Reblooming azaleas have been ‘hot’ for some years now, and there aren’t many gardeners around still growing the old, ‘once a year’ varieties. But still, the range of colors is a bit limited, with many being pastels and muted tones. If bright, clear colors are your things – and they always look great in the garden – then it’s time to discover the FloreAmore series. Created by the same skilled hands that brought us the Encore Azaleas, these plants are in many ways similar, with the same wonderful reblooming that just keeps on coming and coming. The big difference is the clarity of color and the full, large flowers. A hot favorite with everyone is the FlorAmore® Hot Pink Azalea. After a spectacular and rich spring blooming it takes a moment to gather strength before starting up again from early summer and keeps pumping out those blooms right into the late fall. The large, 3-inch flowers are funnels of pink fun, and they form in big, multi-bloom clusters at the ends of the branches. Keep your garden hot – and grow azaleas in sunnier spots than you thought possible – with these great plants, ‘flowers to love’, as the Italians would put it.

Growing the FlorAmore® Hot Pink Azalea

Size and Appearance

The FlorAmore Hot Pink Azalea is a robust but compact evergreen shrub growing rapidly into a dense, rounded bush around 3 feet tall and wide. The evergreen leaves are held well even during the winter months, so it always looks good, never bare and thin. The leaves are neat ovals of dark green, about 1½ inches long and 1 inch wide. They have a slightly leathery texture, but a soft surface because of the short, fine hairs that cover them on both sides, more densely on the underside.

Blooming begins in March or April, when the promising buds, that have sat through the winter months, begin to swell and grow. Blooms are in clusters at the ends of the branches, with up to 12 blooms in a single cluster. The buds expand first, showing bright pink coloring for 2 or 3 days before opening fully. The open flower is a flaring trumpet of a clear, bright pink, with no spots or blotches in the center. Each one is decorated with 5 graceful stamens that arch outwards. The blooms are very long-lasting, holding their form and color for a full week, before dropping neatly. This variety doesn’t make seeds, so no seed pods need to be trimmed, and the plant wastes no energy making them.

After the first flush, you will see new stems growing out from the tip of each branch, and these can be up to 10 inches long, so this bush expands rapidly in size when young. By mid-July you will see buds have formed at the ends of these branches, and blooming begins again, continuing as new stems keep growing. Only when it becomes cooler do some of the buds become dormant, waiting to form the flowers for the next spring. Gradually, after many weeks of blooming, the show is over for another year.

Using the FlorAmore® Hot Pink Azalea in Your Garden

With its ability to grow in brighter settings, you can grow this great plant almost anywhere. Plant it in the central part of small beds, or in the foreground of larger ones. Grow it around mature trees, or along a path. Greet yourself with color by planting near the front door. Use it along casual walks in wooded areas, or grow it in a pot or planter box.

Hardiness

The FlorAmore Hot Pink Azalea is hardy from zone 7 through zone 9. In cooler areas it could be grown in a pot for years, keeping it in a bright, frost-free but cool space during the winter months – anywhere in the country.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

The FlorAmore Hot Pink Azalea is happy in full sun if the soil is moist, and it will also grow well in light shade, perhaps with morning sun and afternoon shade. Too much shade tends to reduce the second blooming. Like all azaleas, it needs rich, moist but well-drained soil that is acidic, with a pH value of 6.0 or less. If you don’t have suitable soil it will grow in a planter or pot. The fibrous root system means it is happy in pots for years, even when it becomes large and mature.

Maintenance and Pruning

Use lime-free mulches, spread each spring or fall, to feed your plants, conserve moisture and keep the roots cool. Cover the root zone but avoid covering branches or leaves. In less-than-perfect soils use fertilizers for acid-loving flowering shrubs. The FlorAmore Hot Pink Azalea is generally free of significant pests or diseases. This plant doesn’t need dead-heading, and it shouldn’t need pruning either. Don’t trim the new stems as this will reduce or eliminate the re-blooming. If you do want to shape or trim your plant, only do it immediately after the spring flowering.

History and Origin of the FlorAmore® Hot Pink Azalea

The beginnings of reblooming azaleas can be found in a rare azalea from Taiwan, called Rhododendron olhamii. From seed send to America a unique variety grew, one that produced some blooms in summer and fall. Called ‘Fourth of July’, this was the plant that the skilled breeder Robert E. “Buddy” Lee, from Independence, Louisiana, began with, making many, many crosses with different traditional azalea varieties. The result was the Encore® Azaleas, a well-known re-blooming range. Back in 1996 Buddy collected seed from one of his breeding plants coded as VFXOHI-1. Much later, in 2010, when inspecting his vast array of breeding material, he spotted one of the seedlings of that collection, with fantastic hot pink flowers. He patented it in 2017 as `Lazamoropi’. Star® Roses and Plants have released this plant as one of their FlorAmore® Azalea range, colored as Hot Pink, one of their Bloomables®, new quality varieties of flowering shrubs.

Buying the FlorAmore® Hot Pink Azalea at the Tree Center

We love this great azalea for the way it compliments, with bright color, our extensive range of Encore® Azaleas. Just as reliably re-blooming, this azalea will bring more color, for more weeks, than you ever thought possible from just one plant. These new plants are attractive dedicated followers, so order now, while our stock lasts.