Azalea 'Christmas Cheer' Strong Red Blooming 

Evergreen Azalea -

Kurume Azalea

Ima Shojo Azalea

Zones 6-8

Kurume azaleas are some of the most noticeable and shockingly beautiful azaleas in the landscape. The blooms totally covering all the branches creates a color effect that you want in your garden. The famous plant explorer, E.H. Wilson, loved Kurume azaleas. After plant expeditions to Japan in the early 1900’s, E.H. Wilson realized we had no azaleas like those from Kurume, Japan. He decided to import 50 of these Kurume azaleas from Japan and give them new English names, likely for marketing purposes.

‘Christmas Cheer’ happened to be one of Wilson’s 50.   It is a strong red blooming Kurume azalea. The blooms are about a inch, but the branches are loaded with these hose-in-hose blooms. This gives a lot of red color in the garden in the early spring. ‘Christmas Cheer’ may reach 4-5 ft in height and width in 10 years.

‘Christmas Cheer’ was also imported into the United States from Kurume, Japan by the Domoto Brothers. The original name from Japan was ‘Imashojo’.

Kurume azaleas do great as mass plantings, especially when paired with other Kurume azaleas such as ‘Snow’ (white), ‘Mildred (Purple), and ‘Pink Pearl (Pink). 

Limited Quantities Available !! As we have over a thousand cultivars of Japanese maples, we often do not have many of each cultivar. We recommend that you buy the Japanese maples you want immediately as we often sell out of certain selections.