Azalea

Since moving into the new abode we've had two parties, home grown apple juice, plenty of wine (woohoo),  4 boquets (2 delivered!) and a pair of potted Azalea plants.

I hadn't done much but water them and let them wilt until today (the first day of snow in our yard!).
I repotted them in one big pot together, the bottom filled with squished plastic water bottles. We'll see how it goes.

After a bit of internet research I'm kind of in love with Azaleas! Check it out...

 

 

 

 

 

 I like them because you can prune them into a tree, and they have some major flower impact!

 

 

 

 These are mine where they sit in the kitchen. Far from pretty at the moment, first priority is just to get them through the winter.

 

 

Allegedly, there are over 10,000 species or hybrids of this plant. They are considered a high maintenance indoor plant (oh great) and are supposed to be a spring bloomer. They can be planted in early spring or late fall and pine needles are their preferred fertilizer (Got lots of those!). They don't like their roots too wet (oops) and are partial to partial shade. 

You can find a cool Azalea for dummies here, which is where all of the trivia above came from.

 

 I am tempted to plant mine outside, as it is currently late fall but because they are flowering-ish they think it's spring. I'm thinking it would mean certain death if I kicked them outside in this condition. I'll have to figure out how to hurry this process along and get them through summer fall and winter so they are ready for spring in T - 4 or 5 months! The garage is my new best friend.