Just moved back to the foothills and want some Flame Azaleas and Rhododendrons to grace my Giant yard...Any help is appreciated...plants. cuttings, etc. I have numerous different plants to trade

I can only see the one picture and the link is broken. The Cranberry Rootworm, Rhadopterus picipes, chews holes in the leaf, some of which are crescent shaped. Shiny and black with a greenish sheen, these beetles are about 3/16 inch long. They feed at night and hide in litter or under containers during the day. Beetles damage leaves by chewing oval-shaped holes. They are usually associated with container nursery stock in areas with dense shade. Remove ground litter and weeds from the area and reduce shade where possible. Treat late in the day and repeat once or twice weekly. It looks like your rhododendron's roots have lots of competition. Rhododendrons have very shallow roots and don't compete well with other plants. I would pull out some of the plants in the rhododendron's drip line, being very careful to avoid disturbing the rhododendron's roots. Then mulch well. The mulch will keep other plants from coming into the rhododendron's space, as well as conserve moisture, keep the roots cool in summer, and avoid ground heave in winter. The pH looks OK. Right now, I might apply a little HollyTone, but at half the rate on the package and just once. If the rhododendron has too much shade you are lucky you got one flower. They need some sun, several hours a day, from now until mid-summer to form next years flower buds. If shade is the problem, you have two choices, thin out the shade or move the rhododendron to a sunnier location. Here is a link that might be useful: How to grow rhododendrons and azaleas

Most variegated azaleas/rhododendrons are prone to reversion. That is, stronger growing non-variegated branches frequently appear. In time, they tend to overwhelm the variegated parts. If you wish to insure a variegated fuure for this plant, you should prune out the branches with plain green leaves. The plain green portions probably bloom better because they contain more chlorophyll and naturally do better. Variegated forms can burn in intense sun - although this is less of a problem in Z5 than in warmer climates - so moving this plant may do more harm than good. Poor bloom in evergreen azaleas of all kinds is nearly always a result of winter cold. Z5 is very difficult for most evergreen azaleas. This past spring has been particularly tough as well because of extreme temperature swings which damaged buds that made it through the winter. Neem oil is unlikely to do anything against leaf galls - you're doing the best thing by picking them off and disposing of them.

I can tell you there is no point in planting them in poor draining clay soils. Recently dug some up in this type soil. They looked bad, & were planted about 8 yrs ago. I could see the shape of the container in their roots. Roots had not grown a bit! A friend went to England & told me they grow like trees over there. He also seen some elsewhere growing nicely in dry rocky conditions. This leads me to believe that these plants can survive better in dry, well draining conditions than they can in wet muck with it's lack of oxygen. The soil was not amended at all where I work when the plants were installed & I have removed 75% of them. Several 'Roseum Elegans" put on such a great flowering that I have kept them. Planted Feather reed grass 'Karl Foerster' below/in front of them. After they bloom the grasses seed heads emerge and hide the foliage of the Rhodo's. Use Ironite, acidify, & wilt proof for winter protection. I am not an expert on this. Others can give you more info than I can. I look forward to reading future reply's to your question as I need to learn more myself. Later.