more azaleas
Posted: October 23rd, 2016, 7:09 pm
My daughter and partner are renovating an old house.
This weekend Tom got hold of a bobcat and the front yard got levelled. He saved the azaleas for me
While Tom is a great diesel mechanic you may note by the trunk damage on these that he's not the world's most experienced Bobcat operator 
They were both thoughtful enough to save these for me but not being experienced plant people, stored them on the font verandah, in full sun, until I could pick them up. You can see that by the time I arrived this afternoon all 3 were a little wilted.
Never mind, they ARE azaleas.
Back at home preparations for transplant - Shibui style.
First, shake off as much garden soil as I can. Many people try to keep as much soil on the roots of collected plants as they can. I find that garden soil in pots is a recipe for disaster and get far better results by removing most of it before potting up with proper potting mix.
In this case I was pleased I did These little buggers would no doubt have cause havoc if they had been left in the rootball
Another pleasant surprise - whoever planted these azaleas in the garden was thoughtful enough to shove the plastic labels right down in the rootball so I now know what variety 2 of them are
Now prune the top and the roots. then pot up in orchid pots with good mix. I reduced the roots of #2 a little more so it would fit into a 20 cm pot. The larger one went into a 30 cm pot.
Then, after watering them in well, a spot on the ground under a nursery bench to recover (or not
)
I know some of you will be horrified to note that no Seasol was used in this project. 
This weekend Tom got hold of a bobcat and the front yard got levelled. He saved the azaleas for me
While Tom is a great diesel mechanic you may note by the trunk damage on these that he's not the world's most experienced Bobcat operator They were both thoughtful enough to save these for me but not being experienced plant people, stored them on the font verandah, in full sun, until I could pick them up. You can see that by the time I arrived this afternoon all 3 were a little wilted.
Never mind, they ARE azaleas.
Back at home preparations for transplant - Shibui style.
First, shake off as much garden soil as I can. Many people try to keep as much soil on the roots of collected plants as they can. I find that garden soil in pots is a recipe for disaster and get far better results by removing most of it before potting up with proper potting mix.
In this case I was pleased I did These little buggers would no doubt have cause havoc if they had been left in the rootball
Another pleasant surprise - whoever planted these azaleas in the garden was thoughtful enough to shove the plastic labels right down in the rootball so I now know what variety 2 of them are
Now prune the top and the roots. then pot up in orchid pots with good mix. I reduced the roots of #2 a little more so it would fit into a 20 cm pot. The larger one went into a 30 cm pot.
Then, after watering them in well, a spot on the ground under a nursery bench to recover (or not
)
I know some of you will be horrified to note that no Seasol was used in this project. 
