GARDENING : Midseason Is Prime Time for Azaleas to Star

While the choices for color in a landscape dwindle in winter--roses areresting, spring bulbs still months away from blossoming--there is a striking exception: azaleas.

These evergreen shrubs can provide vivid color at a time when few other plants do.

“By selecting early blooming varieties of azaleas, gardeners can enjoy color in their landscapes now,” said Macy Lindsay, a horticulturist with Hines Nurseries in Irvine and vice president of the Orange County Chapter of the California Assn. of Nurserymen.

Blooming azaleas are in stock at nurseries now, but you’ll want to delay planting until things dry out a bit. Just leave them in their containers above ground until planting conditions improve.

One of Lindsay’s top recommendations for winter gardens is the hybrid ‘Prize,’ a mounding shrub that can grow to four to six feet.

“It’s an extremely vigorous plant with attractive, glossy foliage and lovely, deep red flowers,” she said. “It also has the added benefit of producing blooms most of the year.”

*

Some gardeners shun azaleas because they have a reputation for being troublesome, but they thrive in the right conditions.

“The biggest problem people have with their azaleas is inconsistent watering,” Lindsay explained. “If azaleas dry out, they start to die. If they’re over-watered and the soil is too wet, they’re attacked by fungal diseases that can also kill them. But when they’re planted in well-draining soil, or kept evenly watered in containers, they thrive.”

Azaleas grow best in woodland areas in acid soil. Homeowners can simulate that by amending the planting hole with peat moss and redwood bark mulch. Work the amendment into the soil so it’s loose and porous.

Azaleas are shallow-rooted shrubs, and it’s best to protect the root zone with additional amendment spread on the surface to act as a mulch. When planting, be careful not to set the plant too deeply into the ground. The top of the root ball should be just above the soil line.

Jim Nuccio, co-owner of Nuccio’s Nurseries in Altadena, also cautions against over-watering.

“One of the biggest problems people have with their azaleas is the use of automatic sprinkling systems that apply water whether or not the plant needs it,” Nuccio said. His 60-year-old, family-operated enterprise is one of the nation’s largest azalea and camellia nurseries.

“When azaleas are planted near lawns, they usually get too much water, and the roots actually drown,” he added.

Instead, he recommends probing the soil of the plant and watering only when the top few inches are dry. He advises this method for container plants as well as those in the ground.

Azaleas can also suffer from iron deficiency, a condition easily diagnosed by yellowing leaves with mottled green veins. It’s easily corrected by applying chelated iron to the soil several times a year.

*

Once planted, azaleas need fertilizing a few times a year to promote flowering. Nuccio recommends fertilizing once a year with cottonseed meal scattered around the base of the plant. In addition, he suggests fish emulsion diluted in water and sprinkled around the plant every six to eight weeks from April through September, when flowering is at its peak.

Azaleas are seldom troubled by insect attacks, so pest control is rarely a problem.

Both the size of the bush and rate of flower production can be enhanced by tip pruning the bushes after the flush of flowers has ended, usually in May or June.

“Pinch back the new growth when it appears to keep a pleasing round shape to the bush,” Nuccio advised. “Also, remove any leggy shoots that form.”

Because growth buds appear along the entire stem, pinching encourages more stem production for a fuller shrub with multitudes of flowers.

*

There are more than a dozen categories of azaleas, and thousands of varieties, and breeders are introducing new ones every year.

Some will grow best in shade; others will tolerate more sun. Hines Nurseries has introduced a new series they call Sorority, which was developed by crossing Belgian Indica with Southern Indica varieties. There are 14 in the series, which were bred for sun tolerance and vivid colors.

In addition to providing color focal points in sunny parts of a garden, azaleas are excellent plants for shady areas in a landscape where few other plants produce color, and they inter-plant well with camellias, begonias, impatiens and ferns.

They can also be successfully grown in containers to brighten patios, decks and seating areas.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Early Bloomers

Some early-blooming varieties of azaleas that flower in January and February:

‘Alaska’--semi-double; pure white; sun

‘Coral Bells’--small, bell-shaped flowers; shell pink; half-sun

‘Chimes’--semi-double; deep red flowers; shade

‘Duc de Rohan’--single; salmon pink; sun

‘Fielders White’--large single; frosty-white; sun

‘Freckles’--semi-double; white with red mottling; sun

‘Happy Days’--light purple; shade

‘Ida Marmion’--double; magenta; shade

‘Prize’--semi-double; deep red; shade

‘Stella Hines’--ruffled single; Persian rose flowers; sun