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Azalea Not Blooming

Azalea not Blooming Question: First of all I love your newsletter. I have a question and I did try your suggestions for finding an answer before sending my question directly to you. I have two deciduous azalea that are not blooming for me. I live on Gabriola Island, BC. They both grow well and bloomed in the past. One of them has one lonely blossom this spring and the other has none for the second year in a row. These are special plants to me as they somewhat mark the birth of my first granddaughter and around here we call them the Megan plants. I know of your fondness for scented plants and these are heavenly when they bloom. Our soil is somewhat acidic and their planting area has been well supplemented with organic matter. Please advise if and when you find the time. Thank you.

Doug says

- If those plants aren't blooming out there then you have a stress problem of some kind that's wiping out the buds. That's assuming the plants are old enough to throw buds and not recently planted.

Stressors can include: too much fertilizer so you get great growth instead of flower bud formation, cold temperatures, salt damage, etc.

Check to see what's really happening to the plants. If they're forming buds but the buds aren't opening, that's one thing.

If they're not forming buds, then you have an entirely different problem (likely fertility).

You gotta know where the problem is before you can solve it. But it's likely an environmental problem of some kind assuming the plants are old enough and big enough to bloom.

Azalea Bloom Video


If you need a hit of color, here's a video I shot of Bellingrath Gardens - a quarter of a million azaleas in bloom.








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