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Spring brings with it the beautiful blooms of Azalea plants. Azalea plants are beautiful semi evergreen shrubs. They are a kind of Rhododendron flowers and belong to the family Ericaceae.
Called "the royalty of the garden”, Azalea plants are found in almost every area except Africa and South America. They are widely seen in Southeastern Asia, North America and Southern Europe. A distinctive feature of Azalea plants are large clusters of pink, red, orange, yellow, purple, or white flowers. Azaleas form flower buds in late summer and autumn, and bloom in the spring. Gentle forcing will produce flowers in the house during the winter and very early spring. Azalea plants are best suited for use in an informal garden that has partial shade.
Unlike non-azalea rhododendrons which have flowers in trusses- which are groups of many flowers, Azalea plants have single flowers rather than trusses.
Many hybrid azalea plants have been created and about 10000 different species have been created so far. Plant enthusiasts continue to grow new azalea plant varieties.
AZALEA--The blooms
Flowering indoor azaleas bloom in a variety of colors such as white, pink, lavender, and coral. Azaleas prefer bright filtered light and even moisture. Indoor azaleas are kept as foliage plants after blooming because they are not hardy but can be placed outdoors for the summer and into the cool fall days. Azaleas should then be brought indoors and kept cool until it blooms again.
Pink Azalea plant
Pink azalea plant is very appealing with beautiful blooms and nice fragrance. Pink azalea presents delicate individual blooms. Azalea plants show terminal blooms-that is one flower per flower stem. There are many stems and when they flower, they appear as bunches of colorful specks.
Growing Azalea plants
Planting Azalea flowers plants
Azaleas are grown from seed and propagated by stem cuttings. Though Azalea flowers grow best in spring, Azalea flowers can be grown at any time of the year. Fall is however the best time to plant new azalea flowers plants.
Purchasing Azalea plants
While buying an Azalea plant, the size of the plant is not important. You can also buy either an azalea plant which is potted or a stem wrap.
Consider however, the possible final size of the flowers and the resistance and cold bearing capacity of the plant. These details will be given at the nurseries.
Azalea plants grow to small heights, sometimes reaching a maximum of only two feet. Some azalea plants can on the other hand grow to heights of twelve feet. Your choice should depend on your requirement and the layout of your garden.
You can also balance the blooming of the flowers by a bit of planning certain plants which bloom early in the season and some which bloom later. This will keep up a presence of azalea flowers blooms throughout the season.
Azalea plant requirements
Azalea plants need to be grown in acid soil, with a pH of around 5.0 to 6.5 . Materials that make soils more acid are ferrous sulfate or copperas, iron chelate, and finely ground dusting sulfur. Adding liberal amounts of peat moss and decaying oak leaves also tends to make the soil more acid.
Azalea plants must be planted in areas receiving direct sunlight in the mornings for a few hours.
The Azalea plants should be in shade during the hottest part of the day.
Planting Azalea flower plants
To plant the azalea root ball, you should dig a whole which is double its size and goes about 1-11/2 times deeper. Mix compost and peat moss into the soil.
Loosen up the roots of the azalea plant when you are removing it from the plant and planting in the ground. This will make them adjust better to the new soil.
Add a small amount of rhododendron food into the hole.
Now fill up the hole neatly and water it very thoroughly.
Maintain the azalea plants very carefully.
Remember that the buds for the next year’s blooms will be formed now. You need to remove the faded and dried blooms to facilitate budding.
Azalea plants grow slowly and rarely need pruning. However, to maintain them at a certain size or to increase the density of their growth, azaleas may be pruned immediately after they've completed flowering, just as the new growth is being produced. These shrubs bloom each spring on the previous season's growth, having formed buds by summer's end, so don't prune them after early summer lest you sacrifice next year's flowers.
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 Resources: Excerpted from “Food For Thought Series” by Arlene Wright-Correll
For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/ and click on Arlene’s Books you can download or buy my gardening & cook books. All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and we thank you for your attention to this site.
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