Ah-h-h-h-h, The Coastal South. Land of Gulf Breezes, Mardi Gras, Francais' country homes, and spring flowers. Am I right "cher"? The place where Hossfly plays only two kinds of music, "Country or Western". Where children walk gravel roads and trails barefoot without flinching and mud puddles are opportunities to catch crawfish with their hands. An area where a violin becomes a whinnin' fiddle and is automatically accompanied by a smile from all who are within hearing distance. A land of weeping willows that cool you down with their tears on hot summer afternoons. Enjoy your Spring Flowers. Pick a Dandelion for me. Hope all is well. Susie

Nevermind on this question. I had not looked closely enough and was noticing pods which had fallen before turning brown (presumably from strong winds). Anyhow, I now see pods turning brown on the plant (which have seeds attached). I suppose it's best to let these get as brown/dried as possible before picking (even if risking them falling)?? I accidently also double posted this to native plants section thinking that this one hadn't posted correctly etc. Sorry.

Luis, I think you might be right about the R. calendulaceum. I looked up lots of info on it and it seems to fit. I think that I was confused because when I have seen this one in bloom, it still has unopened buds on the top of the ball of blooms (for lack of a better term) so it looks more like a half sphere than a sphere. The unopened buds are much more fiery than the opened blooms. Once I found a photo like that I was convinced. I found one site that said it tends to be scraggly, especially if grown in shade and this one is. It is more like a tree, not a shrub and the branches are open and airy. The one thing that doesn't fit is that it is not supposed to be fragrant. This one is very fragrant and the scent is in the air from quite a bit away. It reminds me of honeysuckle. Perhaps this one just didn't read the rules. I also thought that it might be 'golden lights', since it is supposed to be fragrant, but I think that this one is far too tall to be that. If it is R. calendulaceum, it is supposed to be easy to grow from seed. Can I collect the seeds and do that or is it veyr difficult? I have never collected seeds in my life, so this is not obvious to me. If I do manage to grow one from this particular plant, will it be more likely to have this plants characteristics? It is a beautiful 'tree', but the flowers are so short lived that I don't know that I really could fully appreciate it without the fragrance as well. That is just so much of its charm. I am going to track its progress to see just how long they last. The link is not a great photo of the tree, but you can see how graceful its branches are and how tall it is. I am very taken by tree as you can tell. Thanks to everyone for your help. Here is a link that might be useful:

hi cynthia, many of our east coast native azaleas are quite fragrant. according to this site, r. occidentale is the only one growing naturally west of the rockies. there can be variations in color occuring among populations and you might compare the photos at the link below to what you recall seeing. you should be able to locate the species plants in some nurseries and there may be other forms developed from them that are being marketed. Here is a link that might be useful: r. occidentale photos