Clarksburg, West Virginia, USA, 8 May 2023
When we bought this house in 2008 this azalea was growing at the top of the slope in the front yard. We decided that it must be a native Flame Azalea (Rhododendron calendulaceum), but we have never verified this. In any case the plant was healthy and grew enthusiastically, and it had pretty flowers.
A couple of years later a slippery road and a steering error caused a driver to run his car off the street and into our yard, driving directly into the azalea, killing several stems and disrupting the plant’s growth. We left the azalea as it was for several years, hoping for recovery and new growth. In 2015 I decided that it wasn’t doing well so I moved it down into the lower yard to shelter it from any further car damage. This may have caused a little more root damage.
The plant didn’t do well for a long time, dwindling over the years to only two sad-looking stems rising out of the old roots, with only a few leaves and no blossoms. It was surviving, but it didn’t look like it would continue for long. I added new compost around its roots, mulched it with autumn leaves, and fenced it off from the browsing of some of our furry residents — White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus), Eastern Cottontail Rabbits (Sylvilagus floridanus), and Groundhogs (Marmota monax) — and continued to hope for its survival.
But last year a new stem appeared and grew well, and I started to hope for improvement.
This year we have received the best bloom in years.
Koppantó 