Azaleas, America's Favorite Shrub

It's Azalea season again at Powell Gardens and they are currently in peak bloom. Azaleas are America's favorite shrub (because most consider roses "flowers"). This scene is from the Rock & Waterfall Garden with the native wildflower Golden Ragwort (Senecio aureus) in the foreground, a sprinkle of budding blue Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica) then masses of pink and white Glenn Dale Azaleas.

Our masses of azaleas in the Rock & Waterfall Garden owe their existence to the generosity of Andy Klapis. Andy was a long-time Kansas City nurseryman and educator who now resides in Valparaiso, Indiana, to live near his son. He donated the original plants to the garden; many of the varieties are no longer commercially available but in many cases are far superior to what's on the market today. I called him on Tuesday to tell him how beautiful and inspiring his azaleas were in the garden. They are like a symphony of flowers to the eyes and nose. In his late eighties, Andy still knows more about azaleas than anyone in our region.

White Lights Azalea is one of those in bloom with exquisitely fragrant flowers that open soft pink and age to pure white. The "Lights" azaleas are Minnesota hybridized and are some of our toughest azaleas as most are at least half native azaleas. They are deciduous and have bloomed reliably every spring except last spring's Easter Freeze at Powell Gardens. They bloom the first week of May most years, a bit later like everything this year.


Rosy Lights Azalea is a deep rose pink and also has a very rich, sweet aroma. Missouri's only native azalea (which defies captivity) the Roseshell Azalea (Rhododendron prinophyllum) is half the parent of this hybrid.


Mandarin Lights Azalea has vivacious orange flowers without a scent. Most red azaleas are hummingbird pollinated so they attract pollinators by sight not smell. The American native Flame Azalea (R. calendulaceum) is part of this parent. Mandarin Lights is a good nectar plant for butterflies like the Giant Swallowtail.


Golden Lights Azalea is well named variety with a great scent too. Here it is growing in almost full sun on the north edge of the Rock & Waterfall Garden.


Golden Lights Azalea in the shade of the interior of the garden is less floriferous but just as beautiful and fragrant!


Lemon Lights Azalea on the north edge of the Rock & Waterfall Garden is a blaze in lemon yellow.

Candy Lights Azalea is one of the newer cultivars and is more compact and floriferous.

My Mary Azalea is a purely American hybrid azalea and found on the south edge of the Rock & Waterfall Garden. This variety is a Plant of Merit and a star performer in our heat and humidity. It has very fragrant flowers it gets from the Florida Flame Azalea (R. austrinum).

Nacoochee Princess Azalea is our most fragrant azalea at Powell Gardens. This American hybrid from Georgia has heat and humidity tolerance. I lured some grateful visitors over to smell it! It is next to My Mary south of the Rock & Waterfall Garden.

The Girard hybrid azaleas from northern Ohio are hybrids of evergreen Oriental azaleas and have good hardiness for our climate. They are the most readily available group of azaleas at local Garden Centers. This is Girard Crimson Azalea with velvety rose-crimson flowers.

Snow Azalea is aptly named and an older evergreen azalea hybrid. It is still occasionally available at local Garden Centers. Look for ours along the upper walkway of the Rock & Waterfall Garden.

This is one of the unknown Glenn Dale hybrid azaleas that Andy donated to us and the most beautiful of the pink-flowering, evergreen azaleas in our displays. We should propagate it for our plant sales!

This is our white unknown cultivar of Glenn Dale Azalea donated by Andy Klapis. It is by far the best of our white blooming, evergreen azaleas. Andy grew azaleas for many decades so knew what performed the best in Kansas City's rock'n and roll'n climate!

The Stewartstonian Azalea is still in bloom and I couldn't resist taking this photograph of a spring illuminated by a shaft of sunshine. It is a vivacious red azalea that is the most reliable red, evergreen cultivar for our region. These were donated by Andy but are still readily available at local Garden Centers.

