Hi.. just for the record, did you know the lower branches of any tree or shrub are the ones you want to leave on to help fatten the trunk (even if you end up pruning it away eventually)? Vt. gets very cold, and unless your garage is attached and gets a fair amount of heat from the house (i.e. part of it always stays above freezing, even on Jan. nights) you may have a problem. If you could sink the pot into a large one full of mulch, and only anticipate temps into the higher thirties, you'll probably be ok, but otherwise a room that can be left at around 40 F. would be ideal - that's the trouble with some trees - it's hard to find such a place in centrally heated homes. The boxwood should be kept at about the same temps if possible, and also mulched, both in Nov. (but go by overnight temps there to be sure).

Lucy, I can probably manage 50-55 degrees in an unheated room. Would that work? Otherwise, I'll try the mulched pot suggestion. BTW, I didn't actually remove branches from the azalea, just clumps of new leaves that were coming out of the trunk. Was that bad? I won't do it again!

No, not bad :-). 50 is better than 70, or 30, so I guess that's the way to go.