Can you help me save this plant?!?

This WAS an azalea my hubby bought for Valentine's Day from proflowers.com. It was fine until a few weeks ago when it slowly started to look like this.

I am watering it regularly, when I water everything else that is waiting to be put into the garden. But it is STILL dry. The leaves fall off if you breathe on them, and it has tried to flower but those dry up within a day as well. On top of watering it daily, I have it sitting in a container full of water so it can suck up as much as it needs, it shouldn't be dry!

What can I do to bring it back? Can it be saved? Should/can I cut it back and hope it lives? (And if so, how much do I cut off?) I'm really lost when it comes to this plant. It only came with a tag that said where it was from.

If you've got it sitting in a container of water it could be overwatering, the symptoms can look very similar to not enough water. You said the plant/leaves/etc are dry, but have you actually checked the soil? It definitely could be a watering issue, and there are two scenarios that I can think of. One is that you watered it more when in fact it needed less water. If you stick your finger in the soil and find it's very wet, then that's probably what's going on. If that's the case, I'd pull it out of the pot, dump out as much of the wet soil as you can, and replace it with fresh potting mix. The other possibility is that the plant is very rootbound, when that happens there are a ton of roots and not very much soil to hold water, so it becomes difficult to get the plant the appropriate amount of waters no matter what you do. Assuming the soil doesn't feel sopping wet when you stick your finger in, I'd pop it out of the pot and look at the roots, if they're all circling round the outside of the rootball then it's time to move it to a bigger pot.

I'll check to see if it is root bound. It certainly isn't overwatered. The soil feels moist but not drenched. I'll try putting it in some new potting mix, perhaps the stuff they used wasn't the best quality.

Any other suggestions would be wonderful. I just feel so bad letting my husband watch this poor thing die like this. (especially since it was hard enough to get him to remember Valentine's Day to begin with)

If the soil near the top feels moist and at the bottom it's sitting in a container of water, it absolutely could be overwatered.

I would check for spider mites first. If you have them you can try to eradicate them with insecticide. If no mites, cut plant back by 1/3, feed half strenghth fish emulsion and set outside in a bright spot with no direct sunlight. When it gets healthy and strong, plant in garden with same light conditions - bright, no direct sun. Be patient, good chance you'll get new growth in about 3 weeks.

Hi, if your azalea is rootbound, you must pull apart your roots before you repot/plant. Otherwise it will continue to grow roots in a circle and strangle itself. You can actually cut into the roots vertically to get them to then spread out.

Sometimes plants that are grown for commercial sale are so pumped up on "plant steroids" that they've basically given their all by the time you get them and don't have any strength or stamina left.

Before you plant the azalea outdoors, do your best to confirm the species. It may not be hardy in your zone. Good luck!

thanks everyone. you've been really helpful

I'm sorry to hear your dilema with your dried out azaleas. There are special water filled small tubes the gardener can insert into the dirt which surrounding the plant. It moistens the ground slowly, periodically, and evenly. These small irrigators do not cost much and are wonderful to keep flowers alive on plants.

My dilema is a little sadder than your because someone in the building I live has been stepping over my plants in my little, improvised garden. I de cided that I will write a little sisgn in the name of my flowers which will ask the neighbor to be conscientious about others' garden flowers. It would say something like this:

"Please do not destroy me. I not only make your environment healthier with my share on distributing little of your beneficial oxygen, but it also my own life, and I wish you could do your best to help me preserve it. Thanks you, sincerely. MLuis