Azalea is an ornamental perennial plant that pleases with a lush flowering, if properly follow it, choose a good place in the garden, ensure the proper watering and feeding. Azalea will feel comfortable in the penumbra of varying intensity (depending on the type of plant), but it should not be a dull solid shadow. It will interfere with good flowering. Dislikes plant places where there are drafts. Do not be happy and dry ground. You need to choose a flat place on the site, where there will be spring floods. When landing at the house, you can choose any wall, except the south. The neighboring plants can be eaten, as well as limes and oaks. Well, if next to this plant will be a reservoir.
Azalea will not die in the sun, but it will bloom badly. Direct sunlight is detrimental to the good growth and flowering of garden azaleas. If the soil is dry, then during the flowering period, the plant will start to stress, and it does not make sense to wait for good results. If, however, this plant got such a sunny and dry place, then it is necessary to moisten the plant and the soil well.
How to plant azalea
How to choose azalea seedlings
Purchase of a sapling is possible only in the spring. When choosing it, you need to pay attention to the volume of the container. It is better if it is large. The earth in it should be well hydrated, in the required amount (not small). Dry land in a container is a sign of a poor, sick, and weak plant. Determine the quality of the seedling can be using a single manipulation. The seedling can be easily pulled from the pot. If it goes well and easily with a clod of earth, then this is a bad sign - the plant has taken root badly. In the garden, such a seedling, too, can not settle down. The plant should also look healthy and strong.
There are several types of azaleas. When buying, you need to take this into account. And get all the information about the group to which this plant belongs, and find out its characteristics. Different species may behave differently and require other approaches to care.
Soil requirement
Consider the type of soil at the intended landing site. Loam and calcareous soil are bad options. The plant may simply not be accepted or die quickly. If, on the azalea landing site, the soil turned out to be unsuccessful, and the place seems ideal to you, then you can replace the top layer, taking into account the plant's preferences. You can buy an earth mixture for these types of plants, as well as use special preparations. The soil should be loose and fertile. If the soil is alkaline, then it is necessary to make a bulk bed, use peat or a mixture for these plants. If you ignore this wish, the plant will either turn yellow or not be taken at all.
For azaleas, the acidic soil is ideal. It should not be dry, otherwise the flowers will be poorly formed, and will also dry quickly. If the soil turned out to be this way, it is necessary to ensure good moisture. With a lack of elements, the soil must be well nourished with special means. For food plants should use humus, peat, moss, shavings.
Azalea planting pattern
The planting of azalea seedlings from containers occurs in spring or summer. The depth of the landing is 50 cm, the width of the pit is 70 cm. Or, it is possible to calculate the depth based on the size of the root with an earthy clod, plus 15 centimeters. Drainage is necessary in the pit. For these purposes, the use of broken bricks and sand is the best option. Only you can not take limestone rubble. 
The height of the drainage layer should reach 20 cm. The deeper pit is thicker than the drainage layer. The next layer is peat and soil. The seedling itself must be planted together with a lump of land in which it grew. Do not shake the ground. Azalea root neck should not be filled with soil.
Next, go to the direct planting of a sapling and watering. Mulching around the plant is also necessary. For these purposes, you need to use pine needles, moss, peat, crushed bark or leaves. This will provide an opportunity to preserve moisture, which is so necessary for azaleas, as well as protect the roots of the plant from pests and sunlight. This procedure should be carried out regularly.
Garden Azalea: How to properly care for a flower
How to water the azalea in the garden
Azalea is a shrub that requires abundant watering and moisturizing. But it must take into account the type of soil and the place where it is planted. If the ground is dry to the touch, then watering is necessary. You need to spray the shrub often, and you can also put a container with water next to it. Watering itself is possible either by common soil or by spraying. During flowering watering should be more abundant. After the end of the flowering period, spraying is no longer necessary. It is also necessary to reduce watering in the fall. During this period, moisture is enough. In the period before the onset of winter, water should be watered only in dry weather so that it does not rot.
Features feeding plants
Feed azalea shrubs need already exactly three weeks after it was planted. Then repeat the procedure should be repeated regularly every three weeks. For good growth and flowering plants need to use acidic water, which is watered azalea every month.
Top dressing is conducted in early spring, during the flowering period and immediately after its completion. For this suitable phosphorus-potassium mixture for fertilizer. Humus is also used to power azaleas. Can be watered infusion of mullein. Due to this, the roots of the plant receive all the necessary substances to ensure good growth and vigorous flowering of azaleas. Fertilizers need not under the root itself, but at some distance from the center. Aggressive fertilizer components will not affect the root system. During drought bushes need to be further sprayed. Young plants require fertilizing with phosphate fertilizers in the period from early spring to summer.
Soil care
Soil quality is an important condition for the growth and flowering of azaleas. The best option would be acidic soil. If the soil eventually settles down, then you need to pour it and further mulch. Do not apply ash to the soil, and use fertilizers containing chlorine and lime. We can conduct weeding around the bush. But for this you should not use hoe, because the root system of the plant is superficial, and you can damage it. But it is worth removing weeds.
Rules for pruning azaleas in the garden
Two weeks after the end of flowering, the azalea needs to be cleaned of excess shoots and leaves. It is necessary to cut the shoots that have faded. You need to remove extra branches that thicken the plant. Such shoots need to be cut completely, the other one third. Pruning should be carried out throughout the bush, then the plant's pomp is preserved. At the end of the cutting sections are treated with paint or garden pitch. To begin to develop new flowers, you need to remove the old, dried.
Breeding
Reproduction of this shrub occurs in summer, and you can also do it in the beginning or middle of spring. It is produced by cuttings or seeds. To get good young azaleas, it is necessary to cut the cuttings from the main plant (10 cm long). They are cut with shears at a 45 degree angle. It is necessary to connect the earth with needles or to make a mixture of earth with sand and peat. The cuttings of the shrub are planted in this acidic soil, adding a stimulant for better plant growth. Planted new plants must be covered with glass. Cuttings need regular watering. For rooting they need two months. Comfortable temperature for the growth and development of young plants - 20 degrees. Air humidity - 80%. They also need airing. It should take a month and a half before it will be possible to plant young plants in open ground.
For reproduction of azalea seeds will take much more time. The landing is possible in a year. Seeds are planted in containers, covered with glass or film, monitor the airing and good soil moisture. After the seeds germinate, they dive and sit down. You can propagate the plant by dividing the bush. The procedure is carried out in the spring. For this you need a sharp shoulder blade. She separated part of the bush and transplanted to the selected location. A parent plant must be sufficiently developed, with a good root system, have at least two shoots.
How to save azalea in winter
To successfully overcome the winter cold azalea need to use mulch, increasing its layer to 5 cm. The procedure is done in late autumn or in the middle of autumn. There are types of azaleas that need more serious shelter for the winter with the help of a spruce branch and burlap. Branches of deciduous varieties are bent to the ground, fixed with wire and covered. For the insulation of evergreen species need a frame, on which the covering material is laid out. Only this should be done when it is cold enough. Otherwise, spring bloom will be bad.
Other species can withstand severe frosts up to 30 degrees. It is also possible to cover the plant with polyethylene. In this case, it must be borne in mind that winter can be quite wet. Then in the shelter provides for the possibility of removal of moisture. If you do not comply with this rule, the azalea can rot or get sick. The plant leaves the winter state after the snow has melted. In early spring, after the awakening of the plant, the sun can burn the stem, this also needs to be taken into account.
