For a surprising pop of color, walk through the Missouri Botanical Garden between the second week of April and the second week of May to see clustered bursts of color from the dazzling spring shrubs of the Genus Rhododendron.
The understory fireworks of spring, rhododendrons and azaleas are closely related shrub species in the heath family, Family Ericaceae.
Rhododendrons and azaleas are numerous in the Japanese Garden (448 specimens), both around the lake and on the islands, including the evergreens 'Girard's Crimson' and 'Hino-crimson' (visit in the last week of April to see these). The Woodland Garden (>300 Rhododendron specimens, covering 13 different species) represents a more natural habitat for a rhododendron or azalea, as shrubs in the acidic and organic soils of a forest. Look for the pink-touched, cream-colored flowers of 'Mary Fleming' (early April) or the fragrant and flashy pink petals of ‘Rosy Lights’.
Two rhododendron hybrids have been selected as Plants of Merit. On display at the William T. Kemper Center for Home Gardening, the deciduous azalea 'My Mary' produces yellow, citrus-scented blooms during the last week of April and the first weeks of May. The evergreen azalea 'Girard's Rose', which sends forth ruffled magenta flowers through April and early May, is on display in the Japanese Garden.
