Azaleas reign in Gloucester garden

Native species smell the best, other types add their own splashes of color
May 06, 2011|By Kathy Van Mullekom, kvanmullekom@dailypress.com | 247-4781

In 1994, Jim and Pam Brant congenital their home on a 5-acre rolling, abounding lot sited amid two baby valleys in Gloucester.

Before they accomplished unpacking, afore they did any adorning painting, afore they afraid any artwork, they started on their garden.
Azaleas mostly. Lots of them — more than 400 Asian azaleas, 37 native azaleas and 61 rhododendrons.

Their shaded wooded property is perfect for azaleas, which are members of the Rhododendron family.
"This is my favorite smell,'' says Jim, bending to sniff the flower on an Admiral Semmes, a native yellow-flowering azalea that smells as nice as it looks.

Fragrance is one of the benefits of some native azaleas, which flourish in the cooler mountains of Virginia and North Carolina and even along the hot regions of the East Coast.

The Brants, members of the Middle Atlantic Chapter, American Rhododendron Society, often go hiking with society members to see native azaleas in those original habitats.

"You will be hiking in the mountains and the breeze will bring the fragrance up the mountain, invigorating you to keep going," says Jim.
"There's nothing like it."
Recently, a society study group went to Hooper Bald, a North Carolina mountaintop south of the Smokies, near the Tennessee border, just off the scenic Cherohala Skyway, according to Jim, a former president of the society.

"One of those plants we call Hooper's Copper, a bright coppery orange Flame azalea, has some of the largest flowers we've ever seen on this species, blossoms in excess of 3 inches across," he says.
In Gloucester, the Brant garden also features dozens of azaleas bred by Sandra McDonald, who was part of the now-closed Le-Mac Nurseries in Hampton. The overall look and feel of their garden, designed by Gloucester landscaper George McLellan, is based on having something blooming or interesting in texture every day of the year. A succession of spring-flowering trees includes plum, cherry, redbud, fringe tree and Japanese snowbell. Coralbark maple with its pale green leaves in summer and intense red stems provides more seasonal interest.

"We also used the book 'Color Echoes' by Pam Harper in York County as a guide, too, trying to have the shades in plants play off each other," says Jim.
"The garden gives a great deal of pleasure and the slope of the land allows us to see the flowers on tops of the plants as well.
"I love all these plants but especially the native azaleas for their vibrant colors and wonderful scents."

Tags: Azalea,Azalea Garden

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