Orchid Lights Azalea

Group/Class: Northern Lights Series

Description:

Possibly the singlemost hardy azalea, smothered in showy lavender-pink flowers in spring before the leaves, dwarf compact mounded habit; absolutely must have well-drained, highly acidic and organic soil, use plenty of peat moss when planting

Ornamental Features:

Orchid Lights Azalea is bathed in stunning clusters of lilac purple trumpet-shaped flowers with fuchsia spots at the ends of the branches in mid spring before the leaves. It has green foliage throughout the season. The narrow leaves turn yellow in fall. The fruit is not ornamentally significant.

Landscape Attributes:

Orchid Lights Azalea is an open multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a more or less rounded form. Its relatively coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other landscape plants with finer foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Orchid Lights Azalea is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• General Garden Use
• Mass Planting
• Container Planting

Plant Characteristics:

Orchid Lights Azalea will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 4 feet. It has a low canopy. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 40 years or more.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It requires an evenly moist well-drained soil for optimal growth, but will die in standing water. It is very fussy about its soil conditions and must have rich, acidic soils to ensure success, and is subject to chlorosis (yellowing) of the leaves in alkaline soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder zones.

This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.