Azalea in Bloom
I've been watching an azalea that is in the woods behind my house for a year, never quite catching it in bloom. I believe it is indigenous because it is deciduous and there is a much smaller version of the same plant nearby. I finally caught it in bloom yesterday - it has seashell pink blooms and had just started leafing out. I'd like to think it is Rhododendron vaseyi, or Pinkshell azalea, because it hasn't been reported in this area but it could easily be R. periclymenoides. The azalea is otherwise adrift in a sea of privet in an oak-hickory woods that drains into nearby Lake Chickamauga.What do you think?
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| Green pistil, 5 stamens, sweet fragrance |
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| Height 10-12 feet |
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| Last year's seed capsules |
It looks like Rhododendron canescens to me...a.k.a. wild azalea, honeysuckle azalea, Piedmont azalea, mountain azalea, or sweet azalea. Check out the photos of this one at www.wildflower.org and tell me what you think.
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