Azalea japonica 'SILVER QUEEN' Japanese azalea
Azalea
Japanese azaleas are very popular features of our gardens. In their home climate they grow to relatively substantial shrubs, as opposed to limited sizes in our continental, dry climate. They are very floriferous, maintenance-free shrubs that usually bloom from mid to late spring.
After a success of variegated azalea cultivars Silver Sword and Hot Shot Variegated, there is a new one called Silver Queen. It boasts extra large, pure pink, openly funnel-shaped flowers in May. Evergreen leaves are narrowly elliptic, acuminate, glossy, mid green with thin creamy white margins. Silver Queen makes a dense, compact shrub about 80 cm tall and wide in maturity.
Japanese azaleas can be clipped to shapes in early June. If so, do not use fertilizers enhancing growth rate. The size of new branches would get out hand and spoil the shape you are going to achieve. They need light, permeable soil that is acid, constantly moist (keep azaleas mulched at all times) and moderately fertile. Use fertilizers for rhododendrons and azaleas, or ericaceous plants. The best soil mix is 1/3 of peat, 1/3 of leaf-mould or lime-free compost, and 1/3 of soil from the hole where you are going to plant it. Azaleas have shallow roots, so do not plant not too deep. Hardy to min. -23°C (USDA zone 6).
Last update 07-01-2020
