220 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



May, 1907 



The best azalea for forcing, because it has 

 largest flowers (A. Indies). See below 



the 



spun for mention here. The important 

 fact for us is that is it hardy at Boston, in 

 sheltered spots. Its pure white flowers are 

 two inches in diameter, and borne in bunches 

 of five, and set off by narrow evergreen leaves. 

 4. On the whole, however, evergreen 

 foliage is no real advantage to an azalea, 

 since it can never compare in beauty with 

 that of rhododendrons. In fact, it is a 

 handicap, because the climate of the north- 

 eastern United States is opposed to broad- 

 leaved evergreens. These can thrive only 

 on northern exposures, under trees, or where- 

 ever they can get shelter from winter winds 

 and sunshine. Obviously such plants must 

 always be high-priced and require a lot of 

 care. What we want is an Indian azalea 

 that will grow right out in the sunshine as 

 far north as New England, without any 

 winter protection; and, incredible as it may 

 seem, there is a Japanese variety which has 



abandoned the evergreen habit and become 

 the hardiest form of that species. This is 

 Azalea Indica var. Kcr.mpferi, perhaps the 

 most desirable flowering shrub of any kind 

 that is still unknown to the American public. 

 Its introduction to cultivation is one of the 

 great triumphs of the Arnold Arboretum. 

 The plants I saw all had bright red flowers, 

 with none of the purple taint, and there are 

 said to be pink and orange-red varieties. 

 There is one English firm from which this 

 glorious azalea can be procured, but the 

 Arboretum is not ready yet to distribute it 

 in America. 



5. The largest-flowered decidous azalea 

 is what everybody calls Azalea mollis, but 

 since the older name, A. Sinensis, must 

 displace it, I have ventured to call it the 

 "Chinese Azalea." The flowers are often 

 two and one-half inches across, and have 

 less of a tube than the other deciduous species, 

 the corolla being between bell-shape and 

 funnel-shape. It belongs to the yellow- 

 orange-red series, and I doubt if there are 

 any hardy pure-bred varieties of it in the 

 other series of colors. There are pink 

 varieties, but such as one would get from 

 diluting red — not purple. 



The "mollis hybrids," however, as the 

 Dutchmen call them, have plenty of 

 "mauve," under which seductive catalogue- 

 epithet lurk some of the most ferocious of 

 the magenta tribe. Where these hybrids 

 get that series of colors I have not yet dis- 

 covered. All of them are supposed to have 

 the blood of the Black Sea azalea in them, 

 but that is normally a yellow-flowered 

 species. 



6. This Black Sea azalea (A. Pontica) is 

 probably the broadest-flowered of the long- 

 tubed azaleas, the blossom being two and 

 one-half inches across, and it has a further 

 advantage over its American rival in being 



fragrant. Its varieties are known as "hardy 

 Ghent azaleas," from the Belgian city which 

 first made a specialty of them. Normally 

 yellow, it now has white, orange and red 

 varieties. Why anyone should ever want to 

 cross anything with Azalea Pontica, unless 

 for its fragrance, is more than I know. The 

 amount of Pontica blood in the mollis hy- 

 brids may be roughly determined by ob- 

 serving how much it has imparted of its 

 fragrance, long tube and long-protruding 

 stamens. How strong or sweet its odor is 

 I cannot say. 



7. The American rival of the Black Sea 

 azalea is the flame azalea, which I shall call 

 A. calendulacea, simply because it is best 

 for gardeners to follow the only standard 

 we have, viz., Bailey's "Cyclopedia of Ameri- 

 can Horticulture." An older name, how- 

 ever, is A. hitea. This gorgeous native of 

 the Appalachians, from Pennsylvania to the 

 Carolinas, is perfectly hardy in New England. 

 The dominant color is orange, but occa- 

 sionally one finds lemon, gold, orange-red 

 and even deep crimson, according to Mr. 

 Harlan P. Kelsey. These colors are not 

 yet offered separately by the nurserymen, as 

 the mollis varieties are, and the flowers are 

 usually smaller — say two inches across — but 

 you can get them fifty to eighty per cent, 

 cheaper than mollis, e. g., ten hardy hybrids 

 one to one and one-half feet high, may cost 

 $18, while the same number of flame azaleas, 

 one of the same size, may cost only $3. This 

 species therefore offers us a chance to create 

 great landscape pictures of unrivalled splen- 

 dor. It is especially good for woods and 

 hillsides and stands dense shade unusually 

 well. 



There are four other long-tubed azaleas 

 worth growing, all American species, with 

 fragrant, late-blooming, white or pinkish 

 flowers. All of them have been hybridized 

 by the Europeans with mollis, to extend the 

 season of bloom and to introduce their 

 delightful fragrance. 



8. The earliest of these is the pink azalea 

 of our Eastern woods {A. nudiflora) often 

 called the "pinxter flower," which means 

 that it blooms about Whitsunday or Pente- 

 cost, fifty days after Easter, i. e., May 12th 

 to June 13 th. (As a matter of fact it blooms 

 May 15th to 30th near New York.)* Azalea 

 nudiflora sometimes has white flowers, but 

 these can be readily told from the true white 

 azalea as the latter hardly blooms before 

 June 15th. Also the flower of A. nudiflora 

 has a densely hairy, instead of a slicky, tube, 

 and only a slight odor. Its preferred habitat 

 is dry sandy or rocky woods. The soft, wet 

 "swamp apples" that grow on this species 

 are caused by a fungus. Children some- 

 times eat them, apparently with no bad 

 effects. 



9. Unlike most shrubs from the Pacific 

 coast, the Californian azalea (A . occidenialis) 

 is hardy in New England, but there is prob- 



About half natural size. An Indian azalea (Azalea. Indica). The only species here mentioned that is adapted 

 only to forcing. (It is native to China— not India.) Madame Verschaffeh 



*This name was given by the Dutch settlers of New 

 York. (The pinxter flower of their native land is the 

 English cuckoo flower [Cardamine pralensis). a per- 

 ennial herb of the mustard family which grows a foot or 

 two high, and has corymbs of white or rose-colored flowers, 

 each half an inch long. It also grows wild in America. 



