You provide them the best possible growing conditions. But even that's no guarantee. Some things you just cannot plan for and have to handle as you encounter......insect infestations, disease issues, weather extremes. 50 years is a very long lifetime for an azalea - most poop out long before they reach that age. When they start looking bad, just replace them. They are not expensive items.

Didn’t you say you saw rhododendrons from the 60s? So I’m guessing then azaleas don’t have a long lifespan. What if I wanted to plant the same azalea in the same spot, is that going to be an issue with host specific pathogens?

I am thinking of creating a ft tall berm for them to grow in made out of pine bark nuggets, compost, and a little bit of garden soil. That way they get the perfect drainage they demand and acid soils.

Azaleas and rhododendrons are not exactly the same so not valid to make comparisons between the two. And azaleas can live for a long time if they receive the conditions they prefer and nothing else intercedes. However, that does not often happen in a garden setting for most of us and like many other plants, they can achieve an age when they no longer look good, bloom well or are in perfect health and the homeowner/gardener opts to replace.

btw, it is pretty unlikely that the same homeowner/gardener that planted them will be around 50 years later. Very few stay in a home for that long......13 years is the average.

I planted three azaleas from the Lights series earlier this summer. I’d be happy with ten years and thrilled with twenty years, which means I’d still be around to enjoy them. Now there’s a happy thought. :)

Yes, realistic expectations. Plants aren't necessarily immortal after all.

often.. with shade tolerant plants.. what happens 20 or 30 years down the line.. is that whatever created the shade.. turn to area into a dark cave ...

in other words a prime cultural variable.. is significantly changed ...

always go back to your base cultural variables when trying to figure something like this out ...

ken

What a bummer, I Always thought they were one of the longer living shrubs. Guess I will be taking cuttings every 5 years before it dies.

Azaleas can live a very long time. And my experience is that they don't require much of anything once they're established. When dead wood accumulates, cut it out.

Young plants (relatively speaking) do tend to be more vigorous and better flowerers. Perhaps it's because of accumulation of diseases..azaleas in my area have several persistent diseases, including crown galls and fungal afflictions.

There is also the issue of plants outliving their attractiveness. Lavender is one and IMO, evergreen azaleas are another. After a decade or so, they become leggy, bare at the base and more prone to the issues that dbarron mentions. They may still bloom reasonably well but out of bloom - like most of the year - they look gangly, awkward and less than attractive. I just don't have time for plants like that in the landscape and they quickly get replaced.

I'm also curious about your question.

I have one very old Azalea growing in my garden- I've grown it for 8 years and it's way older than that, planted long ago by some other home owner.

Someone used to trim it down into a ball shape and I'v let it grow as it pleases...and its gotten almost twice as tall and more natural, and I'm thinking it might be healthier to allow it to grow freely...especially because of the occasional dead limb.

It's in full sun, and I don't know why but it has an occasional branch die off and so I prune out the dead limbs and twigs, but it seems to recover in other part of the bush and keeps growing.

The top photo shows it since I've had it for a while in an untrimmed shape, and the bottom photo shows it when we first moved in- beginning to grow out of the trimmed ball shape" yet still a very large Azalea, but still not a good photo to show about a 4 1/2 inch thick base.

An azalea for you to consider growing...

When I moved into this house I was trying to ID what I thought was a very tall Azalea (about 10ft tall). but.. It was actually a "Rhododendron Mucronulatum" aka "Korean Rhododendron" and it was identified for me by the Azalea Society.

It's beautiful, very old with a thick approx. 6 inch base trunk and an early bloomer...licac-pink flowers happen before the leaves.

Sue, I've always admired that rhodo but have never seen it growing in life (rhodos don't do well here)...but it's an EXCELLENT suggestion for anyone that can grow them.

I guess my experience has been the same with azaleas. When I moved into a new house with family 19 years ago the azaleas there were so good up until about 2014 they started dying back branch by branch and started developing more lichens as well. Now they are such an eyesore.

My Korean wife would love the Korean rhododendron but I know those aren’t commonly available. I bought azalea kaempferi‘johanna’ Couple days ago and I’m going to be planting and layering them in my amended raised bed soon. It’s made out of pine bark, compost, and some native soil. It also only gets morning sun. With all these ideal growing conditions met hopefully they live long.

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9): "There is also the issue of plants outliving their attractiveness."

I would be LMAO if it weren't so tragic--and probably *apropos.

We should probably cut down these leggy old trees, too.