Combine dark and light colors to contrast against one another.
1 What Grows Well With Azaleas?
Whether designing a painting, a building or a landscape, the principles of design remain consistent. Colors and lines should lead the eye from one place to another, balance should be achieved whether through symmetry or asymmetry, and the design should be visually pleasing or meaningful. Gardeners who wish to landscape with azaleas (Rhododendron spp.) must take into consideration aspects of color, form and texture to create a space of harmony and beauty.
Azalea bushes can be as short as 2 feet tall with a mounding habit or as large as 8 feet tall with an 8-foot spread. Use larger plants to form the sides of your garden. Push these plants against the boundaries of your property, use them to hide unsightly garden walls, and have them create natural borders between your property and the property of your neighbors. Medium-sized azaleas are best used to create transitions between large shrubs and small shrubs. Midsized plants are also useful for creating natural islands of foliage in the empty spaces of your lawn. Small azaleas are excellent specimens for forming lines along walkways and borders around larger shrubs. As you plan which azaleas will go where in your garden, consider the way that different-sized bushes will lead the eye of the viewer along the space. Small transitions are less jarring and give a natural flow to your landscape. Any big jump in size between two bushes creates a contrast that may keep the eyes of viewers lingering in one spot for a longer period of time.
An artist can spend many years studying the way color can influence a design. High-contrast color combinations, such as combinations of dark colors paired with light colors, are used to create drama and excite the viewer. Low-contrast color combinations are soothing and subtle. As you choose azalea colors for your garden, look for those combinations of colors that incite the emotional response you seek. Remember that cool colors, like lavender, are soothing and calming. Warm colors, like orange, red and yellow, are exciting and stimulating. White blossoms are neutrals and may be used in almost any setting.
When choosing your plants at the nursery, place the azaleas you want to buy side by side. Look for combinations of colors that please you, and study the textures of the different leaves. Placing azaleas with fine leaf textures beside azaleas with broader, coarser leaf textures create a type of contrast, in much the same way that dark and light colors create contrast. Choose those combinations that are the most visually appealing to you.
There are many varieties of azaleas. These plants may be hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 10, depending on the cultivar. Most azaleas thrive best in USDA zones 6 through 8, so check the optimal zones for your chosen cultivar before purchasing. Some azaleas start blooming in early spring, while others bloom later in the season. To maximize the number of blooming plants on your property during the growing season, seek out a range of cultivars that bloom at different times of the year. Azaleas thrive in acidic soil and have shallow roots. As a result, they require frequent small doses of acid-loving fertilizer, such as cottonseed meal. Too much fertilizer damages the roots of these plants. Keep azaleas away from plants or trees that require frequent and powerful applications of nitrogen.
Rose, Leslie. "Landscape Ideas for Azaleas." Home Guides | SF Gate, http://homeguides.sfgate.com/landscape-ideas-azaleas-47701.html. Accessed 25 April 2019.
Do You Have to Deadhead Azaleas?
Do Front Landscaping Plants Need to Be the Same on Both Sides?