Confused Azalea?

[NakMuay]

I purchased an Azalea about a month ago which had alot of dead flowers on it.
I trimmed it up a little bit when i bought it to clean it up a bit and plan what i will do with it after it finishes flowering in spring.
This week i noticed it was getting a few buds on it and also hepas of shoots where i had trimmed it up earlier, when i walked outside this morning the first thing i noticed was a big pink flower hanging off the side. I also noticed that the Azalea that i posted about here- viewtopic.php?f=132&t=8381 has got atleast 15 buds starting to form.

Isthis normal for this time of the year or are my Azaleas confused?

[Jamie]

the azalea/rhododendron in my garden are spot flowering at the moment too, we have had a fairly cold spurt up here for qld. I wouldnt be concerned unless the tree has a lot more growing to do as flowering saps a lot of energy.

J.

[NakMuay]

The one with about 15 buds coming out needs alot of growing still. The one with the flower will be put in a bonsai pot soon.
I'm assuming i should cut the buds off of the one that needs more growing?

[kcpoole]

Yea Nak
If you do not want to waste growth on the flowers, then remove them as you see them developing

I have many azaleas at home ( in the ground) that are currently in flower so can be normal

Ken

[Jamie]

The one with about 15 buds coming out needs alot of growing still. The one with the flower will be put in a bonsai pot soon.
I'm assuming i should cut the buds off of the one that needs more growing?

hi mate,

as Ken said, yes cut the buds off, the smaller they are when you remove them the better as this will stop to much energy being wasted, which when we have trees that need a lot of growing on we need all the energy we can get from the tree to develop it in a reasonable time, obviously patience is a virtue when growing bonsai, yet so much of that important energy can be wasted by allowing the likes of flowers or similar to develop/bloom which will take a lot out of the tree as an enormous amount of energy does go into the flower buds. I know it can be nice to see our trees in flower yet if they are in a grow on stage it does sap alot. unfortunately it is a catch 22 in that sense.

J.

[NakMuay]

Thanks for the info guys. The Azaleas are now flower and bud free.

[Glaucus]

Flower buds are developed in late summer and autumn. Removing them in spring has little effect.

Also, I think you should remove the branch. It is already almost as thick as the trunk.

Also, you should select the branch that continues to trunk line in the apex and remove all the others that compete with it.