Saturday, May 14, 2005
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Your azaleas are amazing - I'm so jealous. I've tried to establish a microclimate in my Zone 4 garden, but have not had luck with azaleas overwintering. Not even those that are rated as hardy in my zone.
Mia,
Are you in the great plains? Sometimes it's the hot, dry summers as much as the winters. Some of the northern lights azaleas are rated 35-40 below, but that's not all there is to it. In the great plains you get that 40 above one week, 40 below the next,which we get a touch of, and that's really hard on stuff, plus alkaline soil and water. Raised beds with just perfect soil makes a HUGE difference in survival. I dig out the whole bed to a depth of 18 inches, and then raise the bed another 6, and fill with a mix of peat, compost, pine bark, and sand (the sand really helps). Or, you could just raise roses.
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Are you in the great plains? Sometimes it's the hot, dry summers as much as the winters. Some of the northern lights azaleas are rated 35-40 below, but that's not all there is to it. In the great plains you get that 40 above one week, 40 below the next,which we get a touch of, and that's really hard on stuff, plus alkaline soil and water. Raised beds with just perfect soil makes a HUGE difference in survival. I dig out the whole bed to a depth of 18 inches, and then raise the bed another 6, and fill with a mix of peat, compost, pine bark, and sand (the sand really helps). Or, you could just raise roses.
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