Why Encore Azaleas have become Designer Favorites

As a certified horticulturalist and professional landscape designer I am frequently asked to recommend easy care shrubs that offer year round color.

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By Karen Chapman of Le Jardinet Designs

As a certified horticulturalist and professional landscape designer, I am frequently asked to recommend easy-care shrubs that offer year-round color.

Azaleas haven’t been a part of my ‘top pick’ list for a number of reasons – until now.

Encore Azalea red blooms

In the Pacific Northwest, azaleas (as well as rhododendrons and junipers) are seen as ‘builder’s basics’, those default shrubs used ubiquitously as foundation shrubs, street-side plantings and parking lot fillers. Certainly in April and May the ravishing red and hot pink blooms are welcome in our otherwise grey, drizzly climate but once those flowers fade they offer little ornamental value. Worse than that, they appear to be a magnet for azalea lace bugs, tiny flying insects which infest the underside of the leaves, sucking fluids from the plant tissue with their piercing mouthparts and reducing the previously dark green foliage to a sickly, speckled mess. Eventually, these lace bug infested shrubs become so defoliated and stressed that homeowners beg me to take them out and replace them with something more reliable. Imagine their surprise when I suggest another azalea … not just any azalea, though… one of the lacebug-resistant cultivars of Encore Azaleas.

That’s right, 11 of the 19 cultivars of Encore Azaleas studied in 2008 showed resistance to this major landscaping pest thanks to the superior genetics of one of the parent plants.

Encore Azalea front porch landscape

To the homeowner that means healthy plants without the need to spray potentially harmful insecticides or try to manage outbreaks with time-consuming integrated pest management (IPM) strategies such as repeatedly spraying nymphs with insecticidal soap.

This is why Encore azaleas are now on my botanical radar. Forget everything you ever thought you knew about azaleas: the Encore series are not your grandma’s plants! These are significantly more sun tolerant than older varieties, most of the Encore azaleas are cold hardy to zone 6, they offer three seasons of flowers from spring to fall, are evergreen, low maintenance and now you can also select cultivars that will be resistant to lace bugs.

Seriously, what are you waiting for? With sizes ranging from 2’-5’ in height and a kaleidoscope of luscious colors to choose from including some bicolors, there really is the perfect shrub for every garden.

Lacebug resistant cultivars:

Encore Azalea pink blooms collage
Autumn Amethyst®, Autumn Twist®, Autumn Royalty®, Autumn Sangria®, Autumn Cheer®, and Autumn Rouge®

Cultivars showing moderate lacebug resistance:

Encore Azalea red and white blooms collage
Autumn Embers®
, Autumn Bravo®, Autumn Starlite®, Autumn Ruby®, and Autumn Princess®.

Ready to Plant Your Masterpiece?