Are you wrinkling your forehead and scratching your head wondering what plants to choose for your basic garden plantings? Take my advice: consider, first, the azaleas.
Out of flower they’re extremely attractive and in flower they’re absolutely gorgeous. Besides that, they’re permanent, inexpensive, easy to care for, easy to propagate, easy to transplant. All pro and no con!
In our garden, azaleas have gradually taken over more and more of the available space, not because we planned it that way but because they proved so completely satisfactory that we wanted larger and larger plantings of them.
They seemed to offer everything we wanted in spring blooming, all-year-round-attractive plants, and so we kept buying and propagating more. They’ve thus become the feature attraction of our garden.
Azaleas are of two kinds, deciduous and evergreen, although in the colder parts of the country the evergreen varieties lose at least part of their foliage.
Personally, I prefer these so-called evergreen kinds – because they include a much wider color range, and are more compact growing and are generally easier to grow and to propagate—and I believe most beginners would do well to start with the evergreen kinds.
Mollis is the most popular of the deciduous type and would be a good type to try next, followed by some of the less common deciduous species and varieties.
Our own collection is made up mostly of the evergreen Kurume and Kaempferi varieties, which range in color from pure white to deepest red. We have found it easy to work out effective color schemes with these plants and have never been confronted by problems of clashing colors.
We have used them grouped together for mass effect and have found them wonderfully useful for filling in around larger shrubs like rhododendrons and camellias. There seems to be no limit, in fact, to the uses to which these plants can be put.
The cultural requirements of azaleas are simple but specific – they’re easy to provide but they must be provided. All azaleas must have an acid soil (pH 4.5 – 6.0) and they must have a soil that drains well.
Alkaline Soil Turns Leaves Yellow
In an alkaline soil their leaves turn yellow for want of iron and in a waterlogged soil their roots suffocate for want of air. A woodsy soil containing plenty of organic matter is ideal—providing it’s acid and well drained—and if your garden soil isn’t of that quality you can make it so by mixing in generous amounts of peat-moss before planting.
Since azaleas are shallow rooted, the soil around them should never he cultivated. In fact, cultivation will do much more harm than good. Hence, mulching is strongly recommended. A mulch of oak leaves, pine needles or pearmoss not only eliminates cultivation and weeding but, which is equally important, protects the roots that are just below the surface from heat during summer and from cold during winter.
If peatmoss is used, a 2″-inch mulch is about right; if pine needles, it can be somewhat deeper, and if oak leaves it can be 6″ inches or more, depending of course on the size of the plants.
Although azaleas cannot stand a waterlogged soil, they nevertheless must have sufficient water at all times to do well. Insufficient water during summer dry spells, in fact, is the most common reason for their unsatisfactory performance.
They’ll need watering sooner than Azaleas deeper rooted trees, shrubs and perennials, and you’ll do well to give them a drink as soon as the upper two or three inches of the soil begins to dry out. If your plants are mulched, however, you’ll find the soil surface remains moist much longer than if it isn’t.
No Feeding Required In Good Soil
In reasonably good soil, azaleas do not need feeding, but in soils that are known to be deficient in plant nutrients they should be fed in moderation once or twice a year. A commercial fertilizer prepared specially for azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias and other acid-loving plants, or an acid organic material like cottonseed meal, is recommended for this purpose.
Don’t use alkaline materials like bone-meal and never, of course, use lime.
Azalea petal blight seems to be the most serious of the few diseases that trouble azaleas, but this can be readily controlled with the newer fungicides. Lacebug is apparently the only insect pest that sometimes becomes a menace, but it can be quickly eradicated by a few insecticide sprayings.
As regards varieties of evergreen azaleas to start with, I’d say they’re all beautiful and no matter which you choose you’ll be satisfied if not altogether thrilled.
If you’d like to start off with a fair selection of varieties but don’t want to spend too much money, here’s a tip: buy small plants. Even 6” inch-high plants of many varieties will flower the first year after planting and, if conditions are right, they’ll soon make bushy little plants that will dazzle you with their brilliance.
Most of these evergreen azaleas are small plants and never become more than about 3 feet high, though some do eventually get to be 5’ or 6’ feet high with equal spread. Any of them can be potted up while still small and brought indoors in late fall for forcing during winter. As potted plants they’re sure to thrill you and hill make wonderful gifts!
FGR-0453 by M. Taylor