One of many of the azalea bushes in my backyard now blooming.
Growing Tips and Varieties
Known as “The Royalty of the Garden,” azaleas have long been adored for their brightly colored flowers and outstanding form and foliage. Here are a few tips for growing azaleas in your garden!
How to Grow Azaleas
The best time to plant azaleas is in late spring or early fall. Evergreen azaleas do well in partial shade with some wind protection. Deciduous varieties flower more profusely in full sun.
- Provide well-drained, humus-rich soil that is slightly acidic (pH 4.5–6).
- Mulch well. Shallow-rooted, azaleas tend to dry out quickly if not mulched. A mulch of oak leaf mold, pine needles, or aged oak, pine, or hemlock sawdust will keep soil acidic and moist. Read more in our Mulching Guide.
- Fertilizer isn’t needed. The decaying mulch will provide all of the nutrients that azaleas need.
- Seldom bothered by insects and diseases, azaleas require little care once established, except for watering during dry times.
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Varieties to Fit Your Landscape
With thousands of varieties, there are azaleas for just about every landscape situation:
- Deciduous varieties are considered the hardiest, many growing as far north as Zone 4. Some, such as the bright-pink roseshell azalea (Rhododendron prinophyllum), are even hardy in Zone 3. With few exceptions, most evergreen azaleas are only reliable in Zone 6.
- Low-growing ground cover azaleas such as ‘Joseph Hill’, a bright-red-flowering evergreen that grows only to about a foot.
- Tall varieties include the white-blooming sweet azalea (R. arborescens), a deciduous plant that can reach 20 feet tall.
- Weeping azaleas, such as ‘Pink Cascade’.
Late-Blooming Varieties
While most azaleas flower in spring, there are varieties that extend the season:
- ‘Flame Creeper’, an orange-flowering ground cover azalea, and ‘Weston’s Lemon Drop’, with peachy-color buds that open to a soft yellow, both flower in late June or July.
- The pink-flowering ‘Sweet September’ is an exceptionally late bloomer.
“The Royalty of the Garden” seems to be a fitting name for this beautiful and majestic plant, but we’ve got a hunch that once your garden is filled with the colors and fragrance of beautiful blooming azaleas, you’ll probably think that it’s you who’s getting the royal treatment.
See our Rhododendron and Azalea Plant Guide for more information on how to plant and care for these gorgeous shrubs.
George and Becky Lohmiller
Azaleas are generally treated like rhododendrons. Both are generally pruned after flowering, which would be in spring. However, you can remove dead, damaged, or diseased branches at any time. To induce growth from roots, snip branches from weak, leggy plants. We would advise waiting until spring (which, depending on where you reside could be a different time; North Carolina Cooperative Extension, for ex., suggests that February would be the right time. To find the Coop Ext service nearest you, click here: https://www.almanac.com/content/cooperative-extension-services ).
Cutting back to a foot or so should not be a problem. Keep the soil moist afterward and some sources recommend fertilizing with a high-nitrogen (leaf-promoting) fertilizer, such as a 12-6-6.
I have one new and one established azalea that are planted about 20 feet apart. The older one had been doing well until this year when the leaves developed rust spots and holes. There also might be a slight whitetish appearing color on the leaves. There were only a few blooms on it this Spring despite the fact that I applied the regular azalea fertilize at the recommended time. Any ideas? The new one is beginning to look like the older one.
Sorry to hear this is happening. Here’s some help: https://www.almanac.com/pest/rust-plant-disease
We hope the plants recover!
I have azaleas in my back yard that blooms after the ones in spring,they are in full bloom now, and have two different colors of flowers on them. I can't remember where I bought them, would love to have some more.
You can make new plants from cuttings: https://www.almanac.com/blog/gardening/garden-journal/making-new-plants-cuttings
I planted two azaleas last spring and they seemed to have been doing well. Well so far this year there has not been any leaves or flowers. Should I wait to see what happens or should I pull them up because most likely they're dead?
I purchased and planted some azaleas that had blooms. After planting the blooms withered and fell off but the greenery is doing fine. Will they bloom again this year or will I have to wait till next year?
They were beautiful 2 weeks ago now they look terrible. I would appreciate any information.
While they could bloom again this year, it’s more likely that they’ll spend the rest of this season settling into place and growing out their roots. By next year, they will be well established and should bloom without issue!
I have been reading and it seems that I may have planted my azaleas slightly incorrectly. I didn't score the roots, although they weren't root bounds. I didn't break up that root ball at all. We also have some clay and I did mix in some sand where I though the clay was a bit more then they would like, but should dig them and add a larger amount of compost to the holes?
Thank you!
