Northern Lights Azaleas, Treasurers for Northern Gardeners

In the South, blooming azaleas are traditionally a reason for local festivals and tours. Many of our snowbirds have come home with a great desire to grow what they have seen there but, unhappily, find not hardy here. More of us should be aware of the northern hardy series of hybrid azaleas released by the University of Minnesota. Called the 'Northern Lights' series, they give us access to that same spring treat. For several reasons I like our azaleas even better than those they grow in Atlanta, New Orleans or Memphis. The shrubs most often grown in the South are siblings to the florist azaleas that we are familiar with that are covered in bloom above shiny evergreen leaves. Most of them are Asian in origin.

The differences between evergreen azaleas and the Northern Lights series include the facts that the 'Lights' are deciduous (lose their leaves in fall) and that many of them are fragrant. They also bloom later, in late May here, and have their tubular flowers in large trusses. Their bloom timing is just right for the migrating hummingbirds as they return. Some of these characteristics are present in many of the North American native azalea species. These species are much less prized by American gardeners than the exotic ones from abroad. In American gardening history we often have undervalued our native plants. It has taken the rest of the world (to whom they are exotic) to show us their merits.

We owe the development of the 'Lights' series to the early hybridization work of the late Albert G. Johnson. He crossed hybrid mollis (Rhododendron x kosteranum) azaleas with the native roseshell azalea (R. prinophyllum) in the late 1950s to produce the first hybrids in the series. The major goal of the work was to produce plants that would have flower buds hardy enough to survive our winters. They were propagated from seed and varied a great deal. Many were very mildew prone. Later, Harold Pellett took up the task of selecting and refining the series to produce the plants we have today that are named and vegetatively propagated, often by tissue culture. Their color range blends the yellow and orange of the mollis azaleas with the pink and white of the roseshell. Many of the varieties share the wonderful clove scent of their native parent. You can see pictures of the 'Lights' flowers here.

My favorite is 'Northern Hi-Lights'. It has lemon yellow and white bi-colored flowers and is one of the tallest varieties said to reach 8 to 10 feet high and wide in one reference, but only 5 to 6 feet in another. It is mildew resistant, fragrant and has deep red fall color to the leaves. The variety 'Orchid Lights' is the most compact, reaching only 2 to 3 feet at maturity. Its flowers are lilac-colored and the fall color of the leaves is insignificant. There is a variety for almost any color scheme: golden, lemon yellow, bright orange, light pink, rosy pink, tangerine, salmon or white. The habit of the plants is mostly upright and rounded to spreading. Their appearance is less formal than that of the evergreen rhododendrons. They look wonderful in a mixed shrub border, at the edge of the woods or grouped beneath tall shade trees. They can take full sun to moderate shade.

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