Azalea and Rhododendron

Azalea and other varieties of the Rhododendron family can bring a sensational flowering to your garden.. They sometimes offer a fantastic explosion of flowers in the early summer (end of May or beginning of June) and you can use them to paint your own beautiful colour painting in the garden inspired by the arrangements often made in many English parks or gardens. However, they are not easy to make them survive if the winters are severe in the Scandinavian region. A very severe winter can make them die but luckily the last decade has not stressed then so much (I am glad for that). It is important to cover the portion closest to the roots with a heap of leaves and some peat soil late in autumn. Furthermore, the Rhododendron bushes which keep their green leaves through the winter must be watered heavily before frost is too deep otherwise they will both dry and freeze in early spring when only the surface soil is free from frost while ice is still prevailing at root level. Remember that the soil must have a low pH value so you should use a lot of peat soil and compost when arranging the place prior to plantation. The like to have a bit of shadowing because too strong sunshine can give a very short blooming time and the flowers may also look slightly withered.

One of the oldest ones in my garden which I have had more than ten years now. Approximately every second year it brings a sensational flowering with the whole bush covered with flowers. It has survived a couple of quite cold winters giving some damages (no flowers in spring but new growth) so it seems to be quite hardy. The bush grows relatively fast with many branches and leaves.

This Azalea flowers with very large groups of flowers in a lemon yellow colour. There is oftem more flowers than leaves so the bush tend to look a bit 'naked' after the flowering period.

This beautiful azalea (I only know the Latin name) brings wonderful flowers in a pink colour. It doesn't like too dry and windy weather which can cause some flowers to fall off too soon.

A very small and compact Japanese Rhododendron which is a more suitable for an ordinary garden compared to the standard Rhododendron bush which normally grows very large. When flowering starts it has a beautiful pink colour which later on turns into an intense white colour. Flowers in great elegance! An oddity with this Rhododendron is that its new leaves are first bright grey and hairy. Later on in the autumn the loose the hairy appeance and turn dark green and glossy. Watch up with ground frost and strong sunshine in spring when the leaves can dry and fall off! Try to avoid this by watering the soil heavily late in the autumn and cover with dry leaves and some peat.