Azalea japonica 'ROSALBA'

Japanese azaleas are very popular features of our gardens. In their home climate they grow to relatively substantial shrubs, as opposed to limited sizes in our continental, dry climate. They are very floriferous, maintenance-free shrubs that usually bloom from mid to late spring.

Rosalba is a little mysterious variety of evergreen azalea because no one knows where it came from, who bred it, nor when it was first seen or introduced. Never mind. The only thing that matters is that it is beautiful. It produces small but lovely, hose-in-hose, semi-double, white flowers flushed pale salmon pink. Reliably evergreen leaves are small, ovate to elliptic, and glossy. Rosalba forms a dense, upright shrub at moderate growth rate.

Japanese azaleas can be clipped to shapes in early June. If so, do not use fertilizers enhancing growth rate. The size of new branches would get out hand and spoil the shape you are going to achieve. They need light, permeable soil that is acid, constantly moist (keep azaleas mulched at all times) and moderately fertile. Use fertilizers for rhododendrons and azaleas, or ericaceous plants. The best soil mix is 1/3 of peat, 1/3 of leaf-mould or lime-free compost, and 1/3 of soil from the hole where you are going to plant it. Azaleas have shallow roots, so do not plant them too deep. Hardy to about -27°C (USDA zone 5b).

Last update 20-11-2017