Azalea 'Astronaut' White Variegated Blooms

Evergreen Azalea With White Variegated Blooms

HOLLY SPRINGS HYBRID 

Zones 6b-9

A new wave of Satsuki hybrids are hitting the market and this time, not from Japan. Colonel Pete Vines, a hybridizer in Virginia did a lot of breeding work that will benefit your garden. He worked hard to make azaleas that were cold tolerant, had large blooms, and were dwarf to mid-sized. ‘Astronaut’ is perhaps one of his best Holly Springs hybrids. This series gets its name from a small town where Pete had a bootlegger near the University of Mississippi where he went to college.

‘Astronaut’ is the result of crossing two different Satsuki azaleas. One parent ‘Amagasa’ is a nice coral pink, while the other parent,  ‘Sekai no hikari’ is a heavily striped variegated plant. The results are a June bloomer with large white 4-5 inch ruffled flowers with coral pink freckles and sprays, similar to what the Japanese would call a Fukiage shibori variegation style. Some petals may display solid variegation while other flowers may be a solid white or coral pink on the same plant. The blooms are perhaps the largest of any azalea. ‘Astronaut’ is quite an interesting azalea that you will love photographing in your garden due to its constant irregularities that you love more and more each day. ‘Astronaut’ may reach 3 ft in height and width in 10 years. ‘Astronaut’ has also been known under the code name ‘HS 86-11-05’.
 

Limited Quantities Available !! As we have hundreds of azalea cultivars, we often do not have many of each cultivar. We recommend that you buy the azaleas you want immediately as we often sell out of certain selections.