# Florida Flame Azalea (Rhododendron austrinum)

> Yellow to orange flowers with long stamens in March and April, from a rare wild azalea of the Florida Panhandle.

Also called Florida azalea, orange azalea, Azalea austrina. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/florida-flame-azalea/

![Florida flame azalea (Rhododendron austrinum) shrub with clusters of orange flowers and red tubes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/florida-flame-azalea-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Shuvaev, CC BY 4.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARhododendron_austrinum%2C_Morris_Arboretum_03.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 6 to 10 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 6 to 9
- Grows wild in: Rich moist slopes, stream banks, the forest understory and floodplain forests
- Native range: Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi
- Sun: Part
- Soil moisture: Average, Dry
- Growth rate: Slow
- Traits: Showy flowers, Rare, Wildlife value, Drought tolerant
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Florida flame azalea is a rare wild azalea of the southeastern coastal plain. Florida lists it as endangered, and NatureServe ranks it vulnerable. About 70 wild stands are known, most of them under 50 plants. It is not the flame azalea of the mountains, which flowers later, in May and June. It is one of the easiest native rhododendrons to grow. Give it light shade at a woodland edge, where its yellow and orange flowers brighten early spring.

## 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.

## Sources

- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Rhododendron austrinum](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/rhododendron-austrinum/)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Rhododendron austrinum](https://plantfinder.mobot.org/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=279975)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Rhododendron austrinum](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=RHAU)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 8: Rhododendron austrinum](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250065647)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online: Rhododendron austrinum](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-austrinum/)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: Florida azalea, Rhododendron austrinum](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=819)
- [UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions: Azaleas](https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/trees-and-shrubs/shrubs/azaleas/)
- [Alabama Cooperative Extension System: Native Azaleas, Chip East, April 15, 2020](https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/landscaping/native-azaleas/)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Rhododendron chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Rhododendron.pdf)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Rhododendron austrinum](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.158199/Rhododendron_austrinum)
- [Florida Administrative Code 5B-40.0055, Regulated Plant Index, via Cornell LII, last amended effective 1/8/2020](https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/florida/Fla-Admin-Code-Ann-R-5B-40-0055)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for birds: caterpillars, fruit, mast, nests and winter cover, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-birds/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Florida Flame Azalea, add ?species=florida-flame-azalea with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=florida-flame-azalea&zone=6&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Florida Flame Azalea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=florida-flame-azalea): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=florida-flame-azalea
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Florida Flame Azalea is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=florida-flame-azalea
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Florida Flame Azalea needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=florida-flame-azalea:2
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Florida Flame Azalea flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.