Yes Sharon, best to wait until they have finished flowering. You can do it in a pot with small cuttings with some leaves removed (just leave a couple). You can use any fine potting medium and dip them either in honey or a rooting hormone. I often just snip a bit of and stick it in the ground without any dipping and have pretty good success rate even that way, so it obviously is not too hard to do!
Cheers,
Dee.

Best time is when the new growth is firm/springy which unfortunately coincides with summer in Victoria. Roots are very fine so leave the rooted cuttings until the root ball is quite strong.

I find layering is the best way with a virtual 100% success rate. Partly snap a branchlet thru where you can bury the wound, maybe put some hormone on the wound, peg in place with tent peg or similar, and cover everything except the leaves with leaf litter.
Tony

I am very keen on cuttings as it is a good way to keep cost down

I have had some success with most plants
Azaleas come in lots of types I have about Twenty in the garden at the moment
Osteo is holding me back alittle with my garden
All the garden has been photographed so many times and all pic's put onto DVD s

There used to be a guy who sold azaleas at the markets who used to just layer the larger branches, as Tony says, into 8" pots. When they were rooted, just snip the branch from the main plant and presto - a ready to go azalea.

I have almost 100% strike rate with azalea cuttings, as follows: Some people might disagree though.
(a) Take no heed of the season, whether they are in bud, in flower or dormant;
(b) As they don't have nodes to speak of really, take 2" - 3" cuttings from anywhere on the plant, about 1/4" thick;
(c) Trim the bottom leaves and cut the top leaves in half;
(d) With a Stanley knife, scrape a tiny sliver (about 1/2" long) of bark from the bottom of the cutting, until the green shows through;
(e) Dip in water, then in hormone powder or gel, and plant in half potting mix/half sharp sand (the white, tiny gravelly type);
(f) Give the cuttings about 3 months to firmly take root.
Good luck,
Cheers, Venice