Rhododendrons

Rhododendron arborescens

Subgenus Pentanthera Section Pentanthera

Species deciduous azalea

Synonym: The sweet or smooth azalea

Epithet: Becoming tree-like

AGM 2013

AM 1952 (M Adams-Acton, London) ‘Ailsa’ flowers white with a yellow blotch

H6

Shrub to 1.3m or rarely a tree up to 6m

Flowers: Trusses of 3-8 tubular funnel-shaped, single flowers opening after the leaves. Flowers are 35-52mm long × 25-45mm wide; white or pink, with or without a yellow blotch; 5 stamens are about twice the length of the corolla tube; stamens and style are pink to red

June-July

Scented: Very fragrant

Foliage: Bright green leaves, obovate, oblanceolate or oblong-lanceolate. Leaves are 30-105mm long × 11-30 mm wide, upper surface, glabrous, not strigose with a pale green or glaucescent, glabrous underside. Good autumn leaf colour. Deciduous

Distribution: New York, Pennsylvania to Georgia, Alabama, N&S Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, up to and over 1600m

Other information: very variable within its geographical range

A selected form R. arborescens ‘Rubescens’ has pink flowers; another selected form is ‘Latest White’

Easy to grow; needs some sun; reliable late flowering azalea; nice contrast between the corolla colour and the stamens. The species and some selected forms are commercially available