2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Glossy bright flowers are presented to the world by Azalea in spring. As a representative of the genus Rhododendron, it differs from evergreen plant species in leaves that fall off during cold weather. The plant is grown outdoors and in flower pots, decorating balconies and terraces
Indian Rhododendron hybrids
There was a time when plants had their own genus, which was called that, the genus Azalea. But botanists decided to save on the name of the genera, and attributed the richly and brightly flowering plant to the genus Rhododendron.
The decision was logical, since Azaleas are usually called hybrids obtained from Indian Rhododendron (Rhododendron indicum), the numerous branches of which are covered with small leaves and magnificent caps of bright inflorescences. Many species of Azalea are deciduous, in contrast to the evergreen large bushes of natural rhododendrons.
Azaleas are regulars in gardens and parks in mild climates. They greet spring with glossy tubular-bell-shaped large flowers, painted in different shades of yellow, pink, orange and red, as well as pure white. Flowers can be single, or create umbellate or corymbose inflorescences. You can distinguish Azalea from Rhododendron by the number of stamens in the flower. Azalea has 5 of them, and Rhododendron, as a rule, has twice as many.
Colors of different varieties
Many different varieties of Azalea have been bred by gardeners, differing in flowering time, flower shape and color:
* The variety "Palestrina" admires the world with white flowers.
* Flowers of varieties "Home Boom" and "Firesauber" compete with the Sun in deeply saturated orange color.
* The Hinodegiri variety blooms in bright red.
* The varieties "Kirin", "King George", "Hinomayo", "Hatsugiri", "Elizabeth", "Seven Stars", "Vuika" are distinguished by pink flowers of various shades. Moreover, the latter stands out with a particularly intense pink tint.
* Pink flowers with a white border in Mrs JW Lick and Mrs Quint.
Growing
You can start growing Azalea in a flower pot, so that after three to four years, on a spring day, you can transplant the grown plant into open ground.
The place for Azalea, as well as for Rhododendron, is chosen in partial shade so that the hot rays of the sun do not burn the beauty. You should also protect the bush from the wind.
The soil requires moist, fertile, acidic, for which rotting foliage, peat and pine needles are added. If it is not possible to provide Azalea with favorable soil, it is better to abandon planting a plant on the site so as not to waste your energy, since the shrub will not give flowering on poor soil. To maintain soil moisture in the spring, the soil around the base of the bush is mulched, and in the summer it is regularly watered, preventing the soil from drying out. Potted plants (flat pots required) are periodically sprayed with water.
In addition to applying full mineral fertilizer during planting, during the period of active growth, watering the plants twice a month is combined with feeding, for which 10 grams of complex fertilizer are added to a bucket of water.
To give splendor to the bush, pinch the young plant after flowering. In the spring, only weak, damaged or excess shoots are cut off, and the tops of last year's shoots are also shortened.
Reproduction
Ordinary growers, as a rule, purchase ready-made plants in horticultural centers, where specialists are involved in their propagation.
A couple of years after flowering, the Azalea is transplanted into a larger container, and with a bush height of 50-60 cm, the plant can grow more freely in the open field.
Enemies
Excessive moisture provokes various fungal diseases.
In addition, whiteflies, worms, aphids and the larvae of a butterfly from the genus Othiorrynchus, which it lays on the roots of the plant, love to feast on the leaves and flowers of Azalea.
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