shearing? established foundation azaleas

5 years ago

My daughter's house came with four mature azaleas that the previous owner shaped into upright ovals. He must have sheared them every year for a long time because when I peak "inside" the outer leaves, all I see are little tiny brown twigs -- no large, structural branches at all. Daughter likes the color and the placement, and the rounded (not natural) shape works fine with the house style. She's asked for my help getting them back to where they don't block the windows.

I've pruned various shrubs, but never sheared anything before. I've read a bunch but need some advice and/or reassurance regarding how far back can/should we cut. Taking off just one season's growth won't be enough. Taking off a foot would leave nothing but little tiny brown twigs. Should we use hand pruners, or hand shears? Fertilize and extra water after pruning? Help!

Front picture from last spring, side pic from the other day. We are going to remove the nadinas on each side of the steps, they are crowding the azaleas way too much.

Featured Answer

kitasei2

5 years ago

Hand prune and take each cut back to a branch. Leave no stubs. Yes it will look like a scalped bowling ball but not for long!

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Comments (8)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
5 years ago
omg ... they could be so incredible if you actually pruned them.. instead of sheared them ...

any chance you might want to learn how to do that.. ???

imo.. shrubs that size.. NEVER need fert .. they have an extensive roots system anbd should be able to 'get' whtever they need .. especailly if the lawn is ever ferted ...

where are you.. or her i guess.. big city name ...

i dont know if you can rejuvenation prune As ... but if you were to give them a seveer cut back to make them smaller ... where you are dictates how many years it might take to recover ... length of summer.. and depth of winter.. etc ...

ken

ps: to bad they were planted so close to the house with no real idea of future potential .. imagine if they were out in the middle of the lawn .. they could be incredible.. and no i am not recommending moving them ...
User thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
User
Original Author
5 years ago
She's a little west of Richmond, Virginia. I agree, they can't get much bigger or they'll brush up against the house. If we could somehow maintain them a bit lower than the window sills, that would be great.
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Embothrium
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Shear as desired immediately after flowering each year. Unless flowering falls off markedly afterward in which case you will have to tweak your approach accordingly. Otherwise evergreen azaleas are given close pruning into boulder like shapes in traditional Japanese gardens and still manage to set bud and bloom.
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User
Original Author
5 years ago
Is there a way to transition away from shearing? Slightly rounded is okay, but she doesn't want to clip them into tight domes every spring. Mostly they need to be shorter than the window sills. I don't see how to do that without making them look like bald bowling balls.
User
Original Author
5 years ago
thanks kitasei2 and everyone.

So maybe what I should do is: first pass use hand shears to lower one bush into a mound shape (bald on top, leaves on the sides), then go over it with hand pruners to take the twigs off to a larger branch. That will be the hard part -- right now I don't see any larger branches to aim for, it's all tiny twigs inside.

Then, treat all four bushes the same or 'ruin' only one? lol.
kitasei2
5 years ago
Find a copy of Cass Trumbull’s book on pruning. It will walk you through it.
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KW PNW Z8
5 years ago
Cass’s books are so wonderful! She does address azaleas because there are so many in what was her home in Seattle WA - sadly she’s deceased. I know she has many how to videos on the Plant Amnesty website. Www.plantamnesty.org
User thanked KW PNW Z8