When considering the large and fabulous group of azaleas, one is sure to find it difficult to select a favorite or even settle on one kind for a special garden planting.
Many azaleas have a brilliance and profusion of bloom, virtually unequaled among other genera of flowering shrubs.
And additional combinations of characters—each attractive and desirable for certain places—are offered in the range of colors, time of flowering, a habit of growth, and type of foliage.
How can the gardener choose from such a beguiling list?
Delicate Pinkshell Azalea
At this time of year, it seems appropriate to call attention to perhaps the most graceful and delicate and certainly one of the easiest to grow of the entire group.
This favored shrub is the Pink-shell azalea (also known as Azalea vaseyi, or Rhododendron vaseyi), which grows wild in a comparatively limited section of western North Carolina, possibly closely adjacent areas.
Five-lobed Dainty Blossoms
The common name of this species seems admirably fitted, as the five-lobed flowers of Pink shell azalea are a delicate rose-pink, opening from deeper pink buds and fading to very pale rose as they age.
These dainty blossoms, about five in a cluster, seem poised at the tips of the curved branchlets like small exotic butterflies, and their ‘flight” lasts 1 to 2 weeks in early spring, usually starting in April and sometimes reaching well into May.
As the flowers open before the leaves expand, they are not obscured by the vegetative growth and show off to their fullest advantage.
The bloom period comes before much shade is available, and the delicate corollas may get so much bright sunlight that both color and duration are impaired, especially if the soil does not stay thoroughly moist.
For this reason, it is best to plant these shrubs in a location where ‘they will not be in strong sunlight.
The protection of a canopy of tall branches to break the full effect, or even the heavier shade furnished by hemlocks, pines, or other evergreens, is very desirable.
These arrangements are not necessary for lavish bloom, it is true, but they usually ensure a deeper color and a markedly longer period of flowering.
A Loosely-Branched Shrub
Pink shell azalea usually grows into a graceful loosely-branched shrub about 4’ feet high and somewhat more in a spread.
Old plants in a favorable situation usually surpass these dimensions, and specimens 6’ feet high are not unusual (though certainly always deserving the highest admiration).
It is also recorded they may even exceed 10’ feet.
Large plants rarely retain the rounded symmetry of young ones, but this species may be considered a somewhat neatly rounded bush ranging from 4’ to 5’ feet in height and spread for all practical landscape purposes.
The ruddy brown twigs have a distinctive growth feature in their characteristic ascending curves.
Still, this trait must be seen and studied in a nursery row or an established planting to be learned, and it is well to compare it with the very different lines of other azaleas.
Striking Flower Buds
Another promising field mark of identification is the single large, ovoid flower bud, which appears strikingly different from other species in its size and plumpness—both quite justified, though, as a single bud may hold the rudiments of as many as 8 flowers!
Leaves arise from small lateral buds below the flower buds, expanding rapidly just as the flowers are drooping and failing.
The leaves taper at both ends and are somewhat wavy-margined, measuring from 2” to 5” inches long in the autumn.
Their greens sometimes fade beneath overlays of purplish or coppery-pink tones, and after the leaves fall, the beautiful pattern of the branches carries on the decorative value of this shrub through the winter.
Excellent Uses Of Pink Shell Azaleas
Like all azaleas, this species from Carolina is very definitely a subject for naturalistic settings and wild-garden compositions.
As previously mentioned, it is a tremendous advantage with hemlocks—particularly in groupings of 3 or 5 azaleas underneath hemlocks that have lost their lower branches through accident or necessity.
The same appropriateness is achieved in combinations with pines, firs, and other conifers and underplanting for oaks, birches, and many other broadleaf-fed trees.
Pink shell azaleas also make very lovely pictures with the evergreen rhododendrons.
This combination adds the charming “pink butterfly” effect in early spring to an otherwise more massive planting that would not command admiration until late May or June.
Soil And Fertilizer Requirements
Azalea vascyi is not a difficult species to grow, but like all azaleas and rhododendrons, it requires acid soil.
Lime and ordinary commercial fertilizer combinations should never be used nearby.
Humus is the best supplement for natural topsoil or woods-loam in preparing a location, and leafmold, peat moss, and any other acid humus materials may be used.
A mulch at least 4” inches deep of one of these materials or pine needles is excellent insurance for moisture conservation and general well-being.
Pinkshell Azalea Pests Or Diseases
Plant diseases and insect pests are rarely a factor in growing Pink shell azaleas, but plants in strong sunlight may occasionally support infestations of rhododendron lace bugs and red spiders.
The usual contact poisons, applied 2 or 3 times at weekly intervals, prove effective and final for these minute attackers.
All in all, it is much better to have the plants in light shade, gaud when a modicum of care is taken to maintain the top 10” or 12” inches of soil to their requirements.
The shallow roots will spread out sturdily and produce vigorous growth of shoots with their plump flower buds.