Recently I wrote about the changing trends in gardens and how plants seem to disappear out of vogue. One plant that I didn’t mention was azalea bushes which seem to go through sporadical encores. One minute they’re detested, the next they’re the must-have trendsetter. Love them or not, I’m sure they will be with us for a very long time to come.

The most probable cause of their attention is twofold; (1) They bloom their butts off, and (2) they are fairly easy to grow. So easy, in fact, that many azaleas are sold in supermarkets – and who buys plants from the supermarket apart from those people wanting to just stick something in the ground?

Even though azaleas are supposedly easy to grow, they can just as easily die. My wife (the decisive gardener) ripped one from the ground just the other day – I swear I spotted tinges of green in the stems! Fortunately, this isn’t typical of their growth habit and provided the conditions are good and they receive a little TLC they will continue to grow and bloom forever.

What attracts most people to azaleas is the colour range and the diversity of bloom shades and hue makeups. Many specimens now come in ranges from Vanilla white through dark purples and every shade and combination in between. And in peak flowering season – mainly spring – they can almost carpet most shrubs until it looks like a mass of colour.

In the past, azalea bushes were grown as great options for the shade bed. They had very little tolerance of the sun and their blooms, if there were any, would wilt and spot quicker than an icecream on a summer’s day. It’s not the case these days, though. Most of the newer hybrids are bred to not only tolerate sun but to thrive in it which gives gardeners even more freedom in planting one, or two, or….

The specs for growing azalea bushes…

• Make sure you read the label before planting your azalea in the ground. Some will only grow in shade and others can only survive in the sun.
• While it may seem a travesty against nature, cut off any blooms that appear on the plant before putting it in the ground. Azaleas are heavy feeders – heavy drinkers too – so to give them the best start, boost up the soil with a slow release fertiliser and handfuls of blood ‘n bone (bonemeal). When flowering, feed with a liquid fertiliser every 2 – 4 weeks.
• Pruning a shrub is best done after flowering and when the plant becomes dormant – usually the end of autumn. You can be quite hard with them, snipping of about a third of their size. Fertilise again at this time with some more blood ‘n bone.
• Azaleas can be propagated by semi or hardwood cuttings taken when you give the plant a prune. They’re not hard to reproduce but may take a few turns, so be patient.

What type of gardens do azaleas suit?

Apart from “grandma’s garden”, azaleas are made for Japanese gardens. Their flowering profusion set against a back drop of dark green foliage make them the quintessential addition. The sun-loving pedigrees (now there’s an oxymoron!) also work well in cottage or rambling gardens just as well as they do in formal designs.

There are few garden styles where an azalea wouldn’t work well apart from the xeriscape. Their thirst for moisture is often insatiable and they won’t survive on merely rainfall alone – unless of course you live in a climate where it rains every second day.

And while they tolerate frosts they don’t seem to enjoy them.