Azalea contest 2020-2025

[Underdog]

Warming up today for a bit. Signs of spring in the air I'll try to get mine outa the frozen mulch bed.

any reason you can't leave them living in harmony together or does familiarity bread contempt in them too....

I had a pair of Girards crimson I split and put in the grow bed last year.

 

[Rivka]

Ok azalea contestants.........we should be looking at updates by the first day of Spring.

How about, as part of annual update, folks post here with:

• 2 pictures "Initial Start" & "Year 1/Current"
• a link back to their contest thread

It would give a nice way for folks to see what interesting or similar things are going on and what threads they may want to watch more closely.

 

[Rivka]

Heres Mine:
Acquired Early May 2020, neglected landscape freebee:

Year one update, March 2021, Just barely starting spring growth, (what is seen here is from last summer growth) next up for it is repotting into better media, hello Kanuma! and a larger volume "deep flat" container, goodby Ikea tub!

Thread is Rivka's Azalea 2020-2025 Contest Entry, lately we have been discussing issues of deadwood.

 

[Rivka]

Awfully quiet around here, did slugs get you all?

 

[Forsoothe!]

Slugs go dormant and/or stay under the garden liter until the ground is above 40°F. We fair-weather gardeners need to stay warm, too. Matter of fact I'm going to go turn the coffee machine on and get my bottle of Capt. Morgan...

 

[Rivka]

We fair-weather gardeners need to stay warm, too. Matter of fact I'm going to go turn the coffee machine on and get my bottle of Capt. Morgan...

 

[shinmai]

Is it too late to jump in? Until just a few days ago I didn’t have anything that was new material and had not already been in development, or was an import already in refinement.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Is it too late to jump in? Until just a few days ago I didn’t have anything that was new material and had not already been in development, or was an import already in refinement.

That’s great! I don’t see why not? @Pitoon has a sticky thread with the details.
Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Bavarian Raven]

Well I’m jumping out. My little azalea is my only “bonsai” to die over the winter. Well damn. Lol.

 

[Pitoon]

Well I’m jumping out. My little azalea is my only “bonsai” to die over the winter. Well damn. Lol.

Could you reply on your thread that you're tapping out so I will know not to reply to your thread with an update, thanks.

 

[shinmai]

Here’s what I’m starting with—Girard’d “Hotshot”. I removed the spent blossoms, but it’s otherwise unmolested. About 12 inches tall before any pruning, the trunk is an inch thick before I dig down and see what, if anything, I have for nebari. I’ll start a progress thread.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Nice flowers! That Hotshot has such brilliant colors!

I’ll be interested to see your solution to the interesting branch union. I have a couple of my last year group of satsuki with a similar configuration that I’m still puzzling out.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[shinmai]

It’s actually nice having such a long time interval to work with—one can take an initial direction in pruning, see what happens the following year, and either happily forge ahead or go back to the drawing board.

Having just committed to this one yesterday, I stopped in at a garden store today and bought another Hotshot with a much better trunk. Ah, well.....

 

[Forsoothe!]

It’s actually nice having such a long time interval to work with—one can take an initial direction in pruning, see what happens the following year, and either happily forge ahead or go back to the drawing board.

Having just committed to this one yesterday, I stopped in at a garden store today and bought another Hotshot with a much better trunk. Ah, well.....

So do two. No problemo...

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Zounds! We can do two? Let me know!

I just pried an unknown cherry red single apart from a Hexe azalea in the landscape out front! It was misplaced in the pot.... this is third time the local nursery sold me an azalea that had two different cultivars planted in the same pot and was advertised as one type. The amount of roots left on the unknown red azalea after the separation were sparse to say the least.... so this lil guy may be on the edge all summer. It wont be the first time!

In any event I took a number of cuttings just in case I have to lean on another generation of the azalea.

Here’s a photo of this awesome single. Also you can see the Hexe flower in the bottom right of the frame. It’s a hose in hose.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Bonsaidoorguy]

Zounds! We can do two? Let me know!

I just pried an unknown cherry red single apart from a Hexe azalea in the landscape out front! It was misplaced in the pot.... this is third time the local nursery sold me an azalea that had two different cultivars planted in the same pot and was advertised as one type. The amount of roots left on the unknown red azalea after the separation were sparse to say the least.... so this lil guy may be on the edge all summer. It wont be the first time!

In any event I took a number of cuttings just in case I have to lean on another generation of the azalea.

Here’s a photo of this awesome single. Also you can see the Hexe flower in the bottom right of the frame. It’s a hose in hose.

cheers
DSD sends
View attachment 377027

Very nice red. I thought that you could start two but have to submit only one at the end. I could be thinking of a different contest.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Very nice red. I thought that you could start two but have to submit only one at the end. I could be thinking of a different contest.

Gosh, I thought since @Forsoothe! has already won, we can make up our own rules?
DSD sends

 

[hinmo24t]

im in. heres my two, $10 specials, purchased in fall 2020. still have to scope the rules, could render down to 1 for this contest

 

[stu929]

I think I will do two as well. I just need to decide which two! lol

 

[Forsoothe!]

No, I make up my own rules and the rest of you guys play it by the book. I cheat, too. I lie when I have to.

I'm thinking about squeezing this Girard's Pleasant White into the action. I've had it for a few years, but honest, I never touched it...

I'll post it again in a few days when all the flowers are out. It's a left-over from when I landscaped my house in 2008...