Herbert Azalea is Andy's favorite and probably the hardiest of all the evergreen hybrid azaleas. It rarely (never?) fails to bloom (it even survived last Easter's freeze) with a pretty wild purplish flower color. Our big masses were donated by Andy and this cultivar is also still readily available at local Garden Centers.

I would hope this inspires you to consider planting some azaleas in your personal landscape. They require moist, well-drained soil in a woodland setting. Enrich your soil with peat moss or compost and use an acid based fertilizer for your plants. Water azaleas well to get them established but they can be quite drought tolerant once established. Unfortunately deer love azaleas as a salad bar so use Liquid Fence or Bobbex on azaleas if you have deer problems in your landscape. Azaleas simply are our most beautiful blooming shrubs of spring!

Tis the Season for a Million Blooms at Powell Gardens

It is the season for a million blooms at Powell Gardens! The azaleas should be at peak Mother's Day weekend as they are already showing bud and bloom:

Here is a closeup of the beautiful Herbert Azalea. Herbert is one of the hardiest of the evergreen type azaleas.
A peak through the woodland garden of the Rock & Waterfall Garden shows scarlet buds of Stewartstownian Azalea.

Here is a closeup of Stewartstownian Azalea which is named after Stewartstown, Pennsylvania. It is a very reliable red-blooming azalea but is so vibrant you must carefully use it in the landscape.

Oriental Wisterias are always a favorite but there bloom is not an annual event in our climate. This is the ON year with a stunning display poised for the weekend visitor to the Perennial Garden's lakeside arbor. Be sure and see it but make sure you bring your nose as it is one of our most fragrant plants too.

Here's a look above the arbor to reveal loads of bud and first bloom of the Texas Purple Chinese Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis).

The unique double-flowering redbud (Cercis canadensis 'Flame') can be seen near the chapel. Because of its large, double flowers it blooms when the wild redbuds begin to wane.

And don't forget to notice the extraordinary in the ordinary this season:

The flower buds of Black Oak (Quercus velutina) are as stunnings as beads of jewelry dangling from the pink, canescent new leaves. Look for a mature black oak in bloom behind the prairie border in the Perennial Garden.

Even the flowers of the shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) are unique! The catkins skirt the base of each new whorl of leaves. Hickory buds in general are as beautiful as many flowers.

There are loads of other flowers from the Visitor Center to the Island Garden, Chapel, Rock & Waterfall Garden and Perennial Garden. Too many to blog about so come see for yourself!!!

Flowering Dogwoods, Missouri's State Flower

Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) is currently in peak bloom at Powell Gardens. Powell Gardens has an extensive collection of dogwoods, certainly one of the best in the Heartland. The main display is along the walk from the Visitor Center to the Island Garden; officially known as the dogwood walk where one can see about every tree type of dogwood that will grow in Greater Kansas City.
Dogwoods are valuable for their long bloom time and ability to perform well under old, established trees. They are superior wildlife plants with lipid rich, red fruit in the fall that nourish many a migrating bird! Their fall color is one of the best in our region--beginning as early as late September with some burgundy highlights to the leaves and ending in early November with leaves a rich red.

Pink Flowering Dogwoods can be see at the upper portion of the dogwood walk because their flowers contrast nicely with the light colored stone of the building. The pink dogwood on the left is the cultivar 'Cherokee Brave' while the one on the right is a seedling "pink" dogwood. When buying a pink dogwood, if you do not purchase a specific cultivar you will get a range of colors from deep to light pink. I like that effect as some of our "pink" dogwoods are the reddest flowering ones we have while others are a sweet, soft pink. If you are picky about the color, buy them when they are blooming!

A closeup of 'Cherokee Brave' pink dogwood reveals rich bracts that open almost red but will eventually fade to a near coral pink. The top photo is five days older than the next, showing the bract's color aging. The actual flowers are at the center of the four bracts--closed on the first image but open on today's shot. Cherokee Brave is also the only one with a noticeable and wonderful heliotrope fragrance to its blossoms. Cherokee Brave is quite hardy for us and one of the most disease-resistant cultivars, though fears of dogwood anthracnose are not an issue in our climate because cool springs like we are currently experiencing are rare.

