Tired of Your Landscaping? This Gardener-Favorite Flower Will Add a Bright Pop of Color (2025)

A well-planned azalea landscape uses azaleas in conjunction with other plants to create a layered effect and draw the eye and interest. Depending on the size of your garden, you can grow azaleas as specimen or border plants, keep azaleas in pots, or cultivate azaleas in mass plantings or hedgerows that flush with color when azaleas bloom in spring.

No matter how you plan to use azaleas in your garden, here are a few creative ways to maximize the look of azalea plantings, plus care tips to help azaleas bloom more.

How to Add Azaleas to Your Landscaping

Most azaleas are hardy from zones 5 through 9, and they bloom in spring and thrive in part shade. However, azaleas come in lots of colors and sizes, and some flower earlier than others and even tolerate sun.

Doing a bit of research on the different types of azaleas can help you select the right azalea varieties for your space and gardening goals.

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As Foundation Plants

Larger azaleas, like royal azaleas, can be used to frame doorways, walkways, or other landscape features that you want to draw attention to; or colorful specimens, like flame azaleas, can be planted in the center or rear of flower beds to bring structure and interest to landscape designs.

The important thing is to select azaleas that are the right size for your space and that will produce flower colors that complement the look of your home and surrounding plants.

On Borders and Edges

Compact or creeping types of azaleas, such as the ‘Flame Creeper,’ are best suited for garden bed borders and are ideal for delineating space and bringing more color into landscapes. For a more minimal look, plant just a few azaleas along the corners or curves of garden beds and walkways, or line the entire front of flower beds with a row of small azaleas for extra color. If you’re working with sunny garden borders, sun-tolerant dwarf ‘Encore’ azaleas are an excellent choice too!

As Hedges

Most azaleas are deciduous plants, but if you want to create a hedgerow with azaleas, look for evergreen azalea varieties, like standard-sized ‘Encore’ azaleas. These plants rebloom throughout the year for an extended flowering season and they retain their leaves through winter for year-round garden privacy.

For more texture and contrast, create a layered hedge by planting shorter azaleas in front of taller azalea species, or combine evergreen azaleas with other evergreen hedge plants—like boxwood.

In Containers

Small space gardeners can still grow azaleas by selecting dwarf azaleas and growing these smaller plants in roomy pots on patios, porches, or balconies. For best results, look for reblooming varieties, like dwarf ‘Encore’ azaleas, which stay small and can bloom in spring, summer, and fall. Clustering several azaleas together in pots of different sizes can create a more complex look and allow you to play with more flower colors.

In Mixed Beds

Thanks to their bright blooms and mounding shapes, azaleas pair beautifully with many perennial plants and shrubs, but small to mid-sized azaleas are the best choice for mixed plantings. These smaller specimens won’t overwhelm flower gardens or overshadow other plants, and they can be used as backdrops for lower-growing flowers.

To keep your garden colorful, pair azaleas with plants that bloom at different times of the year and that produce flower colors that blend well with your azaleas.

Things to Consider

With their colorful flowers and low maintenance needs, it’s no wonder why azaleas are such popular plants. But if you want azaleas to look their best, you’ll need to select azalea varieties that will complement your landscape and the other plants in your garden.

Color Palette

Azalea flowers come in fantastic shades of pink, red, orange, white, yellow, and other colors. However, it’s best to stick to a color scheme when selecting azaleas for your garden and to choose azaleas with just one or two coordinating bloom colors. Blending too many azalea flower colors together can overwhelm a small space and detract from the look of your plants.

Bloom Period

The majority of azaleas have a short bloom time and flower for about three weeks in spring. But you can keep your azalea beds colorful by growing azaleas with sequential bloom times together, such as early-blooming ‘Kurume’ azaleas, summer-blooming ‘Satsuki’ azaleas, and reblooming ‘Encore’ azaleas that bloom in spring, summer, and fall.

Height

Most azaleas are mid-sized shrubs that grow between 3 and 6 feet tall; however, compact azaleas often max out at around 1 foot high, while larger specimens can stretch over 15 feet tall. Choosing azaleas that are appropriately sized for your space will reduce the need for pruning and keep large azaleas from crowding out other plants in your garden.

For a more complex design, layer azaleas of different heights together or grow large azaleas behind lower-growing flowers.

Other Plants

Azaleas are acid-loving plants that grow best in relatively acidic soil and part shade. Pairing azaleas with some of these plants that thrive in similar conditions will make plant care a lot easier.

• Rhododendrons
• Heaths and heathers
• Blueberries
• Mountain laurels
• Oakleaf hydrangeas
• Most evergreens
• Coral bells
• Ferns
• Hostas
• Ornamental grasses
• Solomon’s seal
• Wild ginger
• Daffodils and other spring-flowering bulbs

Caring for Azaleas

Azaleas don’t tolerate soggy soil well and they grow best in well-draining gardens with plenty of organic matter. Roomy pots filled with a potting mix intended for acid-loving plants are suitable for azaleas too, but these plants also need the right balance of light and water for prolific blooms.

Water

Azaleas are relatively drought-tolerant plants that don’t like wet roots. Newly planted azaleas should be watered daily to help them acclimate, but watering should be reduced significantly as azaleas settle in, and established plants may only need to be watered during drought.

Light

Most azaleas prefer filtered light and their leaves can burn in direct sun. If you have a sunny garden, look for sun-tolerant azalea varieties, like ‘Encore.’

Fertilizing

Azaleas don’t need much fertilizer and they should only be fertilized about once a year immediately after the plants finish flowering. Fertilizers intended for acid-loving plants are ideal, but azaleas are also happy with an annual application of compost.

Common Issues

While azaleas are mostly pest-resistant, they can sometimes be plagued by spider mites, scale, mealybugs, and other pests. Pruning azaleas at the wrong time can also reduce blooming. To avoid this, only prune azaleas immediately after their flowers fade.