Red Hills Azalea

Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as slow, like our Florida flame azalea, a close relative, about a foot a year. It makes a many-stemmed shrub 8 to 20 feet tall, and rarely a small tree to 23 feet.

Shortened clusters of 8 to 10 flowers open in early to mid May, after the leaves have expanded. They are white or pink, often with a yellow blotch, and rarely yellow. Each is 1 to 2 inches across, with long stamens and a sweet, musky, lemony scent.

It grows wild only in the Red Hills of the upper coastal plain in southern Alabama and western Georgia. Its home is sandy ridges, creek banks and the foot of north-facing bluffs above streams, with mountain laurel, beech, witch hazel and bigleaf magnolia.

How to grow Red Hills Azalea

Red Hills azalea grows in part shade, like the wooded banks and slopes where it grows wild. It wants a sandy, acid soil that stays moist but drains well, and its roots rot where water stands. Set plants 6 feet apart and keep them 4 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. Mulch with pine needles or leaves, kept off the stems. The seed is tiny and needs light but no chilling. Sow it in winter on the surface of damp milled sphagnum, uncovered, under a clear cover at room temperature. Seedlings come up in one to three weeks.

Water weekly through the first two summers. Deer often damage azaleas, so cage it where deer are common. Prune, if at all, right after bloom.

Each flower carries both male and female parts. Sources disagree on whether a native azalea sets seed with its own pollen, so plant two seedlings from different parents for seed. Lace bugs, aphids and mites can mark azalea leaves, and root rot takes them in soil that stays wet. Azaleas are poisonous if eaten.