Pest battle with Azalea — and how I won

I had a serious problem with failure to flower when pruned at the wrong time on my Azalea earlier this year. Caught it late and had to work hard to bring the plant back. The experience was frustrating but educational.

Now that it's healthy again I can fully appreciate multi-season interest from flowers, berries, bark, and autumn colour, which is remarkable. I've repositioned it in a wildlife garden with berrying and nectaring shrubs and improved my attention to deadheading where appropriate to extend the flowering season. summer flowering on the current season's growth was the proof that the plant had fully recovered — genuinely beautiful. Moral of the story: inspect regularly and catch problems early.