FlorAmore® Pink Azalea

‘Pretty in pink’, they say, and that is never more true than in the garden. From near-purples to near-reds, pinks are often the dominant coloring of different flowers, and an essential part of any garden layout. If you want clear, glowing pink in your garden, then look no further than the FlorAmore® Pink Azalea. This reblooming azalea packs more flower-power in a single bush than any other shrub, blooming profusely in spring and then coming back again through summer and fall, right up to frost. Reblooming azaleas have been available for a few years now, but they rarely feature clear, clean colors – and certainly not clear, clean pinks like this one. Combine that with a compact, rounded, evergreen bush just 3 feet tall, and you have a clear winner. Make sure your garden is ‘in the pink’ by planting this great azalea in it – you can’t go wrong.

Growing the FlorAmore® Pink Azalea

Size and Appearance

The FlorAmore Pink Azalea is a densely-branching evergreen shrub growing at a moderate rate to become 3 feet tall and wide. It has compact branching to the ground, and retains its foliage well through the winter months. The leaves are small, just over one inch long, creating a dense, tight look, and they are very dark green. Smooth ovals, they have a soft feel from the short, dense hairs on the underside and the scattering of hairs on the upper side.

The flowers are long-lasting, staying colorful and attractive for a full week, plus the 2 or 3 days that the buds show color just before opening. Blooms first open in early March and continue into mid-April, with a profuse flowering that obscures the foliage. The flowers are carried in clusters of 3 to 5, at the ends of every branch, all over the bush. Almost 2½ inches across, the flowers are a beautiful warm mid-pink, with an outer circle of 5 petals filled with up to 9 secondary petals, making a semi-double bloom. The petals are splashed in their throat with dots of darker reddish-pink. After that initial blooming new stems sprout from below the old flowers, which drop neatly, without leaving seed heads. By July blooms return, from new buds on those new stems, and these increase steadily into the fall, often ending only with the arrival of frost. Towards the end of the season the flower buds become dormant, sitting through winter to create the blooms of the next spring.

Using the FlorAmore® Pink Azalea in Your Garden

This azalea has unusual resistance to full sun, so it can be grown almost anywhere in your garden. Use it in shrub beds, along a path or driveway, or in wooded areas. Plant it beneath your mature trees, or near the front of your home for endless color. It also grows well in pots and planters, thriving for years with minimal care.

Hardiness

The FlorAmore Pink Azalea grows well in zones 7, 8, and 9. Since it can be grown in pots, it can be grown anywhere in the country if you have a cool, bright, frost-free place to grow it during winter. A glass porch is often ideal.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

The FlorAmore Hot Pink Azalea is more resistant to sun than most older types of azaleas. If the soil is moist it will grow well in full sun, and that position also creates the maximum reblooming. It also grows well in partial shade, such as morning sun and afternoon shade, and in light dappled shade too. Too much shade will reduce blooming. It grows best in rich, moist, well-drained acidic soils, with a pH value of 6.0 or less. If you don’t have suitable soil, plant it in a pot or planter box, using soil blended for acid-loving plants.

Maintenance and Pruning

Use a lime-free organic mulch, like peat moss, pine needles or garden compost, regularly. Spread it over the root-zone in spring or fall, avoiding stems and leaves. This will keep the soil moist and cool, as well as releasing some nutrients. In poorer soils using fertilizer for acid-loving shrubs will give great results, and these should be used regularly for plants in pots. Generally free of pests or diseases, azaleas are easy to grow once you have suitable soil, moisture and light levels. The FlorAmore Hot Pink Azalea has neat growth, and doesn’t normally need pruning. If you do want to trim it, do this immediately after the blooms have finished, and at no other time. Avoid cutting the new growth, as this prevents reblooming.

History and Origin of the FlorAmore® Pink Azalea

Reblooming azaleas owe their beginnings to a rare azalea from Taiwan, called Rhododendron olhamii. A unique reblooming variety called ‘Fourth of July’ was discovered last century, among seedlings of that species. Robert E. “Buddy” Lee has a nursery in Independence, Louisiana, and there he began crossing traditional, ‘once a year’ azaleas with ‘Fourth of July’. Among the first plants he made was one with bright red-pink blooms, that he called ‘Conlea’. It is known as the Autumn Rouge™ Azalea, part of what became the Encore® Azalea series – the first reblooming azaleas. In 1997 Buddy sowed seed he had collected from that variety, and in the fall of 2002 he selected one seedling. It had beautiful true-pink blooms, on a compact bush. After years of trials he received a patent for it in 2017, with the name `Lazamorink`. This beautiful bush is made available as the FlorAmore® Pink Azalea, a range belonging to Star® Roses and Plants, one of their Bloomables®, a collection of unique varieties of flowering shrubs.

Buying the FlorAmore® Pink Azalea at the Tree Center

We love this bright bloomer, which complements perfectly the tones of the Encore® Azalea range. Fill your garden with endless blooms without needing an endless variety of shrubs – it’s easy, just grow the FlorAmore® Pink Azalea. Order now, because this plant is hugely popular, and our stock is limited – they will all be gone very soon.