Azaleas

Azaleas beneath Bottle Brush Tree

Azalea beneath Lugustrum

A few days ago, we talked about planting azaleas under some plant for dappled sunlight in the very hot climates to protect them from burning.  We also discussed why putting them beneath a Bottle Brush was not such a good idea.  Then, today I was walking my dog and I see someone has come up with this bright idea.  I decided to snap a photo for you to see what it looks like.  The passerby isn't sure what the show is, the azaleas at the base or beautiful bottle brush blooms.  What a shame to waste these showy blooms.  I saw directly across the street from this a properly planted azalea and thought you might like to see that as well.   The lugustrum azaleas are better protected and overall healthier; not to mention the show is clearly not upstaged.  Remember that when you plant your gardens, a bit of time spent planning can make a whole world of difference and save you a lot of grief later.  Think about how the color scheme goes together, when the blooms show their best display and how will that affect the plants around it (Art).  This is all in addition to the sunlight and soil type (Science).  So you see gardening is part art and part science, just like cooking and everything else that's really fun and gives something good in return.  :D 
This brings me to another area of garden art.  I told you I was stuck on this patio for now and that kept me in containers.  This is good in some ways because it lets me be artistic with my plantings.  I can play creatively with how I plant and each year is different from the year before.  Did you ever notice how we seem to fall into that trap of planting the same thing the same way as we did the year before in the same place or nearly the same place or the nearly the same way?  Breaking out of this pattern of sameness is good for us because it lets us express ourselves and have some fun with our plantings.  Plant your strawberries in a pocket planter and tomatoes so they are vertical and hang upside down.  This makes them so much easier to harvest as well.  Plant your potatoes in a plastic bag!  I searched a few of these out for you and looked for what I believed are real bargains and purchased myself.  However, I do not spend more than an hour or so looking.  If you are more dedicated, I suggest that you keep looking and use these to get a good head-start. 

Azalea President Arcilla - Feb 23, 2012

Immature Azalea seed pods

The azaleas have gone to seed.  I'm ready for them.  I looked it so I know what to do and I've gotten my supplies together.  I'm also going to try an experiment with it at the same time.  Let's talk a little about azaleas first.  Azaleas are slow growers from the rhododendron family that prefer acidic soil.  This is why they get a special fertilizer made just for them and their friends.  There are over 10,000 kinds of azaleas so it's important to label your  seeds to the kind of azalea you have.  I always try to save the store tags when I buy my plants.  I wonder if I'm distantly related to Minnie Pearl?  Originally cultivated by monks, this ancient plant is the national flower of Nepal and do well in zones 5 to 9.  They can still be grown in the outlying zones if you protect them from the extreme heat and cold by keep them in containers and bring them inside when necessary to protect them.  Use your common sense as always.  Hot, full sun will bleach out the vivid colors and can even burn the leaves if you are in a very hot  zone.  In those hot zones, you might want to consider dappled sunlight beneath a red oak tree.  There's no sense putting it beneath a bottle brush tree where they'd be competing with each other for a passerby's attention.  So back to the seed thing.   You know it's been on my mind if you've been reading my posts.  Everything I've read tells me the seeds are kept in pods.  The pods not so easy to find.  I took a couple photos to show you what they look like at both the immature and mature stages. 

Mature Azalea seed pod

The mature pod comes out easily while the immature pod must be pinched out.  I collected all of the the mature pods and some of the immature seed pods for an experiment to see if they would mature off of the plant.   The mature seed pods will be kept in a clear, plastic container and the immature pods in an envelope so the air can circulate and they won't become fuzzy and rotten (like Josh's bean seeds).         
Below you can see the final results of my labors.

Completed Azalea Seed Project

Collected Azalea Seeds

Let's talk a little bit about orchids.  I am one of those crazy orchid ladies.  I have these orchids all over the lanai (screened in patio).  I ordered a bunch of little teeny baby ones last year and they came wrapped in newspaper.  

Budding Phalenopsis & problem orchid

Cymbidium with buds - $25 special

Cattleyas

2 Vandas & Cattleya (center)

 I also have a $25 special from the grocery store that's over 4 feet tall - my Cymbidium.   The crazy Phalenopsis that I got with the wrinkled leaves that was so unhealthy and just won't die but keeps on blooming from the same 2 stems is nuttier than a fruitcake - compliments of Lowes.  I keep looking for these stems to die off and new stems to grow but that just never happens.  My problem orchid is a problem because I lost the label a long time ago and I can't remember what it is and my grandsons and cat pulled it out of the planting medium more than once or twice and I just finally pulled it out of everyone's reach.  
I wanted to close today's post with something new and exciting.  A few days ago I posted your plant zone but it was for your cold zone.  I have now found another zonal map for heat zones.  This is brand new and cool and tells you how many days your area has over 86 degrees Fahrenheit.  Zone 1 has less than 1 while Zone 12 has more than 210 days over 86 degrees.  In addition, the link will bring you to not only the map, but American Gardener. 

http://www.ahs.org/publications/heat_zone_map.htm