then ask questions.

 

[Bonsaipadawan]

Read all 7 pages of this thread, then ask questions.

I've caught up! I think I still have the same questions. I have had a few people from different places tell me the azalea is decideous. I was hoping someone could take a look and let me know what they think. If it is in fact decideous, maybe I have a place her to help catalog. The previous owner told me the cultivar name and it seems to be that of an evergreen. (I asked them after being told it was decideous)
The previous owner seemed confused at first and I had about four different people tell me it is decideous, so I was hoping a few note folks could weigh in.

Also I noticed when going through the rest of the pages most of the beautiful azaleas on this thread have larger foliage than what I've seen existing on the one I have but idk if that's enough to determine between decideous and evergreen.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

What name did the seller give you?

 

[Bonsaipadawan]

What name did the seller give you?

Girards crimson, when I first asked they just gave the broad species background.

 

[shinmai]

Looking at the pictures on your other thread, I am virtually certain of two things: your azalea is deciduous, and it is not Girard’s Scarlet. The Girard azaleas, of which there are about 25 cultivars, are American hybrids that contain genetic material from the R. Kaempferi azaleas, also known as torch azaleas, native to Japan.

To be technically precise, no azalea is truly “evergreen” in the same sense as a conifer. The ones so labeled are more correctly called ‘semi-deciduous’, in that in winter they will drop foliage put on during spring of the previous year. They appear evergreen because they retain the foliage produced during the current year’s growing season. Depending on autumn and winter weather, the Girards will change color on some leaves, and then usually drop some of them. I’ve never had one go completely bare unless I killed it.

This is a picture of a Girard’s Hotshot, taken in my greenhouse just moments ago:

 

[Bonsaipadawan]

Looking at the pictures on your other thread, I am virtually certain of two things: your azalea is deciduous, and it is not Girard’s Scarlet. The Girard azaleas, of which there are about 25 cultivars, are American hybrids that contain genetic material from the R. Kaempferi azaleas, also known as torch azaleas, native to Japan.

To be technically precise, no azalea is truly “evergreen” in the same sense as a conifer. The ones so labeled are more correctly called ‘semi-deciduous’, in that in winter they will drop foliage put on during spring of the previous year. They appear evergreen because they retain the foliage produced during the current year’s growing season. Depending on autumn and winter weather, the Girards will change color on some leaves, and then usually drop some of them. I’ve never had one go completely bare unless I killed it.

This is a picture of a Girard’s Hotshot, taken in my greenhouse just moments ago:
View attachment 420732

Just curious as to what lead you to come to your conclusion? Thank you so much for your feedback.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Concur with @shinmai….

….it’s a matter of lack of leaves, only terminal buds, size and shape of buds, branching…. a whole lot of other clues that make up the gestalt a person gets after working with specific cultivars over long periods of time.

.…yet it seems you are convinced this is must be an Evergreen azalea. Multiple really experienced folks have advised otherwise.

That’s ok, I’ve been wrong before. Don’t let us deter you if this is the case, but please move on at this point.

It seems to me that you could proceed with your plan at the appropriate times, most of it won’t do much harm no matter if it’s deciduous or not.

Mother Nature has a way of clearing up identification issues over time.

Cheers,
DSD sends

 

[shinmai]

Since your tree is without leaves, it is either deciduous or an ‘evergreen’ that has been exposed to extreme cold, which would be unlikely in Zone 7b. If it is deciduous, it can’t be one of the Girard hybrids. The buds are consistent with a deciduous, and so [to a lesser degree] is the bark.

There is a tremendous amount of information on rhododendrons and azaleas at www.rhodyman.net. Though it’s oriented to planting in the ground it’s still a great resource, and has photos of the blossoms of the most common varieties. When yours blooms, you might thus be able to correctly identify the cultivar you have.

 

[Bonsaipadawan]

Concur with @shinmai….

….it’s a matter of lack of leaves, only terminal buds, size and shape of buds, branching…. a whole lot of other clues that make up the gestalt a person gets after working with specific cultivars over long periods of time.

.…yet it seems you are convinced this is must be an Evergreen azalea. Multiple really experienced folks have advised otherwise.

That’s ok, I’ve been wrong before. Don’t let us deter you if this is the case, but please move on at this point.

It seems to me that you could proceed with your plan at the appropriate times, most of it won’t do much harm no matter if it’s deciduous or not.

Mother Nature has a way of clearing up identification issues over time.

Cheers,
DSD sends

Sorry if I offended by asking in more than one thread I just wanted to triple check especially after the seller claimed it was an semi evergreen variety. Thanks to you and everyone else who helped me!

 

[Underdog]

I repotted my Gibraltar yesterday before flowering, which I know is going against the grain. I cut back the roots about 25% and did not find them in bad shape however not filling the pot to the bottom. I had added a lot of pea gravel to the bottom of that light weight plastic pot to try to keep it from tipping over(still did 2-3 times) and the roots didn't colonize that area at all. At least it kept a shallow root ball.
I used larger 1/4 particle sized soil consisting of about 1/3 each pumice bark and the crushed brick I've been experimenting with the last couple years due to poor drainage prior. I wired it into a blue pot I had available which was a perfect size. The color well... maybe will look good w/the vivid orange flowers. Especially if you are a FL Gators fan
After flowering I plan to cut the long nodes back and maybe some trunk to lower growth.

 

[Underdog]

Repot didn't hurt the flowering anyway. Many blooms yet to come then cutting back the long ones again.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Nice Mark