Azaleas prefer morning sun and afternoon/evening shade during the summer months. Some varieties can take full sun but it also depends on one's geographical location and knowing the exact variety's name, which is usually difficult to accurately figure out. Since you cannot go wrong with just morning sun, that is what I would suggest. Plant them a little higher than the surrounding soil.
Their roots are typically very tiny and fibrous (so easily damaged), located in the top 4" of the top soil. Try not to disturb this area when working on the garden and maintain that part of the soil well mulched and as evenly moist as you can.
Overwatering can cause root rot so use well draining soil in your planting locations and monitor these top 4" when watering (especially in the summer and in their very first summer): insert a finger into the soil to a depth of 4" and water if the soil anywhere feels dry or almost dry.
While the plants may be several years old, they will react to transplant shock just as they were recently purchased at a plant nursery. The best time to transplant them is when they go dormant in the Fall, not in the middle of the summer.
These are heavy feeders like roses are so fertilize them only once in Spring with 1 cup of cottonseed meal, organic compost or composted manure. You can also use some Holly-tone Fertilizer for azaleas. Maintain the soil mulched with 2-4" of organic mulch. After the plants become established in your garden, you can stop fertilizing and let them feed off the decomposing mulch.
Amend the soil to make it acidic if yours is alkaline. They seem to tolerate my alkalinity if I amend the soil with organic compost in Spring and if I use some garden sulfur in Spring and late Summer.
Azaleas bloom and then shortly thereafter (the exact amount of time varies), they produce flower buds for the next year so, in the rare case you need to prune for some reason, do so after blooming has ended or you could be cutting off next year's flower buds. For example, I would assume you already have flower buds for next year.
There are some varieties that rebloom such as the Encore Azalea Series. They will not bloom in the middle of the hottest part of the summer though. The last time these tend to bloom is just as temperatures recede in the Fall. The Spring flush is usually the biggest flush of flowers.
Here is a link with more information:
https://www.azaleas.org/azalea...
