May, 1907 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



219 



outdoor culture in the South, its flowers 

 being larger than those of the Chinese (often 

 four inches across) and the most varied in 

 color of the whole genus. Normally it 

 belongs to the lavender-magenta-purple 

 series, but it has wild varieties that connect 

 it with the yellow-orange-red series, and the 

 cultivated forms embrace every important 

 color save yellow and blue. It is also more 

 richly striped, bordered and fluted than any 

 other azalea, and a peculiar feature is that 

 the three upper petals are beautifully spotted. 

 It has the broadest and flattest flower of all 

 azaleas, there being scarcely any tube. You 

 can tell it from other greenhouse azaleas by 

 the fact that the leaves and flowers come 

 from the same bud. So far as I know, it 

 has never been crossed with any species 

 other than the evergreen kinds about to be 

 mentioned. 



For its evergreen foliage the Indian azalea 

 pays dearly, since in its typical form it cannot 

 survive the winter outdoors north of the 

 Carolinas. Even in the South its winter 

 aspect is not particularly attractive, nor does 

 the foliage provide a really effective back- 

 ground for the flowers, which are so gorgeous 

 that they completely overshadow the small 

 and scant leaves. 



Naturally a hardy Indian azalea is much 

 to be desired and the place to look for it is 

 in the northern parts of China and Japan, for 

 strangely enough, it is not a native of India 

 at all, and was therefore incorrectly named 

 by Linnaeus. (However, we may not call 

 it the Chinese azalea, since that name should 

 be reserved for A . Sinensis.) Happily there 

 are two important forms of the Indian azalea 

 that have achieved hardiness — at what cost 

 will presently appear. 



2. The hardiest evergreen form of the 

 Indian azalea is what everybody calls Azalea 

 amazna, but its correct name is Azalea 

 Indica, var. arnmna. This survives the 

 winters of New York without protection 

 but in New England must be sheltered from 

 the wind and midday sun. The flowers are 

 only an inch across, and the common vari- 

 eties of it are so vociferously magenta- 

 purple (the catalogues call it claret) that 

 they give more pain than pleasure if stationed 

 where all the world must see. Preferable 

 varieties are Miss Buist (white), and Prime 

 Minister, "soft pink"; but according to Mr. 

 Henry E. Burr, by far the most desirable 

 form is the rare and costly Japanese variety 

 Hinodigiri, which he declares is a bright 

 cherry red, quite free from the objectionable 

 magenta. 



3. Closely allied to this is the beautiful 

 white-flowered plant known to nurserymen 

 by the erroneous name of A . Indica, var. alba, 

 it being in reality a form of the rosemary- 

 leaved azalea (A. rosmarinijolia). This 

 species rarely if ever appears in the cata- 

 logues, but it has rendered service in putting 

 hardiness into the hybrid Indian azaleas, one 

 of which was pictured as long ago as 1833. 

 The wild form of the rosemary-leaved 

 azalea is a Chinese species with white or 

 rosy purple flowers, two or three inches in 

 diameter. The botanical distinctions be- 

 tween this species and Indica are too finely 



The Iree azalea (A. arborescens) , tallest and latest species and has the best-appearing foliage all summer. 

 Flowers fragrant, white, July. Native to the Southern Appalachians and therefore perfectly hardy North 



The only pure pinK azalea (A. Vaseyi). All the others are tinged with crimson or purple. Hardy, cheap 

 and therefore adapted to making glorious masses in Northern estates and gardens. Millionaires are now 

 painting whole hillsides with color by planting this and the flame azalea by the hundreds 



