MOLLIS AZALEAS

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 150, 20 March 1936, Page 18

MOLLIS AZALEAS

Look For Suckers The Mollis Azaleas which make sueh a delightful display in early summer are for the most part budded or. grafted on to the stronger Azalea pontica. , . The mere mention of budding and grafting conjures in the mind of the knowledgeable gardener a suCker- problem. You can be sure that whenever there is a stock, it doesn’t remain inactive for long. In the case of azaleas the pontica stock is rather a sinner. It is always throwing up from its roots strong suckers which give the lessxlgorous variety above a bad time. Wo advise you therefore to examine carefully all your hybrid azaleas, and, if you discover suckers, to remove M>em at once, otherwise the hybrid will soon be doomed. , There is such a marked difference between the foliage of pontica and a hybrid that you cannot possibly go wrong. The former' is thicker, smaller and more closely set, and, whereas by brid azaleas leaves are now showing beautiful autumn tints, those of pont.ua are still quite green. ■When removing the suckers, sciapaway sufficient soil to enable you to cut them off where they arise on the roots. Unless you do this, there wil. be a later growth of suckers a good deal more vigorous and parasitical than lh After suckering,' dress the azaleas with bone-meal at the rate of an ounce to the square yard, hoc it in, and follow up with a 2in. thick mulch of equal parts well-rotted stable manure and leaf-mould.