An Iowa Garden

I've never met a red deciduous azalea I didn't like... deciding which is the reddest, or which is the most beautiful is not a bad assignment. Azaleas are scattered through our garden, in spots in the woods which get a little more light. Ideally, of course, these shrubs would get bright morning sun and afternoon shade; unfortunately this fits the requirements of about 99% of the plants in the garden, so the azaleas have to get in line. Our summers being so hot and often dry, I grow my azaleas in more shade than they would like for compact growth and heavy flowering, so they get a bit leggy at times, but they are nevertheless the peacocks of the garden in May.
Certainly one of the top candidates for the reddest azalea has to be Arneson's Ruby (also listed under Arneson Ruby); it is a deeply saturated, true ruby red, enhanced by red filaments on its stamens, and a mint green stigma on its red pistil. It was hybridized by Ivan and Robertha Arneson, long-time growers and hybridizers of deciduous azaleas in Portland, Oregon (they also, for example produced the well known azalea Nifty Fifty). Arneson's Ruby then, is on the blue end of the red spectrum, whereas most of the reds are on the yellow (orange) end. I never can look at its flowers without almost shaking my head at its beauty, and saturation of color.
This particular shrub I have planted at the top of a rise, under a large oak tree, right next to a large, shady ravine with a small, seasonal creek at the bottom. It is planted with a group of perhaps twenty other azaleas and rhododendrons, and underplanted with a wide variety of bulbs, jack in the pulpits, and other woodland flowers, and I have a large, flat rock placed there to sit on and enjoy the view.