Saturday, May 10, 2008

Bluest Azalea

Bluest Azalea

The title of this post is kind of a joke. When I bought this plant at a strange nursery in Pennsylvania the farmer (that what would be the best way to describe him) said, “This is the bluest azalea there is”. Since it was fall I couldn’t dispute that fact although it did look suspiciously like a little leaf Rhododendron. I bought it anyway without knowing the name and sure enough the next year it bloomed and I had to admit it was pretty blue. This was 15 years ago and before some of the recent blue flowered introductions. I wish I could find out the name because I like having the names for all the Rhodos in the collection. For all I know this is something the farmer could have crossed himself. The color is straight out of the camera.


Here are couple more pictures of some of the little leaf Rhododendrons I enjoyed during the spring. None of these were marked with the cultivar name. So this is kind of the unknown Rhodos post.



This one is some type of Rhododendron yakushimanum cultivar. They sure are pretty, especially when the buds are first starting to open up.


Yesterday was a wash out here. It was really cold, windy and wet at the nursery. I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of the flowers I was looking for. I still need forty flats of salmon pink Impatiens.

3 comments:

Diane Dehler said...

What a wonderful splash of vivid blues and colors. It's been unusually chilly in Northern Cal this spring although the flowers seem unaffected. Hope all is well with you.

Sandy Kessler said...

is that a true blue azalea did no know there was one !!

Anonymous said...

the 'blue azalea' looks like a 'starry night' rhododendron...perhaps the little leaf pink flowering rhodo is pjm 'aglo'?