hi I'm mark Kieffer from key for landscaping and nursery and today I'd like to show you how to plant a three gallon azalea first one to dig the hole approximately twice the width of the container and approximately two to three inches shallower than the container this is a three gallon encore azalea named autumn royalty I'll first want to take it out of the planting container by tapping around the side of the pot and then gently sliding it out of the pot this is a it is very pop band you can see the roots circling around the root ball here I'll first want to break up these roots score the sides of the root ball with my hands already shovel prior to putting it in the planting hole all right I've done that now it is ready to put in the hole check the hole for proper depth your top of the root ball should be approximately 2 inches above the surrounding grade and that looks correct if it is not make sure you do correct the depth of the planting hole that is important to planting an azalea to have the proper depth hole I'm going to amend the backfill with pine bark AIT's a shredded pine bark amendment that helps to acidify the soil as well as give aeration to the soil well dump the pine bark onto the backfill and mix that with my hands or a shovel about a 25% ratio and then backfill around the root ball of the azalea I'll tamp that down as I'm backfilling and the final height of the root ball should be approximately 2 inches above grade that will allow for a good heavy mulching beside the root ball but not over top of the root ball not smothering the plant now the Azalea is ready to water