In April, 2011 I bought a Girard’s Fuchsia Azalea at the Florence Rhododendron Show at the Florence events center with the intention of turning it into a bonsai. This variety is a highly awarded new variety. It was richly decorated with fuchsia-colored flowers and seemed to have a good understructure of trunk and branches.
I repotted it and installed it on the patio. It was knocked out of its pot during a winter wind/rain storm but I restored it to its pot the next morning. I applied a timed release fertilizer and on June 30, 2011 after the bloom was done I began to prune it with two purposes in mind. First I wanted to limit the height and form a flat top spreading laterally. Second, I wanted to show the trunk and lower branches. To limit the height I cut the tops of any upward trending new growth in the belief that this would encourage thickening of the desirable foliage and lateral growth. In order to show the branches and trunk I cleaned up the undergrowth by trimming small branches.
I should mention that azaleas are known to respond to heavy pruning with vigorous new growth and lots of flowers. I’m looking forward to the coming spring.
