Azalea is an indoor plant of the Heather family. In China, it is considered a "green island" of longevity. If you provide optimal conditions for the maintenance, it will please you with long flowering, luxurious buds, turn the landscape in the garden or room into a bright show. Also, the plant is widely used in aromatherapy: relieves fatigue and inflammation, gives strength, clarifies thoughts when inhaling the delicate aroma of fragrant flowers.
Flower story
For the first time, the azalea flower became known to Europeans in the 17th century. He began to study, breed, cultivate the botanists of Belgium, Germany, France, England. They even competed among themselves, introducing new varieties. The first variety of garden plants was bred in 1820. Active cultivation began in the early 20th century. Azalea was very finicky. For breeding, the creation of one variety took up to 10 years.
The appearance of azaleas
For your information! The plant is considered mythical, shrouded in secrets and legends. The ancient Greek scientist Xenophon once described the story of how Greek warriors wandered along the roads of Colchis in search of the golden fleece. Once in the mountains they found a large apiary of honey. After eating, they lost consciousness. It turned out that honey contained dangerous alkaloids, because it was made from the wild flowers of rhododendron, the ancestor of azalea.
Involvement in the genus Rhododendron
For a long time, botanists had to study the kinship ties and the similarities between rhododendron and azalea. They belong to the same Vereskov family. Azalea is essentially a subgenus of numerous species of rhododendrons. Rhododendron in translation - "rosewood." This is a collective concept of certain types of azaleas.
First, botanists ranked the plant as a family of Vereskovs. Later - to the genus Rhododendron. Amateur gardeners in order to avoid confusion began to call a houseplant azalea, and other garden plants - rhododendrons. Although they differ from each other in external characteristics. The garden rhododendron has 10 stamens, and no more than five room azaleas.
Note! In appearance, azalea, its flowers look like a small dry bush. Rhododendron looks like a beautifully flowering, branched, evergreen bush.
What does rhododendron azalea look like
Reasons for popularity
The plant is successfully used in landscape design, as it leaves no one indifferent in front of its flower garlands of different shades. The popularity of azaleas of white, yellow, Japanese, garden, Pontic is that the types:
- keep fresh for up to two weeks if put in water;
- do not require special conditions of detention, despite the fact that they are considered exotic flowers;
- help establish relationships in the family and restore peace in the house, as they neutralize selfishness;
- energize and optimistic, which is important for people-owls, hard to wake up in the morning;
- bring positive energy to the house, and the owner - confidence in their abilities;
- they will be pleased with magnificent blooms in winter, as they begin to bloom for the first time in January-February.
Azalea is one of the beautifully flowering shrubs. Decorate the lawns at the beginning of summer or large gardens in the Chinese, Japanese style. The shrub looks appropriate next to many coniferous varieties: hydrangea, deciduous barberry, euonymus, heather, camellia, Japanese maple.
Note! Indian azalea is a popular variety among gardeners. This is a beautiful evergreen shrub up to 1.5 m in height with oblong ellipsoid leaves, narrowed up. No less popular is the Japanese shrub, which is up to 50 cm tall. Can be planted in the ground or flower pots.
Kind of Indian Flower
A brief description of common species
In nature, there are 350 official species of azaleas. Although breeders today have bred more than 1000. Some bushes, for example, at the azalea of Gibraltar and the azaleas of Golden Lights do not grow more than 1 m, so it can be grown in apartments. Moreover, with proper pruning, it is quite possible to restrain growth to 60 cm, preventing the bushes from growing very much.
Other interesting types of azaleas:
- Stella Maris with raspberry spray on the petals and large white flowers;
- Albert-Elizabeth with two-tone wavy with a wide strip of leaves. Terry flowers up to 9 cm in diameter;
- Melina with carmine corollas, crimped petals and abundant flowering, completely hiding the leaves. The height of the bush is not more than 30 cm, but the crown is so wide that it grows to 1.5 m.
Kermesina Alba is a tree-like plant with a bush up to 3 m in height and a lush crown. This is the original lignified subspecies of azalea with snow-white small flowers. Will take a worthy place when growing in the garden.
Description of Kermesina Alba
Homebush is a frost-resistant variety bred by German breeders. The bushes are lush and compact. Inflorescences are bright pink or red. The leaves of the NEP Hill Homebush azaleas are spiky large with pronounced veins. The variety blooms profusely in early June.
Germania Inkarno grows to 1 m in height. It features rounded wavy petals with a pale pink middle. Inkarno bushes are planted in open ground.
Appearance of Germania Inkarno
Knap Hill Hybrid is a frost-resistant hybrid, the result of crossing American and Japanese azaleas. The flowers at the Klondike azalea are large, up to 10 cm in diameter.
Erie - indoor azalea with large semi-double bright pink flowers.
Indian azalea is an evergreen shrub with small petiolate leaf blades and flowering in winter.
What does Indian azalea look like?
Japanese azalea Nabucco is characterized by slow growth up to 60 mm in height. Also there are dwarf bushes no more than 30 cm in height. The flowers in the Japanese garden Pink Spider Azalea Nabucco are small, saturated pink, snow white, purple, purple, red.
There is also Pontic azalea (rhododendron). Her flowers are yellow, thinning an inimitable sweet aroma. This is deciduous azalea - the progenitor of various hybrids with soft bedding shades. Plants need to ensure proper air circulation and soil enriched with mineral components.
