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I purchased several azaleas from my local garden center earlier this spring (hybrid cultivars, nothing special: "rosebud," "tradition azalea," "encore amethyst"), and they have long since stopped blooming. Being new to bonsai, I followed the lead of some online guides and videos for azalea bonsai and gave them all a heavy pruning back to a basic desired branch structure after their blooms had finished. It has been about a month or so and they are all showing lots of new growth (the "encore" plant has the most vigorous growth of them all, in case anyone was wondering/looking for a good intro azalea). So far, I have kept them outside, in their nursery pots, and with a layer of sphagnum moss on top to help retain moisture and keep the roots cool from the summer sun.

I am wondering if now would be a good/safe time to replant them into bonsai pots and with a kanuma, akadama, and pumice mixture? I have read elsewhere that it is best to repot Azaleas either in the spring or after they have finished blooming. I live in Pennsylvania, USDA zone 6b. I was planning to over-winter them in my unfinished basement, to protect them from the frost. Any advice?

I would not repot in late summer / fall. Repot when recommended. Spring.

Overwintering.. Check the cultivar and whether they can stand your winter. A basement is not ideal, but could work. I typically shelter sensitive species in an outdoor shed. BUt I do not get the weather you get.

The best advice for wintering would be a bonsai club or other group near you. Find out what they do, when they do it, and when they move the plants back out to the real world.

Not sure if it helps but I bought some "normal" japonica azaleas this spring. My nursery sold them as a bunch of 5-8 trees in one pot. Very young trees. So after blooming I cut the rootball like cake (brutal and very risky I know) and repoted them all seperately. So I used normal rodo soil + fine zeolite for better root development (I just happened to have a bag lying around) + some perlite (European pumace) for better moisture retention. 1 out of 13 lost its leaves but still green under the bark. The rest is doing good and lots of new growth. I don't expect them to bloom next year because of the stress they went through tho.

Thanks for all of the helpful advice! I am just curious, Leatherback, can you explain a little bit more about why a basement isn't ideal? I have access to a thin, sheet metal shed, but I don't actually know how much warmer it will be, and it has no light (though I am not sure if this is a problem for dormant azaleas?)

I also have a japanese holly, alberta spruce, japanese garden juniper, that have all been pruned and wired still in nursery pots and several weeping willow and corkscrew willow cuttings that have rooted and sprouted in pots. Would all of these have similar overwintering and repotting guidelines as above? (Not sure if I ought to make a new thread for this--still new here!) Thanks!

You need your trees to stay dormant, so the temperature should be below some 8 degrees celcius. Warmer than that and your trees can start growing. My basement never is that cold..