It would probably depend on the species. I don't know about
white pine or azaleas.
I've had mixed results with doing this. Last year a parson's
juniper was blown
over in a windstorm. The apex got whacked. The branch was
dangling and I really
wanted to save it. It was broken about 3/4 of the way through.
I wrapped it in
raffia, wired it into place, and left it for the season. In
the fall it was healed
through. Now as I look at it there is no swelling and you'd
never know it had
broken.

However, do not _ever_ try to wire and bend that branch!

Tree wounds do not "heal" like a broken bone heals. What you see
as "healing" is a thin layer of cells that have grown over the
broken part. Underneath the bark, the break is still just as
broken. ANY attempt at bending it in the foreseeable future will
lead to another break.

I almost always put a drop or two of model airplane cement on the
deadwood portion of a break before I try to repair it. That
doesn't make it any safer to wire and bend, but it keeps
accidents (a bird landing on the branch, brushing against it,
etc.) from being serious.

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

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