{"id":4043,"date":"2013-04-04T12:00:38","date_gmt":"2013-04-04T16:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=4043"},"modified":"2012-10-31T16:49:50","modified_gmt":"2012-10-31T20:49:50","slug":"coastal-azalea-copes-with-heavy-clay-soils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2013\/04\/04\/coastal-azalea-copes-with-heavy-clay-soils\/","title":{"rendered":"Coastal Azalea Copes With Heavy Clay Soils"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Rhododendron atlanticum at Duke Gardens in Durham, NC<\/p><\/div>\n

Coastal Azalea (Rhododendron atlanticum<\/em>) is a deciduous native\u00a0azalea\u00a0that grows along coastal plains of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast U. S. Their white 1 to 1 \u00bd inch tubular flowers appear about the time that lilac petals are beginning to\u00a0fading. Flowers are snowy white with a pinkish blush, and emit a distinctly clove fragrance. Blooms\u00a0open\u00a0a few days\u00a0before the\u00a0new spring foliage.<\/p>\n

Coastal azalea forms a low compact deciduous shrub. It rarely grows taller than 4 feet in height and 4 to 6 feet wide. It should be grown in full sun (in zone 5b -6)\u00a0and in\u00a0partial shade (zones 7-8).\u00a0 Coastal azalea grows best in a well- drained acidic soil. It should be watered during prolonged summer dry spells.\u00a0Its bluish-green foliage remains disease and pest free\u00a0if plants are\u00a0not environmentally stressed.<\/p>\n

Coastal azaleas are highly stoloniferous, spreading by underground stems and forming\u00a0small plant colonies around themselves. They tend to sucker a lot less in clay soils. The cultivar R. atlanticum<\/em> \u2018Winterthur\u2019 has an outstanding compact growth habit and\u00a0tends not to sucker.<\/p>\n

R. atlanticum<\/em> is parent\u00a0to a number of hybrid deciduous azaleas:<\/p>\n

\u2018Fragrant Star\u2019 (R. canescens<\/em> x R. atlanticum<\/em>) \u2013 fragrant white flowers (slightly larger than \u2018Snowbird\u2019); \u00a04\u00a0 by 4 foot compact\u00a0shrub with blue green foliage, introduced by Briggs Nursery in Olympia, WA.<\/p>\n

\u2018Snowbird\u2019 (R. atlanticum<\/em> x R. canescens<\/em>) – 4\u00a0 by 4 foot compact\u00a0shrub with blue green, mildew resistant foliage; introduced by Biltmore Estates in Asheville, NC.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘Marydel’ <\/strong>(R<\/em>. atlanticum<\/em> \u00a0x R. periclymenoides<\/em>)- abundant pinkish-white, fragrant flowers\u00a0from late April into May; introduced by the late Polly Hill.<\/p>\n

\u2018My Mary\u2019 [R. atlanticum<\/em> x R. periclymenoides<\/em>] x R. austrinum \u2013<\/em> very fragrant yellow flowers in late April. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coastal Azalea (Rhododendron atlanticum) is a deciduous native\u00a0azalea\u00a0that grows along coastal plains of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast U. S. Their white 1 to 1 \u00bd inch tubular flowers appear about the time that lilac petals are beginning to\u00a0fading. Flowers are snowy white with a pinkish blush, and emit a distinctly clove fragrance. Blooms\u00a0open\u00a0a few days\u00a0before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,964,627,712,630,705,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4043"}],"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=4043"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4048,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4043\/revisions\/4048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}