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One of many of the azalea bushes in my backyard now blooming.
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.
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.
Your azalea needs acidic well-drained soil (it does not like “wet feet”) and part shade. Add sulfur or iron sulfate to the soil if needed to lower the pH.
Dry buds suggests botrytis. Are you watering from overhead? Be sure to water at the base. Or, it could be an insect issue called thrips. They can be controlled by spraying the developing buds with Sevin and again 10 days later. We suggest you bring a sample to your cooperative extension or plant nursery for a diagnosis.
You can transplant azaleas in early fall when the weather is relatively cool. If you must transplant in warm weather, choose an overcast day, or a day or so after it has rained (which cools the soil), or earlier or later in the day. The main challenge with transplanting azaleas is to get all of the roots so very wide (versus deep) to get every root to reduce the stress on the plant.
A potted azalea, especially a florist pot, probably won't survive freezing temperatures. You can try putting the pots in a cool place such as a cellar for the winter. Check plants throughout the winter and water thoroughly whenever the soil is dry. Do not fertilize. You do not want this type of plant indoors. The air is too warm and the humidity too low. Bring them back outside as freezing temperatures go away.
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