Wow, that first azalea is amazing. Do you know which one it is? Would it be hardy to Zone 5?

Edward

Christine, those azaleas are especially beautiful! Like a seas of pink. And the hostas are very nice too. How lovely spring is looking at your huse.
kay

Sorry Edward, they were here when I bought the house. They are probably quite old, since they are planted at the base of a very large oak tree, and must have been put in before the tree gained any girth. The flowers are small, 1/2 inch, and the shrubs are only about 2 feet tall, and have a spreading, sprawling habit, rather than mounding. So, if you try to track it down, look for a variety that has been around for 30 years or so.
Another view:
{{gwi:682989}}
Christine

Gorgeous azalea - that first one is wonderful! Don't you just love how hosta look when all those pips open in the spring?
It's all gorgeous.

Thanks for sharing all the photos of your beauties.

Wow! What a show your azalea is putting on. It really is lovely. Looks a lot like 'Coral Bells', but I've never seen one with that many flowers. Sagae is my favorite hosta, but your NOID is a really pretty one too.
Val

Love your Wood Hyacinth! I agree with Val...that does look like Coral Bells, which I also grow. It's a great bloomer.
Kathy

Edward, I think that Val and Kathy may have it right. The descriptions of Coral Bells that I read online match the plants in my yard very well.

Kathy, I grew wood hyacinth in north Louisiana also, zone 8a, and it was a great naturalizer there, as it is here in Delaware. In Louisiana, it tolerated a great deal of shade, even under shrubs. Not sure how it does in zone 8b. As I'm sure you know, it comes in white and pink also, but the blue ones are my favorites.

On behalf of whoever planted the pink azaleas in my yard, I thank you all for commenting. I always like to think that somewhere out there, someone I'll never meet is appreciating something I planted somewhere a long time ago.

Christine

Clicked on your post and went OH WOW!!! The azalea is a stunner. Also love hostas, wish they would grow here, but they don't take the heat well. Very interested in the fact that you lived in Northern LA and you grew wood hyacinths. I want to get some here, for our climate in NE Texas must be close to the same. Avedon

Hi Avedon,
Just checked the hardiness of wood hyacinth at Brent and Becky's and they say zones 4 to 10. Here in Delaware they grow fine in either sun or shade, but in Louisiana they wouldn't tolerate afternoon sun at all. I had some wonderful drifts of them in fairly deep shade. They were all over the place in my yard, happy, happy plants. I learned that they grow just fine from self-sown seed, but that it can take up to 7 years for the seeds to germinate, which matches my experience when I was sharing seeds and my friends reported that they never did grow. So I ended up sowing seeds for posterity wherever I thought they would be pretty and happy.
Christine

I love Azaleas and yours are very pretty.

Thanks for letting me know to grow the hyacinths in shade, I might have planted them in sun, otherwise. I will buy bulbs, too old to wait for seeds to germinate. Avedon

Thanks for the post of Sagae. Mine is just starting to pip up, LOL. Does Blue Cadet have purplish/blue pips? I just noticed these dark pips on it coming up. Nothing yet on Whirlwind or August Lily showing yet.

The wood hyacinths are really nice. I already googled it and was wondering does the foliage die back like other bulbs?

And of course that azalea is a stunner. Beautiful color of pink. hmmm, I'm tempted to get one but gotta think about where it would do best.

Julia

Wow! what a spectacular azalea and I love your hostas to.
Linda

Julia, I don't remember what Blue Cadet's pips look like and it is no longer in pip phase in my garden.

The wood hyacinth foliage dies back by June. Here are some photos showing other places that I plant it. It is so adaptable, you can see that it is growing nicely tucked between the big oak tree roots where nothing else will grow. (Flowers emerge later under this tree)

{{gwi:682990}}
{{gwi:682991}}
I usually put impatiens in front of this row of wood hyacinth, but I think I'm going to consider an edging of Blue Cadet.
{{gwi:682992}}

Christine

Christine, thanks for the info. I'm definitely going to get the WH. It is on the "list". I'll check on the hosta forum about the BC pips. That pink azalea is just stunning.

Julia