In article ,
"Marie Dodge" wrote:

The plants are not a good rich green color once planted out in the gardens.
The get paler as summer passes. The soil is alkaline from natural limestone
locking up any iron in the soil. By late summer they're almost chlorotic.
That doesn't happen with Ironite. Also, our Hollies and Azaleas would die
from chlorosis before we started using sulfur and Ironite. I did buy some
stuff for Hollies and Azaleas this year. I didn't use the Ironite on them.
But who knows what poisons are in any of these products? There's no way to
know. How can I even know what's in the 10-10-10 I buy?

Sometimes you just can¹t grow an acid loving plant in a alkaline area.
Sure you can try to over ride this limitation but it requires energy aka
money. AND the odds are not in your favor.

http://www.demesne.info/Garden-Help/Solutions/Soil/Alkaline-Soils.htm

http://www.gardeninghelpuk.com/plants_for_acid_soil.htm

What state do you reside in?

I have to deal with Acid here in NJ.

Bill

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Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA