Hi all

A friend got in touch with me in 2014 and asked if I wanted any trees as he was downsizing, Unfortunately his wife had been ill for four years and had passed away, He lived in a huge house with much land but said it was too much for him so he sold it and bought a smaller place but couldn't take all of his trees, He said effectively that if I didn't take them, They would have to go to the dump! :ohmy:

I had to make two journeys with my car and brought home 32 trees!!, I've given some away to friends that want to try and keep small trees, Two of which have ended up going to live in the Scottish Highlands!!

Anyhow, This Azalea didn't have a heck of a lot of foliage (He explained that his wife needed constant care so his trees only got watered!)..


I fed it some feed for acid lovers and it seemed to gain some greenery!


Eventually I thought i'd best repot it and was shocked at how little there was in the way of rootage!, I didn't remove any and used the hosepipe to wash the compost off!


It bounced back and gave the best showing of colour since i'd brought it home!!


The trunk has a fabulous natural shari but it's at the rear of the tree!!


I put it in the smaller pot as it seemed a waste of time sticking such small roots in to anything bigger, The only trouble with that was that it blew off the table in high winds and snapped a branch off the rear!, It possibley would have stayed put in a bigger dish!!


Cheers, John

I dug up some azaleas that had been in the ground about 15 years. Some roots had spread out but some had a root ball the same size as the nursery containers.
When you repot next spring or so wire the root ball into the pot and that will keep it from coming out. Some pots have small holes just for wires. I tie some of the pots to the bench to keep the wind and squirrels from knocking them off.

Hi Ivan

It was wired in originally but once it seemed established I removed the wire, Normally I forget to remove it and it stays on for a few years!!

John

I think the green steel cored garden wire can just be seen in this pic


John