Why hate azaleas?

[treedimensional]

When I hear people dis azaleas, I always wonder why their perception of them is so different from mine.
To ME, they have so many assets:
1. They bloom profusely. VERY profusely. Even in shade. I'd be hard-pressed to think of a showier plant.
2. Most of them are evergreen. And the ones that aren't make up for it by being fragrant!
3. They're insanely easy to propagate or transplant. This also means they're inexpensive and widely available.
4. The only insects I've had were SUPER easy to treat.
5. They are very low-allergen plants.
6. There are DOZENS of varieties, meaning they come in every imaginable color (except blue) and every imaginable leaf texture, from glossy dark green to green and white variegated to velvety-fuzzy textured pale green.

So really, what's not to like about lustrous evergreen foliage and profuse flowers that don't require full sun? I can't think of a negative. Except maybe... you might argue that they're overdone. But still....
I think azaleas give so much bang for the buck.
Please fill me in on why you hate them.

[simpsongal]

I think they're lovely. Our last rental had tons around the house in all different colors. Quite spectacular.

[Deleted]

The only reason I hate them is that I can't get them to grow in NorCal at all. They just wither and die as soon as I put them in. I don't know what it is. The very alkaline soil? The total lack of summer rain or humidity? It's a love/hate relationship I have with azaleas and gardenias now.

-GA native who misses azaleas

[dirtyred]

People in my area don't like them because, well, they're the wrong plant in the wrong place here. We have very alkaline soil, so they just wither and die. No one believes me, then they just get mad at the plant.

I've been trying for five years to amend the soil around my hydrangeas to get blue blossoms, and it hasn't happened yet. Azaleas don't stand a chance around here.

[InBetweenDays]

I don't hate them, but I wouldn't choose to plant them. They are EVERYWHERE here, along with rhododendron (which is our state flower). So for me, yeah, they're overdone.

[gardengal]

i hate them because after their profusive bloom, they look dead b/c of all the brown, spent flowers. And then they spend a few months looking like that unless you go & pluck off those flowers (which, um, I had to do as a volunteer at USBG which makes me hate them a bit more). And, I don't really love the colors of the flowers. I realize this is a very silly opinion as they are gazillions of cultivars, but there you have it. The white ones are ok. I guess.

I also hate them b/c the way ppl treat them. the weird azalea lollipops are so not my thing. Or sheered azaleas hedges. then they look all straggly after years of this treatment. They are also everywhere here used in uncreative ways which just makes them super ubiquitous & "blah" in my mind. I appreciate this is not the plant's fault, though. This is just a corollary reason there are none in my garden.

i like the deciduous ones, though.

[mouse]

Be aware I lump rhodendrons and azaleas together:

1. They bloom profusely and that leads to pollen. Tons of pollen, coat your car orange pollen. Is the allergy regional? because those and plum trees make me miserable every year.

2. Only some of the colors look nice for long, the lighter the color the worse it is. The colors most resistant to turning brown are garish. Which I usually like, but the homeowners that go after rhodies and azaleas aren't usually the ones who put careful planning into their color selection. See my neighbor who has a sheared hedge in hot pink, red and lavender.

3. The most popular ones don't have interesting leaf texture or shape. Rhodies are the worst for this. Azaleas are marginally better.

4. The form. Most of the time they're just clumps. Some smaller, some much larger (here they can get 15-30 ft). But usually there's no grace or layering. One exception is a neighbor with a layered tree like one with brilliant orange blossoms that echo and contrast with elements of her yard. Then there's people who prune them. Very rarely done well. Probably the best I've seen is a park nearby that has some 15' ones limbed into trees. Or the neighbor with dramatic rounded shapes hugging her slope. Those three could stay, and all are azaleas. Rhodies must go.

5. They are more ubiquitous than Japanese maples. (ha!)

5. Almost any plant can look good in the right circumstances, especially when carefully selected for form, color and texture. I saw a handsome mahonia the other day. (And it's our state flower, you think it wouldn't have taken a decade for me to see one I actually liked.) Some plants look good in almost any circumstances (snowberry has a wide margin of error IMO). Azaleas, and especially rhodies, are not those. And they're the refuge of too many lazy property owners and conformist landscapers*.





*you know, the ones that work in those neighborhoods where all the houses have the same small shrubs, Japanese maple and a neatly clipped pool of grass. The lady on the corner insists on planting daffodils, but just in a clump by the mailbox.

[treedimensional]

quote author=mouse
1. They bloom profusely and that leads to pollen. Tons of pollen, coat your car orange pollen.

Okay I am LOL at some of your list. But I don't think that is azalea pollen coating your car. It's probably tree or grass pollen.

[vanillahip]

I love them, and I wanted to cry after my 3rd year trying to get the gorgeous orange ones to grow here and had to give up because the rabbits and/or groundhogs ate *the entire plant*, AGAIN!

I used to say "wah wahhh I hate hostas/ rhodies/ everything in an average garden" and then I learned that I'm not terribly good at gardening, and plants like these are crazy popular for a reason, and I'd be an idiot with a bare yard if I didn't change my opinion lol!

[auntie]

In the right setting, they're awesome.

My last house was on a creek at the edge of the woods. I has masses of azaleas along my corner property line where I allowed them to get sort of rangy and wild. I had a mix, though if I had it to do again I would have done all Delaware Valley Whites. They were interplanted with dogwoods. One nice thing about them was that they went under in flooding a number of times and were fine once they were hosed off.

[candreco]

Jun 8, 2012 23:04:53 GMT -5 mouse said:

Be aware I lump rhodendrons and azaleas together:

1. They bloom profusely and that leads to pollen. Tons of pollen, coat your car orange pollen. Is the allergy regional? because those and plum trees make me miserable every year.

2. Only some of the colors look nice for long, the lighter the color the worse it is. The colors most resistant to turning brown are garish. Which I usually like, but the homeowners that go after rhodies and azaleas aren't usually the ones who put careful planning into their color selection. See my neighbor who has a sheared hedge in hot pink, red and lavender.

5. They are more ubiquitous than Japanese maples. (ha!)

5. And they're the refuge of too many lazy property owners and conformist landscapers*.





*you know, the ones that work in those neighborhoods where all the houses have the same small shrubs, Japanese maple and a neatly clipped pool of grass. The lady on the corner insists on planting daffodils, but just in a clump by the mailbox.

LOL, the house we just sold had both azaleas and Japanese maple.... not exactly the same as every house on the street, but close enough. I haaaated those stupid azaleas, they looked bad 50 weeks out the the year. I'm thrilled that our new house has a well-thought out landscape that actually suits the lot/house/exposure.