Tulsa, Just spent an hour perusing the azalea thumbnails. The one thing that doesn't seem right to me is the leaves. Most (typical) azaleas seem to have leaves clumped at the top of the stem where they flower and then sparser groupings of leaves as you go down the stem. They don't have an awful lot of leaves. The ones that I have seem to have regularly spaced leaves, not in groups, but single alternating leaves spanning the length of the stem. Does it look like this because it's young/small? The leaves are similar shape to azaleas and then there are the hairs but the leaf placement just seems wrong... Flora: Aha! I was fooled by your zones! From what my parents say, if you don't live in the south it's cold all year round! I think they're pulling my leg :)!

Deciduous rhododendrons like most of the native American species are difficult to root. The best course is to take cuttings when the current year's growth has hardened somewhat but is still flexible. Wound the base of the cuttings, use a relatively strong rooting hormone and place the cuttings in a mixture of 50% peat and 50% perlite. Cover the flat with clear plastic on a wire frame and keep in a bright place without direct sun. Then hope and be patient. Anoher option is to collect seed when ripe, sow on spahgnum or live moss above the peat/perlite mixture in a flat covered with plastic. Water with distilled water or rain water. The seedlings grow relatively quickly.

I noticed that the RSF doesn't have much if any native azalea seed. The best way to get such seed and good advice on how to grow it is to join the Azalea Society of America. I sounds like they would be a good group for you to join anyway. Many of their members live near you. They have an annual seed sale. The Azalea Society welcomes membership by anyone interested in azaleas, from all cultures and disciplines. They invite those who wish to learn, and those who know and wish to share their knowledge. Membership is $25 per year. Bob Stelloh, ASA Treasurer 65 Sierra Drive Hendersonville NC 28735-7963 They have chapter meeting. There is a Virginia Chapter at: Northern Virginia Chapter Leslie Ann Nanney 703-644-5651 8646 Tuttle Road Springfield VA 22152 Chapters provide meetings, lectures, seminars, plant sales, auctions and exchanges, and fellowship at the local level. National membership includes membership in one of the local chapters, with At-Large affiliation for those members not joining a local chapter. Guests are always welcome at the local chapter meetings. The Azalean (ISSN-1085-5343) magazine is the journal of the Azalea Society of America. One of the major benefits of membership, it is published and mailed to the members in the spring, summer, fall and winter of each year. Each issue is 24 pages, 16 of them in color. Each spring, one of the local chapters hosts an annual convention to immerse members and friends in a long weekend of azalea activities at a national level. They feature tours of excellent local gardens during the day, renowned speakers each evening, and ongoing sales of azaleas and companion plants. The 2007 convention, Azaleas in the Pines  A Texas Garden Party will be held in Nacogdoches TX on March 29 through April 1, 2007. See some of the many beautiful public and private gardens in the area, hear talks about azaleas and rhododendrons, meet your far-away gardening friends again, and get some rare azaleas and rhododendrons for your garden. Future conventions: Scheduled future conventions include: Year City Chapter Contact 2008 Asheville NC Vaseyi Ed Collins 2009 Fairfax VA Northern Virginia Dan Krabill Members frequently share seed, cuttings, and plants. It is a great way to get different selections from different areas. There are different colors of many of the species. Some species are very diverse. ASA members delight in finding the different forms and sharing them. Here is a link that might be useful: Joining the Azalea Society of America

The last photo definitely doesn't look like a native azalea. I would hesitate to speculate what it is. The distorted leaves are probably caused by gall midge leafhopper injury, chemical injury, leaf-roller activity or aphids. Young leaves rolled and distorted could be either chemical damage or Rhododendron Gall Midge, Clinodiplosis rhododendri. Chemical damage should be associated with a chemical application (fertilizer, herbicide, deicing salt, etc.) and should affect more than one plant. The Rhododendron Gall Midge is a native pest of Rhododendron catawbiense, R. maximum and their many hybrids during the May to October growing season. The larval feeding damage from this fly can cause discoloration and distorted foliage. This damage can appear as in-rolled, twisted leaves that have turned a yellow color. This can be seen on young leaves that have separated from the bud scale. Leaves attacked in the bud stage may die if the injury is severe. Care must be taken to distinguish this pest damage from similarly manifested damage caused by leafhopper injury, chemical injury, leaf-roller activity and aphid feeding. There is no way to undo the damage once it has occurred. Control is effected by applications of insecticides with the bud break stage of rhododendron development. An alternative would be to maintain healthy plants so that they could survive any damage caused by an infestation or to prune newly-infested foliage that contain larvae. Distorted young leaves covered with Aphids can be a problem in the spring. These small sucking insects feed on the new growth as it begins to expand causing distorted leaf shapes. In large number, their sucking damage causes new leaves to twist and curl. A secondary problem is aphids excrete a sugar solution called "honeydew"Âa perfect food source for the sooty mould fungus which grows on the honeydew causing plant leaves to look like they are covered in black soot. The fungus isnÂt actually parasitizing plant tissue, but it coats the leaves to such an extent that plants canÂt photosynthesize efficiently. In time, natural predators will help. The most famous is the ladybug, whose larval stages eat quantities of aphids. There are other predators, too. As a last resort, insecticides are available. The aphids can be controlled with Orthene, Malathion or Diazinon. Here is a link that might be useful: How to grow azaleas and their problems.