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Gumpo azalea that has never bloomed #880081
Asked August 03, 2024, 10:27 PM EDT
We have a gumpo white azalea that has never bloomed since we purchased it in 2006. It is in the front of our house which gets morning sun until about noon. I have given it Hollytone for years and the past couple of years had netting over it to keep deer away. It is a healthy bush but I would like it to bloom. There are rhododendrons right next to it that bloom profusely every year. Do you have any recommendations? If you want to see a photo, I will be happy to take one.
Montgomery County Maryland
Expert Response
That said, Gumpo azaleas aren't terribly floriforous in general.
Are you pruning at all? If done too late in the season this can remove branches that would have resulted in flowers the following spring.
How much sun are they getting? (I'm seeing some conflicting information on how much light they need.).
Go ahead and attach up to 3 photos to this reply, and let us know the situation as far as amount of sun, mulch (no more than 3" deep and kept pulled back from contact with stems/trunk), how they are watered, etc. and we'll think about it some more.
Christine
I have attached a photo of the azalea. It gets sun until about 1pm. It gets watered by the rain – we usually don’t water the bushes directly in front of the house. We do have water timers for flowers along our front path but this bush is on the opposite side of the path. We haven’t pruned it. The deer did that until we put netting over it.
Thanks for your help,
Liz
From: ask=<personal data hidden> <ask=<personal data hidden>> On Behalf Of Ask Extension
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2024 3:00 PM
To: Elizabeth Sullivan <<personal data hidden>>
Subject: Re: Gumpo azalea that has never bloomed (#0149999)
Wow. Your azalea looks healthy, and we can see lots of new growth tips where flowers would be set this year for next season, which is promising.
Many of those tips are pushing out through the netting so you might consider widening the net a little or trying to gently push them to the inside if you can do it without breaking them.
If you have had the net on for two full years I'd think you should have seen at least some bloom this year.
To cover all the bases, here is the link to soil testing, though seeing your photos makes it less likely that this is an issue:
https://extension.umd.edu/resource/soil-testing-and-soil-testing-labs/
Christine
