will stop you in your tracks as you walk by: it will first capture your attention with its wonderful aroma and then with its large, golden-orange flowers.
Spicy Lights Azalea is more of a
bronzy, pinkish-orange and the first of this hybrid group to bloom. I was happy to see it is still blooming (you can see a floret dropping at the bottom of the image).
Mandarin Lights Azalea is the most vivacious of the group in glowing bright orange. It is a favorite nectar source for hummingbirds and several of our large swallowtail butterflies. I actually expect the first Giant Swallowtails to emerge when this flower blooms and can count on seeing our largest butterfly
nectaring on this shrub. This
cultivar is not fragrant.
Northern Lights Azaleas are available at many local garden centers. They are a bit tricky to get established in local gardens because of our heavy soils. Here are some tips to be successful with this group of deciduous azaleas at home:
1) Select a site that does not have hot afternoon sun, morning sun is best or light high shade. Lights azaleas grow and bloom nicely in the Rock & Waterfall Garden in full shade of deep rooted oaks and hickories but flower more heavily in more light. Do not expect them to survive in dense shade of maples and lindens which also have voracious surface roots.
2) Make sure your planting site is elevated for drainage and amend the soil with peat or other organic matter like Beats Peat blocks (available at local Westlake Hardwares). I mix in the organic matter with the topsoil in an extensive area.
3) Lights azaleas are often grown in containers in a very light, peaty soil. Be sure and break up the root ball before planting them. I like to split the root ball in 3 places around the sides and literally rip each section up from the bottom. It sound cruel but azalea roots are shallow in the garden and this forces new roots into your topsoil. Most failures occur when folks just plant the soil ball as is and the shrub does not root into the surrounding soil!
4) Mulch your azaleas with pine bark, pine needle or oak mulches if possible. Use your own oak leaves or pine needles whenever possible. Azaleas are shallow rooted and this helps keep them cooler and moist.
5) Water azaleas only when they dry out until they are established and during stressful dry spells. Fertilize with an acidifying fertilizer specially made for Rhododendrons, Azaleas or Camellias.
Two cultivars of Red Horsechestnut (Aesculus x carnea) trees are in full bloom near the Rock & Waterfall Trolley Stop. Red Horsechestnut is a hybrid between Missouri's native Red Buckeye (A. pavia) and the European Horsechestnut (A. hippocastanum).
This is the '
Fort McNair' Red
Horsechestnut with carmine pink flowers.
The cultivar 'Briotii' has the most vivacious pinkish red flowers of any of the cultivars. Red Horsechestnuts are very popular in the gardens of Europe but do very well here too. Fort McNair is actually selected from Nebraska. Give them a try for a late spring blooming, moderate sized tree -- they are available at many local garden centers. They also make colorful companions to the Lights azaleas.
