There is a type of azalea to suit every taste. Their color range spans pink, orange, red, yellow, purple, and white, and there are also some bi-colored varieties. Azaleas look beautiful in shrub borders, foundation plantings, masses, groupings, or, for some smaller varieties, in rock gardens. They look exceptionally good massed under deciduous trees. If your plot does not naturally have acidic soil, you must either correct the situation with an application of a product intended to make the soil more acidic, or plant your azaleas in raised beds with specially treated soil.
Azaleas also tend to prefer moist, semi-shady conditions, but some varieties can take full sun.
They like soils rich in organic matter, such as compost. There are many varieties of azalea available, and the gardener would be wise to consider carefully which type of azalea is most likely to thrive in his garden. Southern and Belgian Indica types are hardy only in the South and California, in zones 8 - 10. They are evergreen species with flowers ranging from white and violet to pink, red, and salmon. Kurumes is another popular evergreen variety, which tends to be slow growing and is hardy in zones 6 - 9.