Pink Adoration ReBLOOM® Azalea

Who doesn’t adore azaleas? Nothing else has the same richness of color in its blooms, and few plants smother themselves in flowers until the leaves are almost completely hidden. They may be a little demanding for soil – although that is easily overcome by growing them in pots – but the slight attention they need is more than repaid when they bloom. It’s just that they only bloom once a year and waiting so long can be hard. Now though, all that waiting is in the past, because with the new reblooming azaleas available, we can have not just spring blooms, but more to adore in summer and fall, right up to the last frost. With the Pink Adoration™ ReBLOOM™ Azalea even gardeners in zone 6, and those with lots of shade, can enjoy the pleasure of reblooming azaleas – what could be better?

The Pink Adoration ReBLOOM Azalea is fast-growing, and it soon develops into a dense, bushy plant up to 2 feet tall and 3 feet across. The many spreading branches form a neat, dome-shaped plant that needs little or no trimming or clipping to stay that way. It looks fabulous as an edging, or in the middle part of a small bed, and it really does hold its leaves even in the cold winters of zone 6. The leaves are softly hairy, with a dense texture and a smooth oval form, and their compact size (just 2½ inches long) gives this plant a superb neat outline. Grow this plant around your home in the foreground of larger evergreens, or in beds out in your garden. Use it to line a driveway with color, or mass plant it beneath trees or on the edge of a woodland. Space plants 2½ feet apart in each direction for a continuous natural carpet of color.

The blooms of the Pink Adoration ReBLOOM Azalea are indeed pink – a rich, warm pink that darkens slightly in the heart of the flower. It is enriched with darker pink spots and freckles on the upper petals, which intensify in the center of the bloom. Each bloom is a full 3½ inches across, with 5 broad frilled petals creating a picture of elegance and refinement. Blooming begins in April or May and continues for several weeks, as the flowers open in succession, smothering the plant in color. Each individual flower lasts for a week. When the spring blooming is finished, that isn’t the end of the show. Beginning with a few blooms in July, and then steadily intensifying to full blooming in the fall, this amazing plant continues into October, only ending when the first frost hits. 

With such a long season of bloom, the Pink Adoration ReBLOOM Azalea really earns its place in any garden, but especially in smaller ones, where every plant must work across several seasons. This new azalea series is the first reblooming azalea hardy in zone 6, so it is especially attractive to gardeners there. It grows in full sun in zone 6, but benefits from afternoon shade in warmer zones. It will also grow and bloom well in light full shade, such as you find in an open woodland, beneath large shade trees, or along the foot of a north-facing wall or fence. Grow it in moist, well-drained soil that is slightly acidic, preferably with a pH of 6.0 or less. Prepare the soil with lime-free organic material like compost or peat moss, and mulch over the roots with more, to conserve moisture and keep the soil cool. If you don’t have acidic soil, the easiest and best solution is to grow this plant in a pot, where it will thrive for years. Make sure it has a drainage hole, and use potting soil and fertilizer blended for acid-loving plants. With its compact size this azalea is perfect for planter boxes, where it brings as much color as most annual flowers do, yet it looks great in winter too, and lasts for years and years.

The Pink Adoration ReBLOOM Azalea is one of just nine plants selected from 80,000 seedlings in a long and complex breeding program. They were created by crossing numerous different types of azaleas together, including, for this variety, a pink-blooming variety called ‘Watchet’. The seedlings were created by Robert Head, in Seneca, North Carolina in 1996, and then carefully monitored and studied, before selecting this plant in 2000. Further trials followed before it was patented as ‘RLH1-7P14’ in 2014. It is sold with the trademark name Pink Adoration™, and released under license by the Greenleaf Nursery Company, as part of their Garden Debut® collection. These new plants have really been well-received, for their hardiness and shade-tolerance, and we simply can’t keep our stock for very long at all, it’s so popular. You should order now if you want to enjoy these great, reblooming plants, because they will be gone very soon.