Azalea mollis Daviesii

Azalea mollis 'Daviesii' is a fairly old variety of Chinese Azalea, still appreciated for its generous spring flowering, which is as luminous as it is fragrant: clusters of large white flowers with a superb golden-yellow blotch appear at the tips of the branches in spring. At the end of the season, the flamboyant colours of its foliage make this shrub stand out. Unlike Japanese Azaleas, this plant is deciduous and perfectly hardy. Too little known and too little used, deciduous Azaleas are very graceful plants growing in chalk-free soil, with a host of qualities worth discovering in the garden or in a large pot on the terrace!

The Rhododendron molle is a shrub from the Ericaceous or heather family, native to central and eastern China, which has given rise to most of the deciduous Azalea varieties grown in gardens through hybridisation. 'Daviesii' is a very old British cultivar bred in 1840. It is one of a series of hybrids known as Ghent Azaleas. It is a hybrid of Rhododendron viscosum and R. molle. 'Daviesii' has been awarded an AGM (Award of Garden Merit) in England for its ornamental qualities and garden performance.

'Daviesii' is a rather slow-growing shrub with a fairly dense and graceful habit. When mature, this Azalea reaches about 1.20 m (3 ft 11 in) in height and 1 m (3 ft 4 in) in spread. Its remarkably fragrant flowers bloom, just before the leaves appear, for a long period from mid-April to mid-May depending on the climate. The large flowers, which can measure up to 6.5 cm (2.6 in) in diameter, have a slightly wavy, funnel shape and are gathered in terminal clusters. They emerge from creamy-yellow buds with a touch of pink, then open into pure white corollas, spotted with golden-yellow on the upper petal. They are adorned with 5 long arched stamens that contribute to the beauty of the flowers. The deciduous foliage is composed of simple, oval lanceolate leaves with smooth edges, arranged alternately on the branches. They vary from 5 to 10 cm (2 to 3.9 inches) in length, and they are a bright green in summer, taking on flamboyant shades in October. 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.

Deciduous Chinese Azaleas have fewer requirements than evergreen Japanese Azaleas: they are quite hardy and tolerate sunny exposures, even dry soil on occasion depending on the hybrids. However, they will be at their best in cool climates with distinct winters, planted in humus-rich and fertile, lime-free soil. They are very beautiful shrubs for borders, with an attractive, informal habit, blooming twice a year. They are the perfect accompaniment to Japanese maples, which also change colour with the seasons, as well as Japanese camellias, or their graceful, often fragrant, autumn-flowering cousins, the Camellia sasanqua hybrids. They can also be grown in a large, carefully chosen pot, in suitable soil, and watered with lime-free water. The undeniable beauty of deciduous Azaleas merits the changes needed to create the conditions they prefer.