Robert,

I personally prefer to prune azaleas as lightly as possible, and let them
keep their natural shapes. The only thing I recommend pruning before
azaleas flower is winter "dieback." After azaleas flower, I'll prune back
any stems that are overly-long and look odd on the plant. I suggest that
you check out the Plant Amnesty website: http://www.plantamnesty.org/ where
I learned about pruning a stem back to a "natural" juncture rather than just
snipping it off in the middle of the stem.

The only exceptions to the above are 2 huge monsters that can put out more
than 3' of new growth in a year with decent rainfall! (I had no idea that
azaleas could be so big!) These 2 were planted too close to each other
*and* to close to my house, so I trim them back severely every couple of
years so that I can at least have 2 separate bushes, rather than one big
mass with some white flowers and some that are "shocking purple" (sorry, I
have no idea what the color or variety really is, but it's an almost
neon-bright flower).

Anne Lurie
NE Raleigh


"Robert Gray" wrote in message
. com...
Ok, Waiting till fall.

How much should I cut them back after they bloom?