Azalea japonica Girards scarlet

Girard's Scarlet Japanese Azalea is an old American variety, small and very resistant to the cold, with brilliant red flowers in spring. This small, rounded shrub produces clusters of large, satiny, bright red flowers with brown throats, set off by small, glossy, dark green leaves. This Azalea is a reliable plant, which will add a unique touch to shady rock gardens, terraces or the gaps beneath tall Rhododendrons.

The Girard's Scarlet Rhododendron, a cross between the 'Aladdin' and 'El Capitan' varieties, was developed by Peter Girard in 1950. It is part of a series of particularly compact and hardy, evergreen hybrids that perform well in cool and humid temperate climates, with distinct seasons. This Girard's Scarlet variety is said to withstand temperatures as low as -26°C (-14.8°F).

'Girard's Scarlet' is a small, well-branched variety, with a dense and rounded habit. It reaches about 60 cm (23.6 in) in height and spread by the age of 10 and, because it is slow-growing, will not exceed 1 x 1 m (3 ft 4 in x 3 ft 4 in) even after many years. Its truly dazzling flowers bloom for 3 weeks in April-May in the middle of the Japanese Azalea season. The 6.3 cm (2.5 in) diameter flowers with beautiful wavy edges are a superb satiny-red with orange highlights, and no trace of pink. They are funnel-shaped and gathered in terminal clusters of 4 to 5. The evergreen foliage consists of small, simple, elliptical leaves with smooth edges, alternately arranged on the branches. They are dark green with a glossy finish and a lifespan of 3 years. Azaleas and Rhododendrons have a shallow root system that always needs to be kept moist, but they also dislike waterlogged soil which would suffocate the roots.

Japanese Azaleas thrive in cool climates with distinct winters, planted in humus-rich, ericaceous soil. They are very beautiful evergreen shrubs for flower beds or containers, attractive all year round. They are a perfect accompaniment to heathers, Japanese maples, or their relatives, the Chinese Azaleas, which change colour with the seasons, as well as Japanese camellias, and their graceful, often fragrant, autumn-flowering cousins, the Camellia sasanqua hybrids. This small, rounded variety can be used to play with levels and fill gaps under large ericaceous shrubs. It will look wonderful in a large cool, moist, shady rockery or at the front of a border, and also on a terrace or balcony, in a large, carefully chosen pot, with suitable compost and watered with alkaline-free water.