Autumn is the best time to plant Azaleas so you get a blaze of colour next spring. If you want to see the colour before you buy than aim for a pot grown plant in spring.

Deciduous Azaleas have trumpet shaped flowers in a range of bright often fiery colours. The flowers appear before or at the same time as the leaves.

Types of Deciduous Azalea

• The Ghent hybrids are generally fragrant plants growing 4-6′ tall.
• Knapp Hill hybrids, Exbury and Mollis Azaleas do not have much scent but are available in vivid colours.
• Occidentale hybrids have fragrant pastle coloured flowers in May.

Read about growing Azaleas on Gardeners tips
Some Occidentale or Western Azaleas are generally white tinged with pink and flower a bit later June-July.

• Azalea luteum ‘The Common Yellow Azalea’ has fragrant yellow flowers in May and leaves that turn orange or crimson in autumn.
• This Azalea pontica has an AGM and grows slowly into a medium sized shrub of 6-9 feet high.
• This plant is one of the easiest to grow, only requiring acid soil.
• Also sold as Rhododendron luteum they can be grown from seed.
• Originally the honey made from the scented plants was thought to have narcotic effect.

‘This is certainly the most gay and brilliant flowering shrub…’ wrote Wm Bartram about the Azalea in 1791. However Azaleas first appeared in literature around 400 B.C. in Babylon written by Cyrus the creator of the Quincunx. ( A tree planting using 5 trees in a X pattern).

Read more about Growing Deciduous Azaleas in the UK