Encore Azaleas Add Beauty to Residential and Commercial Landscapes

Here are our tips for planning your next landscape project.

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Encore Azalea yard landscape

From their first leaves and flower buds in late winter/early spring through the first hard freeze in autumn, Encore® Azaleas add beauty to both residential and commercial landscapes.

Encore Azaleas’ bright green leaf color throughout most seasons followed by some change of colors in the fall make them a welcome addition to garden spots with exposure to full sun or high filtered shade. Their multi-season flower display makes them one of the most popular landscape shrubs available.

Azaleas are part of the Rhododendron plant family. Most gardening books and many plant sellers still call Azaleas Rhododendrons so when you are deciding where to plant your Encore Azaleas, you can use the same guidance for both. Remember though — Encore Azaleas like more sun than traditional shade-loving azaleas (provide 4-6 hours of sun for optimal blooms).

Consider the preferences of Encore Azaleas

Encore Azalea backyard landscape

  • Wind protection provided by buildings, large shrubs, evergreen trees or a slope that goes north or east (to protect them from harsh, drying south and west winds);
  • Part-shade is good but it has to balanced with sunlight to produce healthy, flowering Encore Azaleas;
  • Soil that has been prepped with plenty of compost added;
  • Containers (with drainage holes), raised beds or flower beds offering good drainage;
  • Acidic soil with a pH between 5.0 and 5.5

Make an inventory of the plants that already exist on the site and make notes about what you are trying to improve. Look at photos from the previous year and identify bare spots. You may need the multi-season beauty of Encore Azaleas to brighten a bed of trees and shrubs that bloom only in one season.

Select harmonizing colors and a variety of sizes

Encore Azalea pink and white blooms

At the mature height of 2 to 3-feet tall, Dwarf Encore Azaleas are perfect for along paths and in the front of beds. Autumn Starlite® will spread up to 4-feet wide so leave plenty of room for it to show off those 3-inch flowers.

Intermediate Encore Azaleas grow to an average size of 4 to 5-feet tall. You will want a place of prominence for Autumn Sweetheart®. It has 2.5 inch pink flowers on a 4-foot tall and wide shrub.

Place new shrubs the correct distance apart, with the mature plant width in mind. While you are waiting for them to fill out, you can use garden ornaments, containers and annuals to compensate for any bare spots.

Ready to Plant Your Masterpiece?