Autumn Debutante Encore Azalea

Light Needs

Partial Shade to Full Sun

(At Least 3 Hours of Direct Sunlight)

Mature Height

4 Feet

Mature Spread

4 Feet

Growing Zones

6 to 10

This little belle adds softness and grace wherever it goes. It debuts in spring robed in 3-inch delicate pink flowers. After a brief rest, more flowers appear throughout season against its backdrop of lustrous, delicate, dark green leaves. Even winter can’t dull its winsome nature as it remains evergreen in the slumbering garden. Go ahead and plant Autumn Debutante on its own as an all-season focal point, or mass more than one for a cohesive effect. Its evergreen nature and dwarf size makes it useful as a foundation plant.

The light pink blooms of Autumn Debutante offer lots of options for companion plants, regardless of whether you choose to site it in sun or part shade areas of the garden. Other evergreen shrubs like boxwood, holly and gardenias elevate its soft pink blossoms. You can also create an all-season pastel swirl of color by combining it with spring-blooming foamflower (Tiarella), columbine and bleeding heart (Dicentra), summer-blooming astilbe, bee balm (Monarda) and Agapanthus, and late-season flowers like Japanese anemone.

Autumn Debutante Encore Azalea Care

Encore azaleas are no-fuss plants—minimal pruning, watering and fertilizing are necessary once they are established. Just be sure to plant them in average garden soil that drains well. They can take part shade to full sun and appreciate a light mulch at planting time and once a year thereafter. Be sure to water your azalea at planting time and regularly the first year. If you wish to fertilize, do so in early spring with a slow-release granular fertilizer that is labeled for azaleas. Trimming is only needed to remove dead or wayward branches, and is best done after spring blooming.

Autumn Debutante Encore Azalea Spacing

This shrub has a rounded habit and gets to be about 4 feet tall and wide at maturity. When planting, space it at least two feet from any companion plants so it has room to grow correctly. If you want a filled-in look right away, you can temporarily plant the space around it with violas or annuals for a few seasons. If you are massing more than one Autumn Debutante (and they look especially lovely as a foundation planting around a house or clustered under trees), you can plant them a little closer, around 1.5 feet center-on-center to create the effect of a single large plant.