# Piedmont Azalea (Rhododendron canescens) > Fragrant pink flowers with long, upcurved stamens in early spring, from the most common wild azalea of the Southeast. Also called hoary azalea, mountain azalea, southern pinxter azalea, Florida pinxter, Azalea canescens. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/piedmont-azalea/ ![Piedmont azalea (Rhododendron canescens) cluster of pink-tubed flowers with long arching stamens](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/piedmont-azalea-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: Eric Hunt, CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARhododendron_canescens_Arkansas.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Shrub - Mature height: 6 to 15 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 10 - Grows wild in: Stream banks, the forest understory, floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats - Native range: 15 states, north to Pennsylvania, south to Florida and west to Texas (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas) - Sun: Part, Full - Soil moisture: Average - Growth rate: Slow - Traits: Showy flowers, Wildlife value - 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 Piedmont azalea is the wild pink azalea of the southern coastal plain and Piedmont, and the most common native azalea in the Southeast. Its name canescens means ashy gray, for the soft hairs under its leaves. It spreads slowly by root suckers and in time forms colonies. Kentucky lists it as endangered. Mass it at a woodland edge or along a walk, where its pink flowers brighten early spring. ## Size, growth and what to expect Piedmont azalea grows slowly, and our growth estimator treats it as slow, about a foot a year. It grows 6 to 15 feet tall, most often 6 to 8 feet in gardens, and 6 to 10 feet wide. Clusters of 5 to 9 fragrant flowers open from March to May, as the leaves begin to unfold. They are pink, rarely white, 1 to 2 inches long, with the stamens and style arching well beyond the petals. Slender capsules about 1/2 inch long ripen in September and October. It grows wild from North Carolina to Florida and west to Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas. Its home is moist woods, swamp margins, pocosins, savannas and stream banks, below about 1,600 feet. More than 800 wild stands are known across its range. ## How to grow Piedmont Azalea Piedmont azalea does best in dappled shade or part shade, and it takes full sun where it is shaded from afternoon sun. It wants moist, acid soil high in organic matter that drains freely, and it will not stand dense clay, poor drainage or dry soil. Give it shelter from strong winter winds. Set plants 5 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. Spread 3 inches of mulch, kept off the stems, since the roots lie in the top few inches of soil. It is harder to root from cuttings than some wild azaleas, so seed may be the better way to raise it. 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, and never let the shallow roots dry out. Rabbits leave it alone, but deer damage it often, so cage it where deer are common. Pinch new shoots when they are a few inches long for a bushier plant with more flowers. Prune, if at all, right after bloom, since it flowers on last year's growth. Each flower carries both male and female parts, and swallowtail butterflies, 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. It crosses readily with other wild azaleas, so seed from a garden with several kinds may give hybrids. Mites are its main pest. Soil that is not acid enough leaves it short of iron, and mushroom root rot takes it where drainage is poor. 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 canescens](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/rhododendron-canescens/) - [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Rhododendron canescens](https://plantfinder.mobot.org/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=279980) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Rhododendron canescens](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=RHCA7) - [Flora of North America, vol. 8: Rhododendron canescens](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250065652) - [Trees and Shrubs Online: Rhododendron canescens](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-canescens/) - [Virginia Tech Dendrology: swamp azalea, Rhododendron canescens](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=395) - [UF/IFAS Extension, EDIS FPS504: Rhododendron canescens, Pink Pinxter Azalea, Florida Honeysuckle, Gilman, Klein and Hansen, revised October 2023](https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FP504) - [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 canescens](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.147039/Rhododendron_canescens) - [Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves: Kentucky Rare Plant List, September 30, 2022](https://eec.ky.gov/Nature-Preserves/biodiversity/Documents/2022%20Kentucky%20Rare%20Plant%20List%202.pdf) - [Florida Administrative Code 5B-40.0055, Regulated Plant Index, via Cornell LII](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 Piedmont Azalea, add ?species=piedmont-azalea with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=piedmont-azalea&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Piedmont Azalea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=piedmont-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=piedmont-azalea - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Piedmont 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=piedmont-azalea - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Piedmont 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=piedmont-azalea:2 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Piedmont Azalea flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.