Rooting An Azealea - Tips and Advice?

First of all, it is beautiful that you thought of taking a cutting of your friend's azealea--what a way to remember your friend!

I'm not sure if when you said you took cuttings from his azaelea and planted it directly into the ground or not--so, I hope I won't sound redundant with my advice.

If the azaelea has any offshoots that have begun to emerge from the ground beside the shrub, I would first try to separate the offshoot by simply slicing the new growth from the "mother" shrub. Therefore, you would already have the root system established when replanting.

If that isn't possible, take a cut from a new growth, strip the leaves from all but the top inch of fresh growth; then, either dip the fresh cut in a hormone rooting mix and place in a pot of moist vermiculite or potting soil, set it in a sunny window until you see that the roots have "taken." You can also follow the same proceedure and just put the cutting in a bottom-heavy shallow vase of fresh water until the roots begin to form--then set it out into the real world.