Tip of the Week — 5/4/09
Posted in Gardening Tips, NYBG in the News on May 4th, 2009 by Sonia Uyterhoeven – Be the first to commentGoing Native: Azaleas for Everyone
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Sonia Uyterhoeven is Gardener for Public Education. Join her each weekend for home gardening demonstrations on a variety of topics in the Home Gardening Center. |
Spring is a season of anticipation and joy. Cheerful bulbs emerge from the ground and cover the landscape with color. Flowering trees and shrubs follow suit in one of the year’s most magnificent displays. As the season unfolds, everything takes its turn providing a symphony of color—magnolias, flowering cherries, azaleas, redbuds, lilacs, and crabapples.
One of my favorite players is the native azalea. It is a versatile plant that is often overlooked by the homeowner. Native azaleas are known for their spectacular bloom in spring. Many are incredibly fragrant, often with a spicy clove scent. A number of them also provide a wonderful show in the fall, with leaves ranging from yellow and burnt orange to fiery red.
Native azaleas have a graceful form that adds height and structure to any woodland garden. Most native azaleas grow from 5 to 8 feet tall, with some of them stretching to 10 feet at maturity. They rarely need any pruning, just an occasional thinning out of congested branches or removal of dead wood. Prune immediately after flowering.
To learn more about native azaleas… read more »