The bushes have earned their keep

Remember how I kept saying that I hated the bushes in front of my house? I had every intention of ripping them out if they didn't impress me by spring. Well, this week they earned their keep. They burst into a beautiful cluster of pink blooms. Check it out:



Upon inspecting them I found that they are, in fact, a kind of azalea bush. I thought the leaves looked familiar, but I was not used to seeing azalea leaves change color in the fall, so this threw me off. Anyway, I've decided I won't be ripping the bushes out after all (which is good, because I simply don't have the energy for that right now). I will, however, be pruning them into a neater shape because they are pretty wild looking right now. So, anybody got any tips on pruning azaleas?

HOW PRETTY!!!!
They do look like azaleas for sure..but I have no clue as to how to trim them. I would suppose it's best to do it before they bloom or after. Maybe come this fall you could do it. That's when I'd do it..or early spring. See if you can find some place on the net that suggests when..or even do a search on the Farmers Almanac, they may have something listed there.

Actually, I know this one!!! You prune them as soon as all the blooms fall off. Cut them waaaay back if you want. Chase cut the ones under my window down to practically nubs one year. I figured they were ruined. They were just sticks sticking up. Next year they came back beautiful. Looks like I need to be getting my own done soon.

Or you can try to shape them. I've seen it done, they look stupid.

Yeah I've heard tell of azaleas up here... I may have to come steal those Lea. I need something from home up here and my grammy always had a yard full of azaleas.

We have all our flowers and fertilizer and blah blah blah just waiting for the weekend to be nice so I can plant. And hopefully I'll have the energy this weekend. Last weekend was disaster zone house.

I know what you mean about needing something from home. I recently bought two yellow jessamine plants (a hybrid called mergeruite that can survive the cold) to put out in the back yard. I can't wait to smell that heavenly smell they have.