‘Exbury’ Azalea?

[SandSquid]

So my wife bought this ‘Exbury’ azalea last spring and then it just sat in the front yard in its nursery pot, up against the fence, and never got planted. Somewhere along the line the plastic nursery pot split open, exposing the root ball. I decided today to slip it into another pot for winter protection, and my wife said I could go ahead and keep it for bonsai if I wanted. I don’t know anything about these rhododendron hybrid azaleas (see pic below for the tag). It was also labeled “Azalea northern lights yellow,” which I’m assuming describes the flowers. The trunk isn’t very interesting as it stands right now, but there may be hope through radical pruning and chopping. The remaining leaves don’t seem very big, so maybe they’ll do alright reducing? There are a lot of good buds on its branches, including some down in the lower parts of the trunk.

Anyone got opinions or ideas about these? This one in particular?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Interesting! Exbury azaleas are deciduous. The best resource here would be:

Deciduous Azalea Techniques

Deciduous Azalea Techniques

I have admired deciduous azalea for years. Their growth pattern of short then long internodes is very different from the Satsuki and Kurume. I am particularly interested in the 'Northern Lights' series of winter hardy azalea hybrids. Please post your experiences here. What works, what...

www.bonsainut.com

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[SandSquid]

Oh, perfect thanks!