One of my customers planted three small plants that she ordered form a mail order specialty nursery in her yard about 2010 near the house and artificial waterfall and pond. They were doing fine until 2017 when I noticed they had yellow leaves and were dying. I am suspecting that the soil of pH 6.5 is not acid enough or that the good quality clay soil is still too heavy for them. I applied some iron sulfate and sulfur to around the plants and we'll see if they snap out of it in 2018. One author says that this species needs truly acid soil. This is a very nice species, similar to the Sweet Azalea that is more common. The tubular funnel-shaped bell white flowers are about 1 inch in diameter with hairy funnels and in clusters of 4 to 9 flowers blooming in July, and twigs are densely velvety brown. Its native range is from southern New England down the coastal plain of the Atlantic into central Florida, plus some spots in the Appalachians and a little west of them, and along the Gulf coastal plain into Louisiana with one spot in east Texas.

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