Redirection

Monday, February 18, 2013

Taking Care Of Azalea


My dear husband never fails to remind me that the lady of the house must have two chief interests outside the normal housekeeping: taking care of plants and emroidery:) Under embroidery he understands all sorts of handwork and since one of my previous posts was about knitting, today it's the turn of the houseplants.

Azalea belongs to the genus Rhododendron but is smaller and it has been cultivated for hundreds of years. In China it was so important, that some poet dedicated his verses to it, and it is also one of the symbols of the city of Sao Paolo, Brazil. Japan, Korea and United States all have flower festivals celebrating the blooming of azalea, but with all its beauty. the plant is also highly toxic and according to Wikipedia its bouquets were used as a death threat. (Read the whole article on Azalea here ).

Azaleas prefer the room temperature about +20*C and slightly higher, however, if the room is cooler, it will bloom longer. The plant doesn't like dark rooms, but the direct sunlight and draught should be avoided. Instead of watering it, twice a week place it in a bucket of water and let it stay there for about 15 minutes.

Taking care of your azalea and other houseplants is easy to combine with listening to some nice music, such as this:


3 comments:

  1. What a great idea to have azaleas in the house! I also like your husband's take on things, very sweet. Homemaking is somewhat new to me I've only been doing it 4 years. I was a hotshot career woman before that. Got married late in life. So, I am learning all these wonderful fineries of homemaking. I wasn't a feminist though, I always thought that a home needed a homemaker; had the details of my life been different I would have opted for that in the beginning. I will have to get some azaleas on my next trip to town.

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  2. Azalea is considered an old-fashioned plant over here and since we are an old-fashioned household, it suits us just fine:)As for homemaking, I have been a homemaker for 12 years and still learning every day...

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