Azalea x 'SHOKA' Satsuki azalea

Shoka (sometimes also misspelled as Sogha) is a hybrid Satsuki azaleawith large flowers. They are predominantly white with bright purple pink blotch, or they can come out lilac-pink with the same blotch, or they can be either colour with a stripe of the other colour. Quite picky this azalea, isn’t it? As if it did not know what to wear for each season. Blooming time is later than Japanese azaleas: end May till end June, and in Czech climate I often make photos of its flowers yet in early July. It is slow and dense growing, making a superb cushion or almost a ground cover with evergreen, elliptic and glossy, mid green leaves.

Satsuki azaleas are quite compact and bushy growing but can be clipped to shapes in early July after flowering. If so, do not use fertilizers enhancing growth rate. The size of new branches would get out hand and spoil the shape you are going to achieve. They need light, permeable soil that is acid, constantly moist (keep azaleas mulched at all times) and moderately fertile. Use fertilizers for rhododendrons and azaleas, or ericaceous plants. The best soil mix is 1/3 of peat, 1/3 of leaf-mould or lime-free compost, and 1/3 of soil from the hole where you are going to plant it. Azaleas have shallow roots, so do not plant not too deep. If leaves turn yellow or fall down after winter it is planted in wet or heavy soil. So far we have experienced its hardiness down to -21°C (USDA zone 6b), preferably located in winter shade or if grown in full sun they will do better with fir branches or white woven in case of heavy frost and sunny strong sunlight.

Last update 08-01-2012