Need help identifying issue(s) with Azalea 'Karen'

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

We planted a 'Karen' Azalea last spring when we bought our house in upstate NY (Zone 5b). We put it in a mostly shaded raised bed adjacent to our front patio, where it gets about 3-4 hours of afternoon/evening sun. The soil in the raised bed is fairly rich and loamy, and it shares the bed with two Dwarf Alberta Spruces that were there when we bought the house, along with a few Foxgloves, Primroses and Bleeding Hearts that we added to keep the deer away from the Azalea.

It bloomed beautifully last May and it looked healthy all summer, but during the latter part of the winter and now in early spring, it's looking less "happy" as you can see in the pictures below. This cultivar is supposed to be at least "semi-evergreen" down to Zone 4, and although we had a pretty chilly/snowy winter, it definitely didn't go past our Zone 5 max.

How does it look to you all? I'm seeing a lot of branches that are missing leaves, and I'm not sure if I'm even seeing any flower buds. I did already remove a few branches recently that seemed to be dead, but perhaps they had just dropped their leaves because of the "semi-evergreen" nature of this variety?

In any event, I have a few theories about what could be going on, but I figured I'd ask here to see if any of them are plausible:

1. Too much shade: I thought that 3-4 hours of afternoon sun would be sufficient, but perhaps it needs more?

2. Soil pH too high: I did test the bed last month, and it's leaning toward the neutral side...about 6.8. I know that's a it high for an Azalea, so is it suffering from that? If so, should I try to acidify the soil, or would I be better off moving it? We do have an area in our backyard that's closer to 6.2 or 6.3.

3. Deer damage: despite our attempts to surround the Azalea with a bunch of "deer-resistant" plants, we still saw some evidence that they had chewed it up a bit this winter...could that be cause for its sorry state?

4. Over-pruning last spring. I got a little aggressive in pruning the Azalea last May right after it bloomed, but I thought I was in the clear since I didn't wait very long after the blooms had faded, so it should have had plenty of time to develop new flower buds.

5. "Semi-evergreen" - if the plant did act in a more deciduous nature because of the cold winter, could that explain the lack of foliage on several of the branches? If so, should it be starting to show signs of new growth by now? And if it did drop leaves, shouldn't there still be flower buds visible?

If anyone has any thoughts on what could be going on, or how to "revive" this guy, I'd welcome them! Thanks!

Featured Answer

akamainegrower

7 years ago

The truth is that evergreen azaleas are not really suited for Z5 climates unless they are grown in very protected niches and/or given winter shelter from burlap or other barriers. Labels and catalog listings make claims to the contrary and hide behind the "semi evergreen" ruse, but they all wind up looking just like yours after a typical Z5 winter. Your theories are logical and might apply if you lived in a warmer place, but plain old cold temperatures and wind are to blame, nothing else. Any flower buds set last year were probably killed. If you prune back to live wood, new growth will very likely emerge, but next winter will result in the same sort of damage. You can try barriers of burlap or evergreen boughs to protect from sun and wind, but this doesn't really do anything to modify deep cold. There are rhododendrons and deciduous azaleas which will grow and flower well in Z5, but Karen and other evergreen azaleas just won't.

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Comments (7)

sah_upstate4 (zone 5b - NY)
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks! That’s extremely helpful albeit a bit unfortunate as the local garden center where we bought it last year was touting it as a “very hardy” Azalea option for our cold Z5 winters. I suppose the claim isn’t technically “false” if the plant survives, even when the flower buds take a major hit.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that the “Karen” was possibly mislabeled since the flower color was a bit different from what I’ve seen on multiple examples of “Karen” online.

Anyhow, we were going to give a few of the Northern Lights series a shot this year in a more acidic area, so hopefully we’ll have better luck with those!

We were also thinking about trying “Stewartsonian”, as it has been recommended to us by a few friends also in Z5, but I can’t remember off the top of my head if that one is evergreen or deciduous.

Any thoughts on Stewartsonian in particular?
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jc_7a_MiddleTN
7 years ago
I planted some my first Northern Lights in February, and we had a couple more hard freezes after they were newly planted, but are now starting to bloom.

I think the entire series should be fine for Z5 since they were developed at the University of Minnesota.
sah_upstate4 (zone 5b - NY)
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks: I'm not worried about the Northern Lights series...I'm just curious about Stewartsonian, which is not part of the Northern Lights series.
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
7 years ago
My Stewartsonian looked about like your Karen at winter's end and after multiple years of poor winter appearance, I removed it. Why grow something for its flowers and foliage when both look dreadful? I am colder than you however.

I grow a bunch from the Northern Lights series and all bloom beautifully, and some have nice autumn foliage as a bonus. Twigs are delicate enough that they pretty much aren't noticeable in winter. All are rock hardy here in central NH.
rnonwheels
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
akamainegrower...I have a plaster repair question for you - This is an old thread question but I just came across it, I have the same issue. akamainegrower described it exactly. 1900's house, thick painted wallpaer over all the walls and ceilings. in some rooms I can pull off the loose layers in one easy tug and the rough sandy intact plaster is what'is left, often with a watered down looking paint color, if it weren't so old I would say it's a wallpaper prep of some sort since the paper peeled off so easily. I am wondering what are the best steps to go forward, I would like to repair the cracks etc. then apply a primer, and a layer of drywall compound to do a knockdown texture, the re-paint. Any suggestions? Sorry to jump in the garden area but I don't know how else to contact akamainegrower!
akamainegrower
7 years ago
I would be happy to help, but I would much more comfortable with responding to a question posted on the Old House forum. Diverting threads to something completely unrelated to the op just leads to chaos.