Pearl Bloom-A-Thon® Azalea

Like a cool vanilla ice cream on a hot day, nothing cools down the brilliance and eye-filling color of spring better than white – pure, pristine white, like a late snow storm. That’s why no spring garden should be without the Bloom-A-Thon® Pearl Azalea. The large flowers are simply white – perfect, like the pearls in an oyster. They smother the bush in spring – calm sentinels among the pinks and reds of your other spring flowers. Then occasional blooms open over the summer, and when fall comes so does another profuse display, lasting into October and the first hard frost. It’s like two scoops for the price of one. Forming a broad, rounded bush up to 4 feet across and 3 feet tall, this vigorous and fast-growing evergreen thrives in partial shade, and produces more fall flowers in shade than the sun-loving Encore® azaleas do. That makes achieving fall azaleas easier in average conditions. Grow this beauty on the shady side of your house, or in areas beneath deciduous trees, alongside other azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, pieris and other lovers of acid-soils. It also makes a great plant for boxes and planters, especially if you don’t have acidic soil, as then you can grow it to perfection. You can leave those pots outside all winter from zone 8 – otherwise simply bury the pot for the coldest months. If you bring the potted plant into the house or into a cold porch in late winter it will reward you with perfect flowers, with no risk of weather-damage.

• Cool and calm, with pure-white blooms
• Full blooming in spring, some in summer, and a second big show in September and October
• A fast-growing, vigorous evergreen with small, deep-green leaves
• A broad, dense bush up to 3 feet high and 4 feet wide
• Best if grown in acidic soils

Plant your Bloom-A-Thon® Pearl Azalea in a spot with some morning sun and afternoon shade, or in light, dapped shade beneath deciduous trees. Too much shade will reduce blooming. Grow it in rich, moist, well-drained soil that has a pH value of 6.5 or less, preferably around 5.5. Enrich the soil before planting with lime-free compost, and use more each spring as mulch that will both conserve moisture and feed your plant. Potted plants should be grown in a soil mix blended for acid-loving plants and fed regularly with a similar liquid fertilizer. Plenty of nutrients encourages that fall blooming. Water regularly – this plant is not drought tolerant. Dead-head spring blooms, or trim very lightly before new growth begins, but don’t trim the new growth or it won’t rebloom. Azaleas aren’t eaten by deer or rabbits and they don’t normally have pest or disease problems if the growing conditions are good.