Cloud Nine Flowering Dogwood is one of the best white flowering cultivars. It is a dense tree with large flowers of overlapping bracts -- more adapted to full sun situations than other cultivars in our region.

Hohman's Gold Flowering Dogwood is the best yellow variegated cultivar with beautiful white bracts.

Cherokee Sunset Flowering Dogwood is the best pink flowering, yellow variegated dogwood. Yes, its leaves are resistant to scorch and will be beautiful in all but our most droughty summers.

Weeping Flowering Dogwoods (cultivar 'Pendula') are a cultivar we do not recommend. The downward facing flowers are not very showy and the tree looks disheveled all summer. We do like its stiffly weeping silhouette in the winter. Paul Cappiello, the author of Timber Press' book called "Dogwoods" calls this cultivar "a '76 Dodge Dart on blocks!"--not a pretty sight.

Flowering Dogwoods are premier trees but not easy to transplant. They are worth the extra care. Here are some tips about growing dogwoods in Greater Kansas City:



Balled and Burlapped Trees transplant better!



If you buy a dogwood grown in light barky mix in a pot, be sure and break up the root mass and shake out some of the soil to mix with your existing topsoil. This will help your plant root into the new soil.



Dogwoods are native to open, upland woods or woodland edges. Plant dogwoods in a well-drained site in soil rich in organic matter. Afternoon shade is best but there are exceptions. A site protected from our scorching hot southwestern winds and sun is helpful this far west. Protection from fiercely cold northwestern winter winds is also beneficial during a hard winter. We are just 2 counties west of where dogwoods grow wild but they are beginning to naturalize into our area as birds pass their seeds into our woodlands.



Dogwoods are drought tolerant once established but recent droughts have set many trees back and killed some of Powell's wild trees. During a severe drought, simply let a hose trickle at the base of the tree overnight. Just one night of doing this could have saved many trees I saw destroyed by the recent catastrophic droughts (2003, 2006--and last summer in some areas!). Established trees at Loose Park continue to thrive with no extra care. Richard Heter, our Horticulturist in charge of the dogwood walk regularly gives our trees an overnight drink during our recent droughts. He will tell you they need a lot of water in recent years and our trees are less than 10 years old.



Plant cultivars or strains proven for our region. Wild dogwoods from the western edge of their range like the Warsaw, Missouri area are very adapted here but nurseries do not sell wild types. 'Ozark Spring' (from Oklahoma) and 'Prairie Pink' (from Kansas) are two cultivars that are proven hardiness and adaptability to easternmost Kansas and western Missouri. Ozark Spring is hard to propagate so rarely available (Powell's tree came from Family Tree Nursery), Prairie Pink should increase in availability in the future as major growers in Oregon are now propagating the tree.



Here are some of the best cultivars from local nurseries:
White flowering:
'Cloud Nine' -- proven hardiness, large white bracts overlap.
'Cherokee Princess' -- huge white flowers that open a wonderful lime green, likes some wind protection because of the large flowers.
'Ozark Spring' -- lovely notched, smaller bracts but better in windy area.

Pink flowering:
Most will do ok in sheltered locations as long as they are not shipped in from too far south. 'Prairie Pink' will be a great cultivar when it becomes more widely available;
'Cherokee Brave' -- almost red new bracts fade to a deep pink then almost coral pink, fragrant too!



"Red" flowering:
'Cherokee Chief' is the standard "red dogwood" with bracts that do open almost ruby red but fade to deep pink.
'Sweetwater Red' is almost impossible to find anymore but a good red too.



Yellow variegated leaves:
'Hohman's Gold' for white flowers
'Cherokee Sunset' for red/pink flowers



White variegated leaves:
'Cherokee Daybreak' has white flowers and scorch resistant variegated leaves -- leaves turn pink and burgundy in the fall!



There are many other cultivars from double flowering to weeping forms but the above are the best!