Florida Flame Azalea

Size, growth and what to expect

Florida's native azaleas grow slowly, and our growth estimator treats this one as slow, about a foot a year. It grows 6 to 10 feet tall and up to 10 feet wide, a loose, upright shrub with many stems.

Clusters of 8 to 15 flowers open in March and April, before or with the leaves. They are yellow to orange, often with a red tube, and carry a light, musky-sweet scent. The stamens, up to 2 inches long, arch well beyond the petals. The capsules split open when ripe in late summer.

It grows wild only in the Florida Panhandle and nearby southwest Georgia, southern Alabama and southeast Mississippi, below about 330 feet. Its home is moist, acid, sandy soil on wooded slopes and bluffs, in shady ravines and along streams, never where water stands for long.

How to grow Florida Flame Azalea

Florida flame azalea does best in part shade, sheltered from afternoon sun, which can scorch the leaves. It wants moist, acid, sandy or loamy soil that drains well, and it will not stand dense clay or ground that floods. Once established it takes drought. Set plants 6 feet apart and keep them 5 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship potted. Plant dormant plants in early spring or fall, in a hole three times as wide as the root ball and no deeper. Set the top of the ball a little above grade, and put the native soil back in. On clay, work in organic matter or plant on a raised bed. Mulch with wood chips, bark or pine needles, kept off the stems. The seed is dust-fine and needs light, with no chilling. Sow it in winter on the surface of damp milled sphagnum, uncovered, at room temperature under lights and a clear cover. Seedlings come up in one to three weeks.

Water weekly through the first two summers, until the roots take hold. Deer damage it often, so cage it where deer are common, though rabbits leave it alone. Prune, if at all, right after bloom, since next year's flower buds form by mid to late summer.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, and bees and hummingbirds come to the flowers. Sources disagree on whether a native azalea sets seed with its own pollen, so plant two seedlings from different parents for seed. Hybrids with Piedmont azalea are known, and seed from a plant near other azaleas in bloom may give crosses. Lace bugs, aphids and mites can mark the leaves, and root rot follows poor drainage. Every part of the plant is poisonous if eaten, and honey from its flowers can be too.