I am looking for a dark purple azalea that I believe is an early
bloomer . I called a local gardening shop and they told me that the
dark purple is "Girard's Fuschia", but it looks more hot pink to me.
Does a dark purple azalea even exist? And if it does what is it
called?

Thank you in advance

In article .com,
wrote:

I am looking for a dark purple azalea that I believe is an early
bloomer . I called a local gardening shop and they told me that the
dark purple is "Girard's Fuschia", but it looks more hot pink to me.
Does a dark purple azalea even exist? And if it does what is it
called?

Thank you in advance

'Gerard's Fuschia' certainly isn't purple, but 'Girard's Purple' is; the
Girards bloom in April. For an early bloomer that is to the blue end of
deep purple, look at 'Oceanlake' & see if that's closer to the color you
have in mind. A larger more upright azalea with luminescent purple blooms
is 'Mood Indigo,' not as common as 'Oceanlake' however so can be hard to
find. There are also many very dark purple rhododendrons including sturdy
ironclads like "Lee's Best Purple" & "Lee's Dark Purple," but I'm assuming
you're distinguishing between evergreen azaleas & large rhodies. There are
a great many small species-rhodies, however, that have the same garden
impact as Kurume or Girard azaleas, & 80% of them are one or another shade
of purple. You might want to look at Rhododendron yungningense for
example, mine's shown he
http://www.paghat.com/rhodyyungningense.html
& here's my mood-indigo & oceanlake respectively:
http://www.paghat.com/moodindigo.html
http://www.paghat.com/rhody_oceanlake.html
plus 'Karin Seliger' which blooms in March:
http://www.paghat.com/rhododendron_karinseleger.html

-paghat the ratgirl
--
Get your Paghat the Ratgirl T-Shirt he
http://www.paghat.com/giftshop.html
"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden
people maintaining a free civil government." -Thomas Jefferson

There is a 'Girard Purple' which is much more purple than Girard Fuschia.


--
David J. Bockman, Fairfax, VA (USDA Hardiness Zone 7)
email:
http://beyondgardening.com/Albums



wrote in message
oups.com...
I am looking for a dark purple azalea that I believe is an early
bloomer . I called a local gardening shop and they told me that the
dark purple is "Girard's Fuschia", but it looks more hot pink to me.
Does a dark purple azalea even exist? And if it does what is it
called?

Thank you in advance

wrote:

I am looking for a dark purple azalea that I believe is an early
bloomer . I called a local gardening shop and they told me that the
dark purple is "Girard's Fuschia", but it looks more hot pink to me.
Does a dark purple azalea even exist? And if it does what is it
called?

First, are you looking or a deciduous or evergreen azalea? Most
deciduous azaleas are hardier, but there aren't many purple ones.

The evergreen Girards a

Girards's Fuschia is called "hot purple" or "reddish purple". It is an
evergreen azalea but not a dark purple. It is one of the best Girard
azaleas.

Girard's Dwarf Lavender is more of a purple rather than a lavender. One
of the most uniform and compact growing of all the evergreen azaleas. It
has excellent foliage vigor and hardiness and need no, or very little,
pruning. Excellent for small gardens and foundation plantings, Dwarf
Lavender displays a kaleidoscope of Fall colors including, orange,
yellow and green.

Girards's Leslie Purple has very large hose-in-hose purple blossoms on a
low and compact plant. Like all Girard's evergreen azaleas this one is
also very hardy. It blooms in early May.

Elsie Lee is a Shammarello evergreen azalea from Ohio also. It is a
light reddish-blueish-purple. The flowers appear in the middle of each
flowering season on this fine, hardy azalea. The large, simi-double
flowers are supported by a strong branching system covered with forest
green leaves.

Rhododendron yedoense var. poukhanense (Korean Azalea) is a purple/rose
evergreen azalea that is very hardy. Leaves are deciduous in cold
climates or semi-deciduous, dimorphic (two different forms, typical of
evergreen azaleas). Spring leaves are deep green on upper surface, paler
under-neath, and narrow.

Second, where in the world do you live?

The Girard and Shammarello azaleas are from Ohio, but they do best in
more moderate areas like Western Oregon and Western Washington, and the
milder parts of the mid-Atlantic region south of the Mason-Dixon line
over to the Ozarks. After about 3 years of age they are much hardier.
When young they are a little tender where I live in Zone 6. If you are
in a more extreme climate, stick to larger plants. You will do better.

