This is a very useful group because it contains some very beautiful varieties, and the blooming period is in late spring/early summer after the Kaempferi hybrids have finished. They were developed in the U S A at the Plant Introduction Centre at Glenn Dale in Maryland under the direction of B.Y. Morrison.Hybridising began in 1935 and was carried out on a large scale, some 70,000 seedlings being raised. Many different species and hybrids were used, so the plants in this group vary very considerably in growth, including low, medium and tall, upright or spreading. Flowers are usually single, up to 4Уг in (11.5 cm) across, but when pot-grown will usually be less than this. There were a few semi-double and doubleflowered varieties.
The four groups described provide the grower with a wide range of colour and plants, but in addition there are many other azaleas which do not fall into these groups.
As already mentioned very many nurserymen were engaged in raising new hybrids, and quite often were successful in producing notable plants. It was quite a common practice for these to be known by the raiser's name. Such a man was Aart Vuyk, who in the early 1920s succeeded in breeding some beautiful hybrids. Many of his plants were named after famous musicians, such as 'Beethoven', but two of the most attractive were named after the raiser, namely 'Vuyk's Rosy Red' and 'Vuyk's Scarlet'. Both these make excellent pot plants as they are bushy, very slowgrowing and have beautiful big flowers.
Another variety raised in Holland in a similar way, but without the knowledge of the raiser's name, is 'Sakata Red', which is also an asset to any collection. When dealing with such a large class of plants as the evergreen azaleas, it is quite impossible neatly to place all the known hybrids into well-defined groups such as those described. It is quite likely that you will, from time to time, encounter plants such as 'Sakata Red' which are well worth growing, and you would require a very large greenhouse indeed to grow all the beautiful ungrouped azaleas which are available throughout the world.
