Did I kill my azaleas????

[Tybee]

Oh no,

I was pulling ivy out of the yard and had a wild hair that I would prune back the overgrown azalea bushes.

(We just bought our house in June, I''ve never had a yard to work in before... I get excited.)
Well, prune I did. I may have gotten carried away. Now I''m worried that I''ve killed them!!!!

I read online that overgrown azaleas can stand some heavy pruning, but DEFINE heavy!

I''m not even sure that you''re supposed to prune things this time of year! Ach! Will there be permanent bald spots in our yard untll I
attempt to replant?

Tybee (the brown thumb)

 

[eks6426]

Tybee--Relax, most likely your azaleas will be just fine. Bushes can take pretty heavy pruning. I can''t remember what part of the country you are in, but your biggest risk by doing it this time of the year is that the new growth that will come from your pruning will be killed by the cold weather. New growth generally happens in the spring/summer. You might not see anything happen this fall/winter...just wait until spring to see what happens.

When you prune bushes, you are forcing the plant to put out new shoots and leaves. Most people prune bushes wrong. Rather than hacking away at the edges, you should pick the oldest (i.e. thickest) branches and prune them almost to the ground. This will force new growth to come out of the lower stems and will result in a fuller looking bushes that has leaves all the way to the ground rather than just a big bush with leaves on the edges. The recommended way to prune is to take about 1/3 of the old stems per year.

That being said, even if you hacked it to only 6" above ground it will probably come back just fine. It might take awhile and look ugly for a several months......

Good luck.

 

[Tybee]

IslandDreams,
Thank You!!!!!!!
I guess I was just having pruner''s remorse. We live in Atlanta, so it will be warm for a while, maybe it won''t be so bad.
It was just like those moments when you obsessively pluck your eyebrows, and keep plucking, and plucking... then you realize what you''ve done!
I guess the worst part is that now we can REALLY see our neighbor''s yard...
Thanks, though!