Rhododendron Species, Pinkshell Azalea

I had a Rhododendron vaseyi in my backyard in Brooklyn, New York, a long time ago (twenty-five years!) and was very pleased with it. It's...Read More "habit" ( I.e., the form in which it grows) is a bit lanky, but I valued this feature as a token of its natural behavior. It probably would have been more lush-looking with a little more exposure to sunlight, but in a big city you have to work with the conditions that you're given. It was easy of cultivation and never gave me a problem with disease or insects.
The flowers were appealing and made me proud to be able to raise a real native plant in my own backyard. I'm tempted even now, in my new location in another New York borough ( Queens) to plant another, even though it's a bit late in the season (it's now May 28th).

Very showy flowers appear in spring before the leaves. No hybrid azalea is showier. This deciduous azalea has good fall color and good re...Read Moresistance to powdery mildew.

This is an easy and adaptable landscape shrub, one that should be much more widely grown. It's not hard to find in commerce. A 1998 Cary Award winner, designed to promote exceptional plants for New England gardens.

There's a white-flowered cultivar, 'White Find', that's easier to find in commerce than the species.

In New England, the deciduous azaleas are tidier in winter than the evergreen ones.

This performs well in dappled shade.

A rare plant in the wild, wild plants are only found in five counties in western North Carolina, and are threatened by development.

Among the very first Rhododendrons to bloom in the spring, this deciduous native species is fairly rare.