Flower Gardens

» jltt5p - Planting

Can Roses and Azaleas be planted close to one another?

-- posted by jltt5p

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» Cottage_Garden - Planting Azalea & Rose Together

In response to Planting posted by jltt5p:
Hi! Interesting question. I am going to go out on a limb and say "not so much" mainly because of the different growing conditions these plants would prefer.

Roses prefer full sun all day or at least six hours including the hour of noon. Azaleas usually do best in morning-only sun or in bright dappled light all day. A spot suited to roses would be too hot and sunny for an azalea, a spot suited to the azalea would be too shady for the rose. (But you *might* get away with planting both of them in full morning sun in cool summer climate.)

Next issue is soil type. Azaleas *must* have an acidic soil -- it should be organic, humusy, acidic, evenly moist yet well drained. Roses prefer a soil that is less acidic than is required for the azaleas to thrive. (But your rose *might* tolerate it if you used the highest acceptable pH for azalea, say 5.5 maybe.)

Also, roses are deeper rooted and more tolerant of dry soil than azaleas. So your watering needs might not be all that compatible.

So, if planted side by side it probably would not be ideal for one plant or the other or might be a compromise for both, so neither one would be in a great spot and thus neither one would really grow its best.

All in all it's not something I would recommend unless you like to experiment. If you want to experiment, and it turns out it fails, think which one you would have to transplant. Azaleas are FAR easier to move than rose bushes because azaleas are shallow rooted.

I think you would do better to plant the rose in a sunny spot with other sun loving plants and put the azalea in a shadier spot with other shade loving plants. You have lots of choices of plants for either location.

Then and again, maybe if you had a somewhat shade tolerant climbing rose such as Zephirine Drouhin and planted it next to an azalea in full morning sun so the rose shaded the azalea a bit, you could make it work.... if you really want to do it, give it a try and see what happens.

I hope you'll let us know what you decide to do ... and how it works out!

-- posted by Cottage_Garden

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