How to Keep Azaleas Alive

Avoid planting fast-growing azaleas next to smaller, slower growing varieties. The more aggressive plant will shade the smaller one, and it may fail to thrive.

Plant the azalea grown in hot, dry regions in an area where it receives afternoon shade. Mist the azalea with water from the hose when temperatures climb over 95 degrees Fahrenheit. This helps avoid dry foliage.

Acidify the soil to rectify a pH higher than 5.5. Alkaline soil restricts the movement of nutrients through the azalea, causing chlorosis and other problems. Dig four holes, 1 foot in depth and 8 inches wide, equally spaced around the azalea, at the dripline.  Add 1 cup of elemental sulfur and 2 tbsp. of iron to the soil excavated from each hole. Place the amended soil back into the holes, and water the azalea until the top 10 inches are moist.

Irrigate the azalea often enough so that the soil remains moist at all times. Azaleas have shallow roots, and they dry out quickly. Insufficient water kills azaleas.

Top-dress the soil beneath the azalea. Although any organic mulch will work, pine needles add a bit of acidity to the soil, which the azalea requires.

Fertilize the azalea in early spring with a fertilizer labeled for use on azaleas and rhododendrons. Use the amount of fertilizer suggested on the package, and sprinkle it on the soil at the azalea's dripline. Water it in, to a depth of 6 inches.

Use your fingers or pruning shears to snip 1 inch from the tip of new stems. This prompts the azalea to branch, making it bushier.

Prune the azalea immediately after it finishes flowering but no later than the end of the first week in July. Cut off dead branches back to their points of origin. Remove the remaining shoots to one-third their length.