Post
by canadianplant » Sun May 15, 2011 10:49 am
Thanks paul
Im always reluctant to cut roots on plants ( I just planted a russian plive without pruning its roots, but if anything will be ok without cutting the roots, its a russian olive!). But, rhodies arent my forte , and definetly yours ( you said you specialize in rhodies correct?), so ill have to take your advice on that for sure. The only thing is its flowering like mad. Cutting the roots might stop some of the flowering no? ( Im not big on the flowers either, but their necassary in a garden ecosystem IMO, and then again, generaly rhodies are bought for their flowers id say).
Thats great to know that one survives in north bay! Id say my exact area is warmer then north bay ( im less then a mile from the lake, so it has that moderating effect on temps), but the city on average is about the same. They can take a bit more sun this far north eh? My azalea is in full sun, and right now it hansnt leafed back out ( Its an exubury hybrid "Lollipop", so it looses its leaves). I sacrificed the tip of a branch to see if the wood is soft, and it is, and green, but i expected to see something by now, concidering their an "early" flowering plant.
That leads me to the acidity question. My azaleas leaves had the notorious yellowing of the leaves, which from what ive gathers is usualy (not always of course), acidity problems. I negated anything else, because no other plants around it had any problems. Also, my exact area of the city was lake bottom untill a few hundred years ago, so its a sandy clay soil, that was more of a floodplain/grassland. A few km in town ( or north to port aurther), is where the real granite starts, and the pines, and the muskeg., Also the acidic soil id presume, concidering Labrador tea, rasberries, blue berries and service.saskatoon berries grow wild here. My grandmas house isnt far from me, and she has hydrangea ( every third house or so has one or more) and none of them are blue, just that pink or cream/off white colour. So IMO peat ( I bought a brick today), is needed. Ill have to dig way down into my compost pile, but ill get some..
THanks for the input