How to Prune Overgrown Azaleas

Azaleas are garden shrubs that bloom in a wide variety of colors including purple, pink, white and red. Depending on the variety of azalea bush, it will bloom in the spring or fall. Azaleas can grow from 12 inches to 10 feet in height. Pruning azaleas at the wrong time can leave the shrub vulnerable to disease and reduce the number of blooms it produces. Azaleas that are overgrown should be pruned in mid-March, 3 to 4 weeks before the shrub flowers. Pruning your overgrown azalea will allow the shrub to become fuller and produce more blooms for years to come.

Hand shears
Pruning loppers or saw
Rubbing alcohol or bleach

Instructions

- 1
  Remove dead or diseased branches on the outside of the overgrown azalea with a pair of sharp hand pruners. Cut dead branches where the dead branch meets another branch of the azalea.
- 2
  Use the loppers to cut off dead or diseased branches that extend to the stem of the overgrown azalea bush. Trim azalea branches 6 inches into the healthy part of the branch.
- 3
  Clean your hand shears and pruning loppers by sterilizing them with alcohol or 1 1/2 cups of bleach with 2 gallons of water. Sterilizing your pruning tools will prevent the spread of disease to other bushes and trees.
- 4
  Cut back severely overgrown azaleas to 6 to 12 inches in height from the ground. Leave the healthiest branches to encourage new growth when your azalea bush blooms again.

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