Public Gardens

Public gardens with good to excellent azalea collections are a good way for the people to get to know azaleas, and in particular azaleas that thrive in their area. We are making a concerted effort to compile a list of gardens that have good azalea collections, and ask you to send notes to webmaster@azaleas.org if you have any that you can recommend.

AlabamaDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaLouisianaMarylandMassachusettsMichiganNorth CarolinaPennsylvaniaVirginia

Alabama


Auburn University’s Davis Arboretum – http://www.auburn.edu/cosam/arboretum/


Birmingham Botanical Gardens – https://bbgardens.org/


Huntsville Botanical Gardens – http://hsvbg.org/our-garden/

Mobile


Bellingrath Gardens & Home –  https://bellingrath.org


Mobile Botanical Gardens –  https://www.mobilebotanicalgardens.org
The Mobile Botanical Gardens is a 100-acre garden located on the Gulf Coast of Alabama. It’s home to many native and Asian Rhododendron and azalea hybrids and species, collected over the years by many keen nurserymen and women from the area. The pedigree begins with the Sawadas of Mobile and the Dodds of Semmes, and exists in its current iteration thanks in large part to Maarten van der Giessen, of van der Giessen Nursery. The Millie McConnell Rhododendron Garden includes most of the Back Acre, Holly Springs, Harris, Robin Hill and Nuccio hybrids, as well as more than 200 different Satsukis, Kurume azaleas from the National Arboretum, most of the Encore(TM) series, and many common and rare Southern Indica hybrids. The newest addition to MBG’s collection is the Aromi Azalea Hybrid Garden, which features more than 70 of Dr. Eugene Aromi’s deciduous and evergreen hybrids. There is an azalea or Rhododendron blooming in the Garden from February into July, or later, so there’s always something to see.

Delaware


Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library — https://www.winterthur.org/

Celebrate every season in Winterthur’s naturalistic garden, a masterpiece of color and design. Lyrical color combinations delight visitors of all ages with a year-round succession of bloom.  The garden is a result of the artistic vision of its creator, Henry Francis du Pont (1880-1969) and is surrounded by nearly 1,000 acres of meadows, farmland, and waterways.  One of the highlights of the azalea season (April – May) is the full flowering of the eight-acre Azalea Woods.  Du Pont planted large masses of each cultivar, producing glorious waves of color. Click here to see a virtual tour of the azaleas at Winterthur.

Azaleas at Winterthur
Photo by Lois Mauro

District of Columbia

Azalea collection at the U.S. National Arboretum.

Louisiana

Hammond


Margie Jenkins Azalea Garden at the LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Station

Lafayette

Shreveport
The Gardens at the Norton Art Gallery and Museum –
http://www.rwnaf.org/gardens/overview

Maryland

Bethesda
McCrillis Gardens – http://www.montgomeryparks.org/parks-and-trails/mccrillis-house-gardens/

Massachusetts

West Tisbury
Polly Hill Arboretum–http://www.pollyhillarboretum.org/. Polly was a keen plants woman and cultivated many Rhododendron species, and named several, as well. Tom Clark, who got a grant from ASA back in 2014, was curator there for several years and really stepped up the Rhododendron offerings.

Michigan

Ann Arbor
Heathdale Collection at the Nichols Arboretum, University of Michigan. This collection features the Julie Norris Post Collection of Ericaceous and Appalachian Plants in a secluded cove nestled east of and below the Peony Garden. It is a great place to visit to check out flowers in the spring and summer.
Recommended by: David Broadway

North Carolina

Charlotte
UNCC Botanical Gardens https://gardens.uncc.edu/
There is a 3 acre landscaped garden named Susie Hardwood Garden
Next to it is a 7 acre woodland garden named Van Landingham Glen
Parking is very limited. Also don’t go when UNCC has a football game as they take away parking for the garden. This place is free.

Charlotte
This may be premature to list but the Central Carolinas chapter is helping CPCC Cato campus (large community college system in Charlotte area) establish an azalea garden /woodland garden. Over the next 2 years the program Chair, John Holmes, who is now a member is going to do classes on irrigation, bed prep, and planting. They do all the work, all our chapter has to do is provide azaleas and other plants. This is going to be a free garden open to the public.

Raleigh
WRAL-TV Azalea Gardens http://www.wral-gardens.com
They also have a pretty cool program that involves free azaleas to non-profits and contests with monetary prizes for who best utilized those azaleas through their azalea celebration.

High Point
High Point University http://www.highpoint.edu/gardens/
I visited here on a recent IPPS tour and this campus is a stunning oasis and a must see. The entire campus is basically a botanical garden. They have many themed gardens and an Azalea Path garden. I don’t know if it is free but assume so. They take big pride in being named “Tree Campus USA”. Maybe one day they could be an “Azalea Campus” on a play of the Azalea City. I know they would take great pride in it and give publicity to the ASA.

Pennsylvania

Philadelphia
Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens is a 48 acre public garden in the Philadelphia suburbs specializing in rhododendrons, azaleas and other plants in the ericaceae. There is an extensive collection of azaleas, both evergreen and deciduous, consisting of approximately 3,000 cataloged individuals and 1,000 taxa plus countless naturalized native specimens. This collection was accredited through the American Public Gardens Association’s Plant Collections Network in 2010. In 2020, work began to develop a native Rhododendron Germplasm Repository focusing on rare, unusual, or exceptional specimens and known-provenance collections.

Virginia

Richmond
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden – http://lewisginter.org

Norfolk
Norfolk Botanical Garden –  http://norfolkbotanicalgarden.org/