We have 2 Azeleas in our yard. Both were planted by the original property owner's sister. The Pinkster was planted back in 1986 & it is somewhat struggling since hurricane Helene hit Spruce Pine North Carolina but it is making a comeback. The main Azelea is over 12' tall & 44' circumstance. It has been trimmed g kept in a gumdrop shape since it was planted back in the 1950's by her older sister (Jewel). She is now 86yo & told me of a time she went to South Carolina or Georgia & saw an Azelea that would now be well over 100 years old & over 15' high & 100' long due to their natural propagation method similar to air layering but allows the branches to grow into contact with the ground & begins rooting again allowing it to spread. The deer have had little to eat since the Hurricane & I've had to trim much of the base about 3-4' high & found numerous new growths from the exact method Mrs. Jewel described & it is thriving ❤️!! The 2 pictures above are our pictures we have from April 2024 & today.. My family will be getting Azeleas from it as gifts..

Since you haven't gotten any answers here, you might want to ask on your local forum - I think there's a TX one - since folks there have more experience with your growing conditions.

Cristina my azalea garden didn’t bloom at all a few years ago and that was even with my care, so don’t beat yourself up too much. I wasn’t sure if it was drought, nutrients, sun/shade, soil pH, etc. I had the soil tested like akamainegrower recommended (although it’s a bit of a different process here because everything is more expensive in CA). Come to find out my soil was great and extremely fertile in everything, except I was just lacking nitrogen. Most likely caused from mulching yearly without ever fertilizing to make up for the nitrogen. Quick fix! Added nitrogen as recommended and they have been blooming consistently and looking happy ever since. No need to add anything else since my soil was already higher than necessary in other nutrients. No need to change irrigation schedule or sun/shade. Just a quick fix of granular nitrogen, kept up yearly. Without the specific soil analysis, I would have been guessing and probably would have wasted a lot of time and money on the wrong things, so even though soil analysis is expensive here and not available at county exts or UCs, it was still totally worth it.

Thank you everyone! My "rhododendron/azalea" experiment over the winter was fairly successful, I have to say! Of the 2 Nova Zembla's that I planted, both survived with burlap protection and are now doing well. They did not bloom bu t I hope that they will do so next year :-) Then for the PJM, it also survived well and has been blooming too! As for the 2 Double Pink Azalea's from the Electric Lights series that I planted last year, both appeared dead earlier this spring. Then one started to show some life and is now leafing out nicely, but the other one is mostly dead.... All of the got the same burlap protection. So now I am keen to try more PJMs this year! Thank you again for your information and help. I hope that these guys will continue to do well over the many years to come!