Want to visit the collection for yourself? The trail is an easy half-mile walk – view the map and get directions here.
Curious about what was blooming at this time last year? Check out the 2024 Bloom Watch blog!
7/01/25
Welcome to summer in the Azalea Collection! The sweet summer heat has encouraged the bloom of many of my favorite flowers in the Collection.
The most notable purple bloom you will see scattered throughout the Aboretum property is Carolina Phlox (Phlox carolina). This species was first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus. It has a distinctive umbel inflorescence (flower cluster), meaning its flowers radiate from a common point on the stem.
This year, the deer that typically terrorize the Collection have spared our Turk’s-cap Lily (Lilium superbum). It is the largest native lily to the US, and can reach up to 10ft tall! It has a unique whorled leaf arrangement and gorgeous drooping flowers.
Carolina phlox Phlox carolina (left) and Turk’s-cap Lily Lilium superbum (right)
Summertime also beckons the blooms of our native Smooth Azalea (Rhododendron arborescens). In the Collection, we boast 11 massive specimens estimated to be 30 years old, a few of which have a lovely rare pink coloring. R. arborescens is very aromatic, with a sweet clove scent that you will smell before you see the specimen. The R. arborescens common name came from its glabrous (hairless) stalks and leaves, compared to the typically hairy leaves of other native species of azalea such as the Flame Azalea (R. calendulaceum).
A special pink specimen of Smooth Azalea Rhododendron arborescens (left) compared to a typical bloom (right).
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Madison
Native Azalea Collection Assistant
5/20/25
The month of May brings the sweet blooms of Rhododendron eastmanii, the May-white azalea, in the Native Azalea Collection and in the field!
R. eastmanii was first recognized as a species in 1999, but before it was named it was often listed as Rhododendron alabamense, the Alabama azalea, due to their similarities. R. eastmanii is distinctive, though, due to its distribution, delicious spicy-sweet fragrance, and glandular bud scale margins. Its white bloom has a yellow blotch on the upper petal that can vary in size and saturation. Occasionally, you may see tinges of pink along the petals and corolla, too. This species is endemic to the piedmont and coastal plain of South Carolina, typically occurring along steep embankments around its associate species such as the white oak (Quercus alba) and christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides).
This May, we took two trips to South Carolina to locate R. eastmanii populations and plan to return to these sites in the fall to collect seed. As you would expect, azalea specimens are much easier to locate when in flower! When we visit azalea populations in the spring, we record GPS coordinates, descriptions of the flower, and other relevant site data to ensure a smooth return later in the year.
Accompanying us on our trips was Dr. Charles Horn of Newberry College. He is an expert on R. eastmanii and has devoted decades to finding new populations of the species and tracking their distribution. With his guidance, we were able to visit six different populations of R. eastmanii in Sumter National Forest and Congaree Bluffs Heritage Preserve.
Wild specimens of Rhododendron eastmanii in Sumter National Forest.
This effort to collect Rhododendron eastmanii is valuable in many regards: first, the NC Arboretum’s Native Azalea Collection only has one R. eastmanii specimen, of unknown provenance, and propagation of new specimens with a known provenance will increase the conservation value of our Collection. Second, R. eastmanii is a state listed species in South Carolina, ranked at S-2, meaning it is rare and imperiled. Some of the seed that we collect will be sown in our nursery and eventually outplanted into the Collection, but the rest of the seed will be either cleaned and processed for long term storage at the Arboretum or shared with collaborators– our plant collection trips go beyond increasing the number of azaleas in the garden! By travelling into the field to collect from native azaleas, we work towards our goal to build a seed repository that will preserve wild-type lineages of our native azaleas for conservation and restoration efforts, well into the future.
A lovely surprise, Frasera caroliniensis, American Columbo. These plants can reach over 10ft tall!
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Madison
Native Azalea Collection Assistant
5/6/2025
While much of our daily work revolves around stewardship and maintenance in the Native Azalea Collection landscape, as well as caring for containerized azaleas in the nursery, an important facet of the Native Azalea Collection’s mission is to safeguard native North American deciduous azaleas diversity by collecting seed and cuttings from wild azaleas for The North Carolina Arboretum’s ex situ holdings.
