Christmas Cheer Azalea

Christmas Cheer Azalea (Rhododendron 'Christmas Cheer') is a Kurume azalea reaching about 1.2m tall and 1.2m wide, smothering itself in deep pink to red double flowers through late winter and into spring. Kurume types are the compact, small leafed azaleas, and this one holds a rounded shape without much intervention. It is the plant for a shaded bed that needs colour when the rest of the garden is doing very little.

Why you'll love it

• Colour when you need it most. Pink and red blooms open through late winter and spring, before the rest of the garden wakes up.
• Flowers cover the plant. Kurume azaleas bloom so densely that a mature plant reads as solid colour rather than scattered flowers.
• A neat, predictable size. At 1.2m by 1.2m it stays in proportion in a suburban bed, a border or a large pot.
• Happy in shade. It prefers dappled light and part shade, useful under established trees and on the south side of a house.

Where it works best

Mass planting and borders. Plant 70cm apart for a massed display. At that spacing the plants merge into an unbroken sheet of colour while still allowing air through the foliage.

Low informal hedging. The same 70cm spacing gives a soft flowering hedge around 1.2m high, better suited to an informal shape than a clipped one, since heavy shearing removes next season's buds.

Pots and shaded features. Ideal in a 400mm or larger pot with an acidic mix, the easiest way to give it the soil it wants if your garden is alkaline.

Growing Christmas Cheer Azalea in Australia

Position and climate. Dappled light, or morning sun with afternoon shade, is ideal. Full hot sun scorches the leaves and shortens the flowering. It suits subtropical, warm temperate and cool temperate gardens, is frost hardy once established and copes with humidity, so it performs from Melbourne and Adelaide through Sydney into south east Queensland.

Soil. This decides success. Azaleas need acidic soil, ideally pH 5 to 6, and they yellow and stall in alkaline ground. Improve the bed with compost and aged pine bark, and use an azalea and camellia mix in pots.

Water and feed. Keep the soil consistently moist. The roots are shallow and fibrous, so azaleas dry out faster than most shrubs and rarely recover from a hard wilt. Mulch 75mm deep, off the stems. Feed with an azalea and camellia fertiliser after flowering and in late summer.

Pruning. Trim immediately after flowering finishes, and no later. Buds for the coming season form over summer and autumn, so a late cut removes the display you were waiting for.

What to expect when it arrives

This variety is currently grown in one size only: tubestock. Tubes are young plants, typically under 30cm tall, and inexpensive enough to plant a whole border at once. They take two to three years to reach a display worth photographing, and about four years to approach 1.2m.

Tubestock makes the most sense in numbers, and a massed planting flowers far better than a lone plant, so most customers order a full run for a bed or combine them with other plants. Plants are delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95, and every plant is covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• How to make your soil more acidic
• Compare the full azalea range
• Browse plants suited to partial shade
• Find more evergreen flowering shrubs

Common questions

Are azaleas safe around cats and dogs?

No. Azaleas are toxic to cats and dogs, and all parts of the plant are affected. If pets chew on garden plants, place it well out of reach or choose something from our pet safe range instead.

Why are the leaves turning yellow?

Almost always soil that is too alkaline, which locks up iron. Yellowing between green veins is the classic sign. Apply an acidifying fertiliser or iron chelate, mulch with aged pine bark, and check the pH of the bed.

How far apart should I plant them?

Seventy centimetres apart for a massed bed or a low informal hedge. For single specimens, allow the full 1.2m width so air can circulate, which helps keep the foliage clean.