I too vote nothing wrong with it

It sure looks and sounds (from your description) like azalea petal blight, caused by Ovulinia azaleae. This particular fungal disorder affects the flowers of azaleas, rhododendrons, and mountain laurels.

Once this fungus shows up on your plants, recurrence is typical. Control of the disease must include some 'housekeeping' chores: careful grooming of affected blooms as the disease progresses, and raking out all fallen debris before winter. Avoid overhead watering in the evening and nighttime hours, prune to improve air circulation, try not to create an overcrowded planting.

There are readily available fungicides but they are only successful when used with the above mentioned housekeeping tasks.

Though this can be a real problem disease, in my experience it can be very easily controlled with a little persistent gardening effort and appropriately timed fungicide applications.

Call your local extension office for further information pertaining to the fungicide.....the how, when, what, and where.

Well......I learn something new every day!! I have never encountered petal blight (to my knowledge) and every garden in my area has a collection of azaleas and rhodies.......I would have thought I'd have encountered it before now if that common.

The photo looks just like the natural aging process of the flowers in a moist climate. How do you tell the difference?

The only disease on azaleas I routinely encounter is leaf gall.

The symptoms that set petal blight apart from ordinary senescence is that the petals become slimy as the fungus settles into the cells and they will adhere to the plant. After the dead flowers eventually dry, they'll be dusty with fungal spores.

Careful observation very early on will reveal small tan spots on the petals, harmless enough in appearance, but in a couple of days you will be wringing your hands in frustration.

Petal blight can also be observed very early on after the opening of the flower....a day or two.....and will progress rapidly once it begins. Spores are spread by splashing water, wind, and even insects.

The time to prevent an infection this Spring was last year....that's how important cleanup is!

GG, this might be one of those pests that simply isn't typical to the western states. It would be worthwhile asking your extension peeps about that.

rhizo, I've done a bit more research and according to both our PNW Plant Disease handbook and the local rhododendron society, the petal blight is present and relatively common in our area. And since we have very mild but quite wet springs, that makes sense :-) Perhaps much of what I had assumed was just the natural aging process of the azalea flowers was instead something a bit more sinister. Never checked the sliminess factor, as the petals usually look very dry, not wet.