A new azalea

It is an always interesting process when you get the opportunity to save any living thing, be it a child, an insect, or a plant. Over the summer we had the opportunity to get two free shrubs, if we were willing to go dig up and move them. I already did a post on the Japanese Andromeda that we transplanted. This is the Azalea that we got from the same family.


When transplanting an older shrub it can be a daunting task. The root, having been established for many years are often very large and deep seated. It becomes necessary to do a full root pruning even before you can start to dig. For these shrubs the people we got them from had done a lot of branch pruning before we even saw them for the first time. For this Azalea I had to do additional pruning in order for us to even reach below it to start digging. Then there was considerable root pruning before we were able to get under the root ball to get it out of the ground. This required so much pruning, that I was not sure how well it would transfer. We had dug the new hole prior to getting it, having learned that from the last transplant, which had to sit in the open air for several hours while we got the location cleared out and the new hole dug. But as you can see from these photos, she has settled in so well, and just loves here new location right outside our dining room.




We will supply her with new companions in the spring when we can get in to the area where we had moved two smaller Azaleas some years back when they had to be moved due to overcrowding. Also here is a great shot of all the new growth on the Andromeda in just tow months since she was moved.


It is a huge and physically draining process to transplant older shrubs, but so worth the effort and time involved.