paghat wrote:

Pruning for shape can be done in autumn after the shrub ceases to bloom.
But for best bloom, pruning is done in late winter or early spring, when
buds are most evident, & the buds define where pruning cuts are made.

Yeah... but I've found that even when I leave buds on, and the buds
survive and turn into shoots during the summer, they often don't bloom,
and it seems to be related to a hard winter. 2001-2 was very mild here
in Cleveland and I had plenty of blooms in 2002. 2002-3 was a rock
solid frozen winter, and it doesn't look like I'll have any blooms.

Winters in Cleveland are unpredictable, sometimes as cold as Minnesota,
other times as mild as Seattle.


You can also underlimb a bit if it's a Bigleaf
cultivar that flops to the ground with rangy bottom limbs, as any flowers
produced down there will just lay on the ground

Not my experience... there are rangy bottom limbs that lie on the
ground, but if these flower, the flowers themselves will be upright.
The new shoots bend themselves upward 90 degrees before putting out a
flower.

Why a shrub wouldn't bloom is a hard call. Stress factors would include:
too much shade (they like partial shade); too little moisture (older
shrubs are very drought-hardy & the leaves could look quite nice, but
still not energentic enough to set buds); too wet from clayey soil;
depleted soil (heavy bloomers require a lot of feeding, certainly nothing
less than an azalea fertilizer in spring, but perhaps something stronger,
plus a couple times through the year); or a late-occurring freeze killing
buds just as they started swelling. I'm also of the opinion that tinkering
with pH levels to turn flowers bright pink stresses the shrub, which
really prefers acidic soil, & no shrub likes its pH levels changing
radically from month to month.

I've considered all the above and I'm still going with the late freeze.
The blooms are already too pink! My daughter asks me if I can turn them
blue. It seems to take more than just a couple dousings with Miracid
though. :-)

- Alex