Hi. I live in Guelph (ie practically a suburb of Toronto) Ontario and was wondering if I grow an azalea in a pot on my deck, can I overwinter it in my garage. The garage is not heated but does have a small window I could put it near for some light. Will it go somewhat dormant during the winter in the garage? Please and thankyou for your reply
Indoor Azaleas are different from the ones you see growing in many Canadian gardens and they are not frost hardy. Therefore, your unheated garage is really not the ideal place to overwinter it. The best place for it is on a south facing window ledge or floor, where it can get as much sunlight as possible.
These plants also like a higher humidity level which becomes a problem with our highly heated home/office winter environments. I would suggest you get a water tight tray, add some pebbles in the bottom and fill with water only to the level of the top of the pebbles. Then place your Azalea in its pot, on top – the container bottom should not be sitting in water but sitting on the pebbles. This way, the air humidity around the plant will rise as the water evaporates and you should be able to just top up the water every few days. An alternative, would be to buy a spray bottle and use the fine spray nozzle to mist the air around the plant several times a day.
I’m attaching a link to a good general indoor Azalea care handout from the Royal Horticultural Society, see below, and even though it is from the UK, these Azaleas are propagated and grown in greenhouses around the world and their growing habits, problems and care is all the same.
Azaleas indoors / RHS Gardening
Hope this helps.