Lights, Camera, Azaleas!

The Lights Azalea Hybrids are currently in full bloom at Powell Gardens. The Lights azaleas were hybridized by the University of Minnesota and most involve Missouri's only native azalea the Roseshell Azalea (Rhododendron prinophyllum). Unfortunately our native azalea defies captivity, in other words, it won't grow away from where it is native no matter how hard we try to cultivate it! I am glad the wonderful fragrance of American native azaleas is still present in most of these hybrids so be sure and take time to smell them. Look for all our Lights Azaleas in the Rock & Waterfall Garden, most along the walk along the north side of the garden (that takes you to the trolley stop).

Candy Lights Azalea is one of the newest and best of the Lights Azalea hybrids with fragrant pink flowers, clean foliage and a compact form.

Rosy Lights Azalea may have the best fragrance of the group and looks most like our native azalea. The flowers are much more rosy pink than the shell pink of wild azaleas. This shrub blooms without any leaves so looks like a full pink bush right now.

Tri-Lights Azalea has white, pink and yellow flowers and is one of the newer hybrids. It is a great performer and can be seen in the core of the Rock and Waterfall Garden between the two bridges.

White Lights Azalea opens softest pink from pink buds and ages to pure white. It is intensely fragrant and perfect for an evening or white garden.

Northern Hi-Lights Azalea has creamy young flowers with an egg yolk blotch on the upper flare -- as the flowers age they are clearly white with a yellow hi-light. The flowers just opened in this picture so are still in the creamy stage. I also really like this plant for an evening or white garden. It is also wonderfully fragrant.

Lemon Lights Azalea is a rich lemony yellow and fragrant too.

Golden Lights Azalea 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.

Two Spring Favorties now in Bloom!

Two favorite spring blooming plants at Powell Gardens are currently in bloom: Oriental Wisterias and Azaleas! The slow, cool spring has been much to their liking and their flowers are lasting a long time. Look for Wisterias covering the Perennial Garden lakeside arbor and Azaleas throughout the Rock & Waterfall Garden.


Oriental Wisterias (the hybrid cultivar 'Caroline' depicted) are quite fickle in our climate. Oriental wisterias set flower buds the previous late summer and fall. In spring, emerging flower buds are often nipped by a late freeze and hence they never bloom. This year they are grand! Oriental Wisterias bloom before most of their foliage is out and the flowers are very large and fragrant; making them the a spring favorite. We have tried many types of Oriental Wisteria and the cultivars 'Caroline' and 'Texas Purple' are our best performers. We recommend you grow a selected cultivar to ensure good bloom as we have some wisterias that are more than a decade old and have never bloomed! There are also American native species of wisterias which bloom in late spring/early summer and they are 100% reliable because our weather has settled down by then.

America's favorite shrub is also painting the understory of the Rock & Waterfall Garden: Azaleas! It is best to come walk through the garden to get the full effect of their rich hues, the spring sunshine, the floral aromas and the songs of all the visceral birds in the garden. I tried to find some compositions to capture the glory of the garden this morning but agreed with several visitors that it is something that must be experienced in person.


The top performing azalea in the Rock & Waterfall Garden is the cultivar 'Herbert' seen here. It has what is called hose-in-hose flowers (its like two flowers in one) of a vibrant lavender purple and a darker flare.


Herbert azaleas like most of them, look better in masses set among shade loving plants.


We have some azaleas you cannot see in these parts including this white Glenn Dale Azalea. It is an unknown cultivar that was a good doer by long-time local nurseryman and azalea enthusiast Andy Klapis. Andy is currently in his late 80's and donated the original collection of Rock & Waterfall azaleas. I gave him a call to let him know that the azaleas are spectacular this spring. We have both a pink and white Glenn Dale azalea from him that are among our most spectacular azaleas.


Azalea Girard's Dwarf Lavender is a great choice for small spaces and vivid color.


Azalea 'Girard's Hot Shot' has orange in its red blossoms so can be difficult to sight in the landscape though is beautiful with other red azaleas and white flowering dogwoods.


Azalea 'Stewartstownian' is our best red azalea and can be found in good masses in the Rock & Waterfall Garden. Again it can be a bit difficult to sight in a landscape but is gorgeous set with green foliage and white flowering dogwood. Blue flowers like woodland phlox and Spanish bluebells are also good companions.


Powell Gardens are currently at their peak of spring color! Dogwoods (see prior blog) and azaleas are as good as ever this year. Together with the wisterias on the perennial garden arbor a visit to the Powell Gardens delivers an ethereal experience.

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!

Welcome Spring's Earliest Flowers

Ah, spring arrived last night and the day has reflected a new beginning for the sunny half of the year. The Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) opened their flowers to the buzz of honeybees and other insects. Thousands of flowers are now in bloom in the Rock & Waterfall Garden.


The Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are in full bloom in sparkling drifts throughout the Rock & Waterfall Garden's woodland floor. The water is now cascading through the Rock & Waterfall Garden's streams and adds a wonderful ambiance to the experience. The first Hellebores, Daffodil and Cornelian-cherry Dogwood flowers all came into bloom today as well (more on them later).


Danford Iris (Iris danfordae) sprinkle the Island Garden with delightful yellow flowers. All the dwarf iris are squirrel and deer proof! Remember to buy at least 100 for planting next fall.


Reticulate Iris (Iris reticulata) comes in many hybrid and select cultivar forms. This one with a touch of light aqua blue is a quite refreshing for spring. Look for masses of it east of the Island Garden's pools above the living wall.


The deep blue cultivars of Reticulate Iris (Iris reticulata) are still my favorites with their deep blue flowers. Look for masses of these east of the Island Garden's pools but below the walk (between the lake and the walk). Powell Gardens is amassing an amazing collection of the world's iris and will soon have its collections registered by the North American Plant Collections Consortium as the repository for all the hardy species and best cultivars of iris available. The iris is the official flower of Kansas City!

The first Turkey Vultures "buzzards" glided over the gardens today and a Mourning Cloak butterfly was also on the wing: more sure signs of spring!

These photographs were taken on the last day of winter at Powell Gardens by Alan Branhagen.