{"id":11986,"date":"2019-07-28T13:00:52","date_gmt":"2019-07-28T17:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=11986"},"modified":"2019-07-28T12:57:37","modified_gmt":"2019-07-28T16:57:37","slug":"july-blooming-plumleaf-azalea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2019\/07\/28\/july-blooming-plumleaf-azalea\/","title":{"rendered":"July Blooming Plumleaf Azalea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Plumleaf azalea (<em>Rhododendron prunifolium<\/em>), a deciduous azalea native to  Georgia and Alabama, is a particular summer favorite (USDA hardiness zones 6-9). It&#8217;s hardy even in Boston, NY City, and Philadelphia. Its bright orange-red blooms surprise in late July to early August. Compared to many fragrant spring blooming native species, flowers emit no scent. Its autumnal leaf color is uneventful.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Rhod-prunifolium-red-form-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11990\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Rhod-prunifolium-red-form-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Rhod-prunifolium-red-form-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Rhod-prunifolium-red-form-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>New red blooming form (Photo by V. Abney)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This 5-8 feet tall and wide shrub is best protected from summer &#8216;s harsh afternoon sun. Planting on a north or east facing site and in mildly acidic, well-drained, compost rich soil is ideal. Plumleaf azalea appears to prospers calcareous clay soils found in the Eastern Tennessee and Western NC without pH correction.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Irrigate plants the first two years of establishment. Set the shrub into a wide, shallowly dug hole which has been generously amended with compost and\/or peat; maintain 2-3 inches of a bark chip type mulch around the shrub base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plumleaf azaleas are generally sold at native plant on-line nurseries. Purchase and plant by late summer so that the fine shallow roots get deeply knitted into the soil before winter arrives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plumleaf azalea is the signature plant of Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia where I initially purchased the plant which has prospered in my northeast Tennessee garden the past 28 years ago. A new red flower form is becoming more available (see photo).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plumleaf azaleas bloom on new current season&#8217;s wood. Prune this summer bloomer anytime after flowering to maintain desired height and spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Rhododendron-prunifolium-4-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11989\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Rhododendron-prunifolium-4-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Rhododendron-prunifolium-4-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Rhododendron-prunifolium-4-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Native Plumleaf azalea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Plumleaf azalea (Rhododendron prunifolium), a deciduous azalea native to Georgia and Alabama, is a particular summer favorite (USDA hardiness zones 6-9). It&#8217;s hardy even in Boston, NY City, and Philadelphia. Its bright orange-red blooms surprise in late July to early August. Compared to many fragrant spring blooming native species, flowers emit no scent. Its autumnal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,657,1218,711,747,1319,1393,749,1037,1498,645,674,806,853,1476,627,843,1059,601,729,712,777,1210,630,706,7,113,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11986"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11986"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11991,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11986\/revisions\/11991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}