Ok thanks, yea I didn't mean I wanted to push their growth I just wanted to make sure I was doing everything I could to give them the best opportunity to grow. And I made a mistake, I didn't use compost I had used the Black Cow manure. We have very sandy soil so the nursery told me to add a little, hopefully that wasn't wrong.

Is there anything I should be doing now that they are already planted and mulched ?

keep them watered and not neglected and they will do just fine. Alot of folks dont water enough specially once all the pretty flowers are gone.

what is better, deep waterings or a couple shallow waterings ?

Infrequent but slow and deep watering is ALWAYS better than more frequent shallow watering.

thanks !

I watered mine every other day for a minute or so each plant, moving the hose around...for most of the forst season. I jardly warer rhem now because it has been raining so much. They are good sized now and were 1 gal when I planted them. Will try to post pictures.

This is a formosa Azalea that I planted on 8/8/15. A gallon paint can is placed in the photo for size comparison. The azalea was an $8 azalea, one quart sized and overgrown in its container. Two years later, it is doing quite well! And it is planted about six feet from a pine tree that is 22 inches in diameter, so I think the formosas would love your backyard. Just plant them further apart than you think you should.

I have a Formosa cluster in my front yard that is 8 feet tall and maybe 14 feet wide. They are planted one foot from an oak tree (actually there are a semi circle of them around the oak tree.) So they engulf the trunk of the tree and make it look really cool. I would have never thought to plant them like that, but I love the contrast.

you didn't ask for rhododendron but this is the neighboring Vulcan Rhododendron (red) and it also is growing very quickly.

That formosa looks great! I may have planted mine too close, 3-4 ft apart.. oops. I want them all to intertwine as one though so maybe it will be nice, maybe I'll have to spread them out a little though