VIRGINIA BEACH — I recently visited Twin Lakes State Park in Prince Edward County, and, of all of the plants growing in this hilly 548-acre park, one in particular caught my attention.
It was a small, unpretentious shrub growing behind my cabin that might have easily gone unnoticed, but something about the trumpet-shaped blooms made me take a second look.
On closer inspection, I noticed that these blooms emitted a fragrance like honeysuckle, which made me even more curious. I whipped out my cellphone to snap a picture, and my convenient plant identifier recognized it as a mountain azalea.
Okay, I’ve heard of swamp azaleas, but what in the world is a mountain azalea? I did some internet sleuthing and learned that the scientific name was rhododendron canescens, which, according to North Carolina State Extension, is also sometimes called piedmont azalea, hoary azalea, or Florida pinkster.
Despite being called a “mountain” or “piedmont” azalea, it’s also native to the coastal plains from North Carolina to Florida, but I could find no mention of it in the Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora, considered to be an authoritative source for native plants. So, I can only assume that this particular mountain azalea was cultivated in the park.
Still, that made me curious about native – or wild – azaleas, so I called Laurie Fox, a Virginia Tech research associate who works at the Hampton Roads Agriculture Research Extension Center. She didn’t recognize this mountain azalea by its common name, but she said that there were several species of azaleas native to the Virginia coast as well as to the Virginia Piedmont region and mountains.
The native azalea is usually larger in size than its cultivated cousins, Fox said, and many of them are deciduous, which means that they shed their leaves in the winter.
While some homeowners dislike them because they are large and bare-limbed in the winter, they are beautiful when they’re blooming because of their vibrant colors, which are commonly yellow, orange or gold, she added. Some, however, produce pale pink blooms, and some, like the mountain azalea that I saw, bloom while the branches are still bare, which makes a stark contrast that reminds me of the winter-blooming paper bush.
The Digital Atlas of Virginia Flora identifies 12 azaleas native to Virginia. Some of them can grow up to 10 or 15 feet high and often grow as understory trees, typically along the banks of creeks or rivers.
While this large size can be prohibitive for homeowners who have small lawns, some of them, including the following plants, are more diminutive and produce lovely blooms:
• Rhododendron atlanticum, or dwarf azalea, which only grows one to three feet tall and produces white flowers in April and May.
It prefers part shade and grows well in dry, sandy soil, which is a boon for some residents of southern Virginia Beach.
• Rhododendron periclymenoides, or wild azalea, is typically three to six feet tall and produces pink or white funnel-shaped leaves in April or May before all of the leaves have appeared.
It grows well in acidic, rich soils and can tolerate dry or moderately moist conditions and full sun or part shade.
• Rhododendron viscosum, or swamp azalea or honeysuckle, grows three to five feet tall and produces fragrant white flowers in late spring or early summer and brilliant orange or maroon fall foliage.
It’s not related to honeysuckle, but it earned its nickname because of its sweet scent. It can tolerate sun or part shade, but it prefers moist, acidic soil and can tolerate some flooding. If your yard isn’t well-drained, you might want to consider this plant.
Native azaleas are now often used in landscaping, and some varieties, including the three that are described above, are often sold in local garden centers, Fox said.
They are lovely, but I do have one word of caution. They can be toxic to both humans and animals, so keep your children and your pets away from them.
The author is a contributor to The Independent News. Her journalism has also appeared in The Virginian-Pilot.
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