Preparing to venture into the woods in search of azalea specimens is a longer process than you might realize! In order to plan efficient and successful collection trips we must begin with thorough research on known azalea populations. We utilize a variety of resources, including blogs, articles, online databases of field observations, and digitized repositories of vouchered specimens, such as SERNEC, The SouthEast Regional Network of Expertise and Collection. After sorting through records, we can then assess the locations of the desired plant specimens for collection. When populations are located on state or federal property, we apply for plant collection permits with these agencies. When populations are located on private property, we spend time finding and contacting the landowners for permission to access their property and collect from their azaleas. When you consider that North America has 18 recognized azalea species (and more hybrids and subspecies) across multiple states, the workload is immense!
An herbarium specimen of Rhododendron austrinum from SERNEC.
This year we had the pleasure of welcoming an intern to assist with our research and data processing, Janiah Watkins. Janiah is a recent graduate of Mars Hill University where she studied biology and environmental science. She spent the last semester of her undergraduate career aiding us in our research on locations of Rhododendron austrinum, the Florida azalea, and Rhododendron prunifolium, the plumleaf azalea. Janiah pored through and organized hundreds of plant records to find landowner contacts and create a viable list of collection sites. Janiah also was enthusiastic to get her hands dirty and helped us with the final stages of Hurricane Helene recovery within the Collection, including rechipping our trails and cleaning up remaining storm debris.
Our beloved intern, Janiah!
While Janiah’s time with The Native Azalea Collection has come to an end, we want to extend our deepest appreciation for her work with us and are excited to watch her blossom in her career. Janiah is passionate about her work and a bright student of the environment who will surely succeed in any future endeavors!
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Madison
Native Azalea Collection Assistant
5/2/2025
Welcome to the Native Azalea Collection’s 2025 Bloom Watch blog series!
In past years we’ve gotten an earlier start to our documentation of happenings and phenology in the Collection, but are asking for a “pass” this spring as much of our energy was diverted into recovery efforts post-Hurricane Helene. But, with a lot of support from Arboretum staff, and with some timely aid from USACE, we were able to meet our goal of reopening the Native Azalea Collection just in time for our big annual event: Native Azalea Day!
We were treated to another gorgeous Native Azalea Day and were excited to continue to grow the event this year, despite the setbacks. Visitors were treated to new exhibitors, a food truck, live music, and special hands-on activities including use of dissecting scopes to view azalea flowers (and their various hairiness) up close. We’re already scheming for Native Azalea Day 2026, so be sure to mark your calendars for that last Saturday in April!
A hands-on dissecting scope activity offered at Native Azalea Day (left) and the showy pink flowers of WNC endemic azalea species, Rhododendron vaseyi (right).
In the Collection, the flowers of our early-bloomer azaleas (Rhododendron canescens, R. periclymenoides, R. flammeum, R. vaseyi, and R. austrinum) are beginning to fade, but visitors can still look for sweet-smelling R. atlanticum and a bounty of R. calendulaceum, now reaching its peak in the Collection landscape. We’ve also been tickled to see expanses of Oxalis violacea blooming throughout the Collection– what a wonderful little plant, it has been blooming between the ferns and sedges for weeks!
Of course, our work in the Native Azalea Collection is not limited to the boundaries of the Arboretum’s property. We continue to develop our seed bank and in-ground plantings with material gathered on collection trips to natural azalea populations, wherever they grow. This spring, we have made several trips to R. vaseyi sites, including a private site which was shared with us by Conserving Carolina and, one of my favorite sites, Pilot Mountain. This May, we are excited to make a few trips to South Carolina, too, in search of R. eastmanii.
As this blog series continues, you can expect that we’ll share not only what’s blooming in the Collection, but also what’s going on behind the scenes! Stay tuned for lots of flowers and rhodo adventures!
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Carson
Native Azalea Collection Curator
Curator Carson admires the Rhododendron vaseyi at Pilot Mountain.