View of Pontic Azalea
Azalea Mandarin Lights - ornamental shrub up to 2 m in height with long large leaves. A distinctive feature of the variety is the decorative bush and expressive flowering brightness. Will become a decoration of any garden. Dissolves orange buds.
What does Azalea Mandarin Lights look like?
Description of the visual features of the flower
Azalea is an evergreen deciduous perennial shrub. The height, depending on the species, reaches 1 m. The color and shape of the inflorescences can be different. Other external data:
- flowers - terry and semi-double 2-5 cm in diameter;
- leaves - woody, lanceolate;
- shoots - branched, apical;
- inflorescences - white, pink, purple, red.
The plant blooms profusely and for a long time. It is the flowers of an incredible number of shades - the pride of the azalea (Azalea). It effectively looks like a room flower in the interior, and like a bush on the street in landscape design.
External plant data
The nuances of growing
The plant is capricious, therefore, for proper growth and development it is important to create certain conditions, otherwise the azalea will often hurt if, for example, it is drastically transferred from the greenhouse to the apartment. Features that are important to consider for full growth and development:
- when planting, azalea is better to separate from other indoor plants for two weeks, until it adapts;
- when buying, pay attention to the appearance. There should be no pests on buds, leaves and soil;
- For the first time, the plant blooms in the third year. The duration of flowering depends entirely on the variety: 3 weeks - 2 months;
- elongated stems and blooming buds it is important to prune in time so that the rose bushes do not die for a long time and delight the eye with bright shades;
- During the season, azalea goes through four stages of development: vegetation, the formation of generative organs, the dormant phase, the growth of buds and buds until they completely bloom. The first two phases occur at the beginning of summer with increasing air temperature and natural light. Closer to summer, the beginnings of flowers cease to form, a period of dormancy begins. Although with a temperature difference, the buds will begin to grow and bloom in the winter. Moreover, the degree of growth of the plant can be influenced on its own, for example, shaded in the heat so that the bushes do not stretch too far;
- for breeding, it is important to consider the duration of daylight hours. The buds are bookmarked at a daylight of 8 hours. For further development and growth of shoots, at least 12 hours are required;
- to acquire room azalea, it is better to buy young bushes that are better acclimatized in the room;
- when kept on the windowsill, drafts and sharp temperature fluctuations should not be allowed. Although azalea loves coolness, it still needs an influx of fresh air. To do this, the room needs to be ventilated. In winter, you need to put the pots closer to the glass to achieve an optimum temperature of 14 ° C.
Important! The plant loves high humidity. Before and after flowering, when forming buds, it is recommended to spray with warm water every day, water the ground with soft water, acidifying the soil.
How to care: requirements for the conditions of detention
With proper care, compliance with the conditions of detention, azalea will surely please with long and magnificent flowering. Although the plant is gentle, it needs periodic watering, powerful lighting, a suitable temperature.
- Shine. Do not allow sunlight to fall on the leaves, you need to shade in the heat. You can use ice cubes by wrapping in paper and laying in a flowerpot around the plant.
- Drying of the soil is unacceptable, otherwise the flower will throw off the drying buds and flowers.
- It is better to pour soft water 1 time per week without lime in the composition or lower the flower pot into the water, avoiding stagnation in order to avoid decay of the root system.
- When watering, you need to ensure that moisture does not fall on the leaves and flowers, otherwise the appearance will be ruined, since the petals will become stained.
- Dry air and high temperatures harm the plant. Better kept in a cool room. Even in winter, the temperature in the room should not be higher than 5-10 ° C.
- The best light for azaleas is sparse.
Outdoor azalea planting
- When landing in an open area, it is necessary to mulch more often. Transplantation is carried out once a year after flowering in a shallow flower pot. The transshipment method is used for the safety and integrity of the earthen coma. Adult bushes are best replanted once every 3 years, removing dried stems, branches and flowers.
- The preferred composition of the soil is acidic. When buying in a store, you need to look so that the soil is light, permeable, structural, with humus like heather. Ideally, peat, river sand and coniferous land, taken in equal quantities.
- The plant is fed with fertilizers without chlorine content: when grown at home, 1 time during budding, 2 times with the growth of new shoots. Although it is enough to feed the plant with acidified organic matter once a year.
- During budding, it is necessary to break off the upper young shoots, remove dry inflorescences at the end of flowering, so that the azalea directs forces to lush flowering.
- Trimming garden azalea is, in principle, not necessary. It is enough to carry out thinning once a year with thickened bushes, remove old and dry bushes before growth or after flowering.
Difficulties are azalea when propagated by seeds, grafting, cuttings. In the latter case, it is necessary to cut closely sitting leaves, nourish the site with root. Then the process should be created in greenhouse conditions by placing it in a cropped plastic bottle or glass jar of water. It is better to feed with mineral fertilizers once every 7 days, during the flowering period with a mixture of phosphorus and potassium (uniflor-bud, kemira-lux).
Garden decoration
Azalea is a whimsical plant, so gardeners, to increase winter hardiness, go to all sorts of tricks and tricks to grow at home, to achieve abundant flowering. By its beauty, the flower is not inferior to the standard rose and will certainly take its rightful place in the garden, on the windowsill.
