I overwintered some container azaleas by burying them in the
ground
(still in their 3 gal nursery pots) and then mulching them up
to a few
inches around their trunk.


snip


I noticed that the
bark seems to be shedding back for that portion of the trunk
that was
under the mulch. I scratched the fresh exposed surface to see
if it was
heartwood or fresh bark and it appears that there is a very
thin
membrane, very smooth, with a nice green cambium on the
underside of
that, then a nice whitish heartwood under the green cambium
layer.

Is there anything to be worried about here? It seems that a
new bark is
forming and the old is shedding away, I just didn't know that
azaleas
would do that.

Well, I was well into an answer for you when Outlook Express
pulled a Microsoft on me and performed an "Illegal Operation,"
shutting me down and losing what I'd written. Grrr!

Anyway, the gist of it was that azaleas should never be muched up
over their bark like that. They cannot take moisture against the
bark -- it rots away the old bark. This is the cause of some of
the wasp-waisted azalea bonsai you see on occasion.

There are very few after-the-fact solutions. You can cut the top
way back and hope to force some new growth in the damaged area,
then use those as sasrifice branches to try to fatten up the
trunk. Or, you can do as a friend did and air layer a new base
just above the damage. Or you can disguise the damage somehow --
perhaps by making a windswept or steeply slanting bonsai. Or you
can disguise the damage with soil (planting it a bit deep) or a
rock. None of these is particularly successful.

I have one of those narrower-at-the-soil-line azaleas (it was
that way when I got it at a very good price) and I've use the
slanting-tree-with-an-old-rock trick. It's OK, but _I_ know, and
so does anyone who looks hard.

Wish I had better news. But at least they're not dead as some
winter-mulched trees get from being nibbled upon by rodents. I
use mulch for VERY temporary protection from cold snaps, but then
I don't like in Kansas, either. I'd suggest a greenhouse or cold
frame next year.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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