Lakeshore Garden Centres Plant Finder

Other Names:  Kaempfer Azalea

Description:

Clusters of lavender blooms with hot pink blotches cover this azalea in mid spring; this variety stands out as a compact upright shrub that is great along borders; needs highly acidic and organic soil that is well drained

Ornamental Features

Atlanta Azalea is bathed in stunning clusters of lightly-scented lavender trumpet-shaped flowers with a hot pink blotch at the ends of the branches in mid spring before the leaves. It has green deciduous foliage. The small oval leaves turn an outstanding yellow in the fall.

Landscape Attributes

Atlanta Azalea is an open multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a more or less rounded form. Its relatively coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other landscape plants with finer foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Atlanta Azalea is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use

Planting & Growing

Atlanta Azalea will grow to be about 10 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 7 feet. It tends to be a little leggy, with a typical clearance of 2 feet from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 40 years or more.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. You may want to keep it away from hot, dry locations that receive direct afternoon sun or which get reflected sunlight, such as against the south side of a white wall. It requires an evenly moist well-drained soil for optimal growth, but will die in standing water. It is very fussy about its soil conditions and must have rich, acidic soils to ensure success, and is subject to chlorosis (yellowing) of the foliage in alkaline soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

This plant is not reliably hardy in our region, and certain restrictions may apply; contact the store for more information.