"Mark" wrote in message
news:mP_ic.19577$DM5.5510@okepread04...
The blossoms on the overgrown azaleas in my front yard have now fallen
off,
and I am ready to prune them back. I just bought this house and I am
guessing that it has been 8-10 years since they were last pruned. Some
are
probably 7 feet tall, and completely block first floor windows.

I looked at the base of some of the plants, and many of the stalks are at
least 1 inch in diameter. My question: How do I prune these plants and
ensure that I don't kill them? Do I trim them back all the way to the 4-6
main shoots out of the ground? Do I leave those shoots intact, and just
trim off the branches from the main shoots?

If I mess this up, my wife will divorce me.

Right now is the perfect time to prune them. Pruning azaleas is the same as
all spring flowing shrubs. First get rid of all dead or diseased wood by
cutting it back until you get to healthy wood. Next reduce the number of
shoots starting from the inside. You can reduce it to 4-6, by half, or
whatever you think it needs to look presentable again. After that, some
people give flowering shrubs a flat-top, but I prefer to prune back in such
a way as to retain the shrub's natural form. After pruning, fertilize them
a couple of times with Azalea fertilizer before it gets really hot.

Don't worry about pruning them aggressively. You won't kill them. The
worst thing that can happen is you might not get a good flowering next year,
but this is usually the result of pruning too late. Perennial flowering
shrubs only bloom on new growth. Your goal is to thin them out aggressively
so they can put on lots of new growth.