Here is a key to some azalea color terms used in the trade:

lavender = pale purple
lilac = pale reddish purple
plum = reddish purple
fuchsia = reddish purple
wine = purple
--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
Visit my Rhododendron and Azalea web pages at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman/rhody.html
Also visit the Rhododendron and Azalea Bookstore at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman/rhodybooks.html
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA Zone 6

In the southeast, people grow a dark purple large evergreen azalea that is
often called "formosa". It would not be hardy above zone 7 I believe. There
is a dark purple rhododendron called "purple splendor" which is a very hardy
rhododendron and a good strong deep purple. It is hardy at least to zone 5.
wrote in message
oups.com...
I am looking for a dark purple azalea that I believe is an early
bloomer . I called a local gardening shop and they told me that the
dark purple is "Girard's Fuschia", but it looks more hot pink to me.
Does a dark purple azalea even exist? And if it does what is it
called?

Thank you in advance

"presley" wrote:

In the southeast, people grow a dark purple large evergreen azalea that is
often called "formosa". It would not be hardy above zone 7 I believe. There
is a dark purple rhododendron called "purple splendor" which is a very hardy
rhododendron and a good strong deep purple. It is hardy at least to zone 5.

Your take on the R. ponticum hybrid Purple Splendour (the rhododendron,
not the evergreen azalea) is off. Here in Zone 6 where I live, very few
people have been able to keep it healthy. It seems to get smaller each
year after it is planted. It is a beautiful plant, but not very hardy.
It doesn't do well with the heat and cold of the East Coast where I live
in Zone 6. It is rated variously by different people, but the American
Rhododendron Society rates it at -5F. That is probably right.

For a photo of Purple Splendour look at:

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/rhpursp3.htm
--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
Visit my Rhododendron and Azalea web pages at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman/rhody.html
Also visit the Rhododendron and Azalea Bookstore at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman/rhodybooks.html
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA Zone 6

hmmm. Well it seems to grow very well in spokane, washington, which is a
zone 5/6 climate. I guess there must be other factors involved as well as
cold tolerance.
"Stephen Henning" wrote in message
news
"presley" wrote:

In the southeast, people grow a dark purple large evergreen azalea that
is
often called "formosa". It would not be hardy above zone 7 I believe.
There
is a dark purple rhododendron called "purple splendor" which is a very
hardy
rhododendron and a good strong deep purple. It is hardy at least to zone
5.

Your take on the R. ponticum hybrid Purple Splendour (the rhododendron,
not the evergreen azalea) is off. Here in Zone 6 where I live, very few
people have been able to keep it healthy. It seems to get smaller each
year after it is planted. It is a beautiful plant, but not very hardy.
It doesn't do well with the heat and cold of the East Coast where I live
in Zone 6. It is rated variously by different people, but the American
Rhododendron Society rates it at -5F. That is probably right.

For a photo of Purple Splendour look at:

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/rhpursp3.htm
--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
Visit my Rhododendron and Azalea web pages at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman/rhody.html
Also visit the Rhododendron and Azalea Bookstore at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman/rhodybooks.html
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA Zone 6

"presley" wrote:

hmmm. Well it seems to grow very well in spokane, washington, which is a
zone 5/6 climate. I guess there must be other factors involved as well as
cold tolerance.

Purple Splendour, the R. ponticum rhododendron hybrid, doesn't do well
in our zone 6 climate. Perhaps it is our hot humid summers rather than
our cold snowy winters. I know that your climate is very different to
ours even though we are in the same zone. We yell drought if it doesn't
rain every week in the summer, you build dams to irrigate your farms.
You can use swamp air-conditioners, our air is so moist they don't work
here. [I was born in Spokane.]
--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
Visit my Rhododendron and Azalea web pages at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman/rhody.html
Also visit the Rhododendron and Azalea Bookstore at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman/rhodybooks.html
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA Zone 6

In article , Stephen
Henning wrote:

"presley" wrote:

hmmm. Well it seems to grow very well in spokane, washington, which is a
zone 5/6 climate. I guess there must be other factors involved as well as
cold tolerance.

Purple Splendour, the R. ponticum rhododendron hybrid, doesn't do well
in our zone 6 climate. Perhaps it is our hot humid summers rather than
our cold snowy winters. I know that your climate is very different to
ours even though we are in the same zone. We yell drought if it doesn't
rain every week in the summer, you build dams to irrigate your farms.
You can use swamp air-conditioners, our air is so moist they don't work
here. [I was born in Spokane.]

On the off-chance anyone was confused, the "other" 'Purple Splendor' is an
R. yedoense var poukhahense x R. hexe. It does spectacularly well in the
Pacific Northwest & is even encountered around here (in Kitsap County)
growing in roadside xeriscape gardens, with at most the protection of a
tree, as it blooms even in pretty deep shade. Though it might be overly
common it really is one of my favorites because so darned reliable. Mine's
in fat colorful bud right now & should be in full flower quite soon.
Strikes me as more flourescent pink than actually purple though.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
Get your Paghat the Ratgirl T-Shirt he
http://www.paghat.com/giftshop.html
"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden
people maintaining a free civil government." -Thomas Jefferson