FlorAmore® Red Azalea

It’s hard to beat red in the garden, you agree. When that bright and clear red comes not just for a short season, but again and again, with hardly a break from spring to late fall, that’s got to be a ‘must-have’ plant. Well, if you can grow azaleas, you can enjoy exactly that, with the FlorAmore® Red Azalea. When we say ‘red’ that’s exactly what you get – not some dark pink or some reddish-purple, but real, rich scarlet. A powerful scarlet that won’t be gone with the spring, but that comes back in summer and keeps on coming all the way to the edge of winter. When it isn’t blooming you will appreciate its attractive, deep-green foliage and dense, rounded habit. This is a vigorous and easily-grown bush that stays a compact 3 feet tall and wide, needing no trimming or pruning to stay that way. Create bright-red highlights and eye-catching focal points in your garden. Roll out the red carpet beneath your mature trees, or along a pathway. If you love bright, clear red on easy-care shrubs then you are on the right page – the search is over.

Growing the FlorAmore® Red Azalea

Size and Appearance

The FlorAmore Red Azalea grows vigorously into a rounded evergreen shrub with branches down to the ground, forming a mound about 3 feet tall and wide. The handsome leaves don’t fall off in winter, even in zone 7 – no, they hold tight, keeping your bush dense and attractive. The oval leaves are 1¼ inches long and ½ an inch wide, and a deep green color. They have a solid texture and a soft feel, with scattered short hairs on the top and a denser coating of hairs on the lower side.

As soon as March or April, you will see the first profuse flush of blooms. Every branch is topped with a cluster of up to 5 small buds, opening into large oval red buds. After 2 or 3 days they open wide into a 3-inch diameter flaring funnel of 5 rounded petals. Free of spots, these glow and radiate that pure, brilliant bright red we call ‘scarlet’. Five long stamens topped with a cluster of pollen flare out too, adding a decorative touch. Blooms last a whole week before neatly dropping to the ground, and no seed pods form, so that tedious dead-heading isn’t needed.

As soon as the flowers fall, new stems sprout out from the top of each stem, increasing the size of your bush by up to 8 inches. As these new leaves mature this plant is hard at work, developing new clusters of flower-buds at the end of each one. These begin to bloom again by mid-July, and they keep going, gather in strength and abundance, right to the end of fall. With cooler fall weather some of the buds become dormant, saving their blooms for the following spring, until finally it is over for the year.

Using the FlorAmore® Red Azalea in Your Garden

Sun-tolerant, you can use the FlorAmore Red Azalea in many parts of your garden. Grow it as a colorful accent plant among other shrubs, or plant it in clusters in larger beds. Grow it along a pathway as a brilliant edging. Space plants in groups or rows at 24-inch intervals. This plant also grows well in planter boxes and pots, thriving and blooming for many years.

Hardiness

The FlorAmore Red Azalea is hardy from zone 7 to zone 9, staying fully evergreen and blooming well. If you have a cool but bright spot that is frost-free, like a glass porch, you can grow it there in winter, and enjoy this plant wherever you live.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

The FlorAmore Red Azalea has good sun tolerance if the soil is moist, and it enjoys some morning sun, with afternoon shade. It also grows in light full shade, such as beneath deciduous trees, but avoid too much shade, as this will reduce reblooming. The soil should be moist, rich, well-drained and acidic, with a pH value of 6.0 or less. Enrich your soil with lime-free materials like compost or rotted leaves before planting.

Maintenance and Pruning

Lime-free mulches will keep the soil moist and cool, so add a 2-inch layer in spring or fall. Use any fertilizer designed for lime-hating flowering shrubs as directed, especially when growing the FlorAmore Red Azalea in containers. Use lime-free potting soil, and water when the top half-inch is dry. Pests and diseases rarely cause any problems, and it is best to avoid any significant pruning. If you do need to prune, do it immediately after the spring flowers have finished. Don’t trim the new branches as they grow, as this will reduce or eliminate re-blooming.

History and Origin of the FlorAmore® Red Azalea

Robert E. “Buddy” Lee, is a prolific azalea breeder from Independence, Louisiana, who brought us the Encore® Azaleas. For those he used an early reblooming variety called ‘Fourth of July’, but that is not the only azalea that sometimes produces more blooms in summer and fall. B.Y. Morrison was an azalea breeder in the 1930s and 1940s who developed the Glenn Dale azaleas – evergreens that were more cold-resistant than anything before them. Among them was ‘Red Slippers’, with rose-red flowers that often return in summer and fall. Buddy Lee took pollen from a deep-red azalea called ‘Arabesk’ and used it on ‘Red Slippers’. He grew the seed and in 2006 he found one plant among the seedlings – one plant with big scarlet blooms and strong re-blooming habit. After further trials he patented it in 2017 as ‘Lazamored’. This plant was placed in their FlorAmore® azalea range by Star® Roses and Plants, as the FlorAmore® Red Azalea, part of their Bloomables® brand of exciting new flowering shrubs.

Buying the FlorAmore® Red Azalea at the Tree Center

Buddy Lee never fails to bring us new, exciting plants, and this show-stopper is no exception. Red azaleas are always big sellers, and this one is going to be no exception. Order now, and sit back for the show, but do it fast, because this is one variety we won’t have around for long.