Big old landscape azelea

[CWTurner]

This azalea was almost this large when I purchased my home 25 years ago, so it may be as old as the house (95 years).

It has always been a healthy landscape plant (semi-evergreen, crimson flowers), but the past couple of winters were really hard on it. This past spring it was bare with no life in it. Over the course of the summer I have been taking extra care with it (watering, adjusting the PH slightly after having the soil tested, feeding with Hollytone, mulching) and there is a fair bit of new growth, some pretty far out along the branches, some budding on the trunks, so I guess the roots are still good.



Since all of the dead branches will need to be cut off (after I'm sure there won't be any back-budding) which will make it a bit unusual looking for some years, AND because I think it would make a cool bonsai, I am considering lifting it and splitting it up. I would do this in Autumn.

Anybody have a similar circumstance that worked or didn't work.

CW

 

[drew33998]

95 years worth of roots. Sounds like a back breaker. Who knows how far out the live roots are from the base of the tree?

 

[rockm]

If you're going to lift it this fall, you'd better have a sheltered frost free area to keep it from frost and freezes all winter.

If it were mine, I'd trench around half of it, backfill with bonsai soil and wait til the spring to get it out.

In-ground Roots will continue to grow well into November, so there's time to get some newer roots going before then.

 

[rockm]

Very nice example of old landscape material for bonsai use. I think Chase Rosade dug up a 125-150 year-old azalea in Philly to use as a bonsai. I think he still has it. It's spectacular (and BIG).

 

[AppleBonsai]

Man that would look cool in a landscape setting...

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

It has one trunk that may be interesting as bonsai, but the rest look long, straight, and lack taper to be terribly interesting as bonsai. The trunk that exits the top of the frame in the first photo...that's your bonsai.

Azaleas don't have huge, deep-running root systems, so at the right time and with a little aftercare, it should respond well to collecting. Ideally, that would be spring.

 

[CWTurner]

It has one trunk that may be interesting as bonsai, but the rest look long, straight, and lack taper to be terribly interesting as bonsai. The trunk that exits the top of the frame in the first photo...that's your bonsai.

Azaleas don't have huge, deep-running root systems, so at the right time and with a little aftercare, it should respond well to collecting. Ideally, that would be spring.

Thanks for the advice Brian. Since the bush has declined so much these past two winters, I am concerned about leaving it as is for another winter and losing my option to dig it.
I appreciate everyone's advice.

Yes, there are some straight uninteresting trunks to remove, but I think that there are 3 bonsai in there. Not a lot of taper, but gnarly old trunks.

CW

 

[quietobserver]

Maybe consider placing it a super wide container, i.e.. what bvf said, the roots won't be deep but likely a dense mat near the surface. Hope it works out well for you, old trunks look pretty damn cool...might not be a show stopper bonsai, but beats the hell outta leaving it there to die in a series of nasty winters.

 

[0soyoung]

I think you can dig it now. I transplant/repot azaleas, quince, pines, firs, hemlocks, etc. this time of the year. The important parameters are temperatures below 90F, rH above 50%. Keeping it in dappled shade for the first couple of weeks afterward may be unnecessary, but will give you a 'margin of error'. Just don't be ripping that root mat!

 

[Dav4]

If you're going to collect now, I'd assume you'd have to chop now too? Perhaps, do the chop now, mulch the ground/water well/protect from wind this coming winter, and collect next spring. It's definitely not the best time of year to chop, but again, you'll have to chop at collection, and I'd want an intact root system in place to deal with it...just my 0.02.

 

[Giga]

That's pretty kgnarly, great find, and if done right will be pretty amazing.

 

[Eric Group]

Wish you had done this about 3 months ago.

I dug a struggling old landscape Azalea a couple years ago around this time of year, and the issue you will encounter is the tree- if it gets happy- will try to push new growth all winter and as soon as a freeze hits, the new growth will die off... Which can sap the tree's energy.... Mine survived the winter but we are a lot more mild here...