After a winter of prolonged cold (with a handful of nights that dropped below zero), many azaleas fared poorly and bloomed only sporadically in the spring. Only the old dependable Delaware Valley White flowered normally in this garden (though three weeks late in mid May), and a few varieties of the repeat blooming Encore azaleas…
Tag: Encore azaleas
Blooming despite the cold
Frost, then freezing temperatures on recent nights has turned soft stemmed perennials in the garden to mush. Following this short period of cold, flowers of reblooming azaleas (‘Autumn Sundance’ Encore azalea, below) hang limp, though buds and flowers that have not quite opened are not damaged and these will continue to bloom so long as…
A delightful August
August is typically the month that drags this gardener’s spirits to their lowest point. Even in the starkness of winter there are blooms that spark some enthusiasm that spring is near, but in August the cumulative effect of summer’s heat stresses the most vigorous plants. Many perennials are bedraggled, and trees often drop foliage and…
Blooming in December
I’ve just returned from visiting nurseries in the southeast, and after a month of freezing nighttime temperatures in Virginia it’s difficult to imagine that it’s winter along the Gulf Coast. There are flowers everywhere. Not only late blooming camellias, but also roses and autumn flowering Encore azaleas. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise, and certainly…
Winding down
My walk through the garden on Sunday afternoon was brief, too brief. And, my treks out into the garden are becoming more infrequent. There’s just not much to see. With several nights over the past few weeks that have dropped into the mid-twenties most of the garden has gone dormant. The toad lilies and autumn…
Through freeze and frost, until ….
With little effort the gardener can find a surprising number of plants that flower late into the autumn so that the garden’s season is extended and the drab of winter is shortened. There are also winter hardy flowers for January and February, but that’s a story for another day. By early November there were frequent…
Encore!
I’ve written in the past about Encore reblooming azaleas, though I blame no one for failing to pay full attention. I’ve been known to occasionally pay only part of a mind to reading or conversations, and to remember nothing a few minutes later. Ask my wife. For those who have read and remembered I won’t…
Rebloomers
I don’t pretend to understand the environmental factors that determine when flower buds are formed on plants, or how quickly reblooming plants reset flower buds. It seems that temperature is the primary influence for many plants to set flower buds, but other plants are more effected by hours of daylight. I’m quite certain that I’ve…
Anything but plain old azaleas
It seems only a few years ago evergreen azaleas were the plant of choice in American gardens, but today they’ve been pushed aside to make room for compact growing shrubs with colorful foliage, long blooming roses, and perennials. I once had dozens of azaleas in my garden, but poorly drained clay soil and lacebug infestations…
Lots of blooms, and a few surprises
What’s going on here? In all my years ….. I’ve never seen azaleas flowering in March in my garden, or in early April for that matter. But, today there are scattered blooms on a handful of azaleas, and swollen buds on the others. Autumn Amethyst (above) is prone to flowering a month or more after…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 