Elepidote Rhododendron: 'Starbright Champagne'

Flower pale yellow with a deep red throat and prominent red spotting and streaking, broadly funnel-campanulate, 3" across, deeply-cut lobes with rather pointed tip.  Dome-shaped truss holds 15 flowers.  Blooms early season.  Leaves oblong, flat, broadly acute apex, cordate base, 6" long, dull green, retained 2 years.  Dense plant habit.  Grows to a height of 3 ft. in 10 years.  Plant is hardy to at least 10°F (-12°C).  Hybridized by Fujioka.

Lepidote Rhododendron: R. pemakoense

Flower pink to pale purplish-mauve, tubular funnel-shaped, 2" across.  Truss has 1 or 2 flowers.  Blooms early to early midseason.  Leaves oblanceolate or obovate, up to 1⅛" long, lower surface scaly and glaucous.  Dense, mounding, often stoloniferous plant habit.  Low-growing, typically 1 ft. in 10 years.  Cold hardy to 0°F (-18°C).  Species found in the wild in China (SE Tibet) and in India (Arunachal Pradesh).

Evergreen Azalea: 'Mother's Day'

Flower strong red with faint deep red dorsal spotting, openly funnel-shaped, 2" across, hose-in-hose to semi double.  Inflorescence 2-3 flowered.  Blooms early midseason.  Leaves 1" to 1⅛" long, bright green, tinged red.  Spreading plant habit.  Grows to a typical height of 6 ft. in 10 years.  Hybridized by van Hecke.

Deciduous Azalea: 'Irene Koster'

Flower white flushed strong pink with a yellow blotch on upper lobes and brownish orange spotting, tubular funnel-shaped, wavy edged, 2½" across, fragrant.  Blooms late midseason.  Leaves elliptic, dark green, deciduous.  Upright, open plant habit.  Grows to a typical height of 6 ft. in 10 years.  Hardy to -15°F (-26°C).  Hybridized by Koster & Sons.  Received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit in 1993.