Flame Azalea
Rhododendron calendulaceum
A native deciduous azalea whose fiery orange-red flowers blaze from late spring into midsummer, drawing butterflies, bees and hummingbirds, with shredded bark for winter, lovely in a woodland or border. It needs acid, well-drained soil and shade from hot afternoon sun. Deer browse it, and all parts are poisonous.
- Mature size
- 6 × 9 ft
- 1.8 × 2.7 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 5a–7b
- USDA
- Sun
- Part sun to part shade
- Water
- Medium to moist
- Blooms
- May–Jul
- Fall color Oct
Flame Azalea at its mature size
A mature Flame Azalea grows to about 6 ft tall and 9 ft wide.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension.
Through the year
What Flame Azalea looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Dormant · Nov–Apr
Bare, open gray-brown branches.
In flower · May–Jun
Loose trusses of flame-orange funnel flowers with long stamens.
In leaf · Jul–Sep
Medium green elliptic leaves on the open branches.
Fall · Oct
Muted yellow to orange-red, variable.
Photos
-_A_medium_shrub_with_bright_orange_to_red_flowers._Azaleas_are_in_the_rhododendron_family._-June_(ca349caf-1dd8-b71c-0773-219f6f6f8842).jpg){kind=link}
Growing Flame Azalea
- Grows well in
- The Northeast and the Southeast.
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Good for
- Hedge, specimen, shade garden, pollinators, fall color, and winter interest
- Leaves
- Drops its leaves in winter
- Native to
- Appalachian Mountains, Pennsylvania to Georgia
Spacing for a hedge
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Flame Azalea, that’s about 9 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Flame Azalea in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other azaleas and rhododendrons
Encore Azalea 'Autumn Royalty'
Flame Azalea
George L. Taber Azalea
Roseum Elegans RhododendronAll drawn to the same scale.