Azaleas: Beautiful and Great for Your Yard

Varietals are the spice of life

One of the features that make Azaleas so amazing is the huge array of sizes, shapes, and colors that are available. With over 10,000 types of Azaleas across 800 species, there is one that fits every landscape design.

Encore Azaleas are true multi-season bloomers. They flower every season except for winter, and, like most azaleas, are available in a wide variety of colors. These are an excellent choice to provide you with colors that complement your home and landscaping year-round.

Glenn Dale Azaleas grow up to eight feet tall. They are great candidates for your lot line! With their height, they provide privacy and a beautiful backdrop for your other landscaping features. With 400 varietals in this subspecies, there are many shapes, sizes, and colors to choose from.

Bush Honeysuckle is one of the only types of Azalea that are native to Florida. Their flowers are smaller than other cultivars, but they are very fragrant, whereas most Azaleas don't have a strong scent. These grow as wildflowers across the state but you can certainly add them to your landscaping for a Florida Friendly Yard.Creel Azaleas come in shades of fiery red, orange, and yellow. These aren't seen quite as much locally as the others. Creel Azaleas are just as easy to establish and maintain. They're a great choice if you want the low-maintenance benefits of an Azalea, but with a more unique color palette.

Benefits of Azaleas for Your Yard

Azaleas are hardy, and once established, they don't require very much care. While there are some insects that like Azaleas, most pests do not seek them out, so they don't need a lot of specialized treatments to keep them healthy. Azaleas are low-maintenance plants, ideal for minimal landscaping during the Gainesville summer.

Azaleas are a great choice for adding color to your yard when other plants are dormant. All Azaleas bloom early in the year, providing you with colorful flowers in your yard even in the winter months. This benefit is especially true of the Encore Azalea, since it can bloom through multiple seasons. A well-thought-out landscape design will include plants that bloom at different times, allowing you to have flowers throughout the year.

Caring for Azaleas in Gainesville Landscapes

Proper placement will mitigate any intensive maintenance. They like acidic soil and filtered sunlight. Azaleas are great for companion planting with large, hardwood trees, or along a fence line. Prune Azaleas as soon as they finish blooming and begin to shrivel-- usually in spring or early in the summer. Pruning later in the year will cut off the new growth and stunt the number of blooms the plant produces. Azaleas are best pruned with a very sharp hand-tool, like a lobber or pruner. This will help maintain the natural, full and rounded look of your Azalea. Close-cropped and squared-off shrubs require more maintenance and may not produce as many flowers.

Due to their hearty nature and the huge variety of colors available, Azaleas are a staple of Gainesville landscape designs. You can see decades-old stands of them in the Thomas Center gardens, or lining the sidewalks at Roper Park. There are also many varieties planted near Century Tower on the University of Florida campus, and Kanapaha Botanical Gardens even has an entire section dedicated to Azaleas and Camellias. The professionals at LawnMore can help you select the perfect type of Azalea for you. With good placement and a little care, you can enjoy early seasonal blooms.