Homegrown COLOR

This gardener created a wooded paradise with rhododendrons and azaleas. You can too.

People who see this garden call it a botanical wonderland. Thousands of vivid blooms adorn these 16 wooded acres in eastern Alabama. Scatterings and masses of reds, yellows, pinks, whites, and brilliant oranges gleam bright even in the dappled shade.

Everywhere the color glows is the handiwork of one man: Tom Corley. An avid plant collector and joyful gardener, Tom has turned a hobby into a glorious passion on his farm just outside Auburn near Loachapoka.

He lovingly nurtures all kinds of plants, but his favorites are clearly camellias, rhododendrons, and native azaleas. He takes pleasure in sharing their beauty and telling how they grew.

Camellias-His First Love

Tom took an interest in camellias in the early 1970s. Soon after, he began growing seedlings, setting them out all around the landscape and grafting successful selections. He prefers common camellias (Camellia japonica) over sasanquas (C. sasanqua). Today, his farm's 1,000 camellias bloom in the fall, winter, and spring. He starts treating some of his camellias with a plant hormone called gibberellic acid around Labor Day to force fall blooms. Tom gets his gibberellic acid through the local camellia club and carries some of his prized blooms to shows.

Discovering Native Azaleas

Several Piedmont azaleas (Rhododendron canescens) growing around the farm also caught Tom's eye. He admired their sweetly scented, trumpet-shaped blooms. He did some research on these beautiful native plants and discovered they were easy to grow from seeds. Soon, Tom was collecting seeds and planting them. Then he and his friends began hybridizing them. Today, he has more than 1,500 native azaleas and hybrids, 99% of which he grew from seeds. Colors include white, pink, orange, yellow, and red. Many are bicolored. Some striking orange-flowering selections begin with bright red buds, which unfurl to reveal orange petals. When the buds and the blooms are present on the same plants, it creates an interesting combination.

When most people think of native azaleas, they picture the wonderful spring bloomers. But Tom discovered that by growing different selections, he can have flowers six months out of the year. (see the box on page 90 for bloom times.) Piedmont azaleas are some of the first to bloom, flowering in March. The orange-to-red flowers of plumleaf azaleas appear in mid- to late-summer. Tom suggests setting out several different selections to enjoy blooms throughout the spring and summer. Over the years, he has noticed that plants that receive morning and midday sun but are shaded from western sun are bushier and flower better than those growing in deep shade.

Rhododendrons Down South

Years ago, Tom set out some rooted cuttings of rhododendrons around the farm. They did well, so he planted more and started growing them from seeds. Today, some of these large-leaved evergreens reach 12 feet tall. Many bloom trusses grow as big as volleyballs. Pink, white, red, and lavender flowers put on quite a show in the spring.

Typically, the farther south you go, the less likely you are to have success with mountain-loving, evergreen rhododendrons. But Tom says that 'Anna Rose Whitney,' 'Vulcan,' 'Caroline,' and 'Roseum Elegans' are a few choices that are well adapted to our warm climate. Because rhododendrons need well-drained soil, it's extremely important to plant them high. Their root-balls should be 2 to 3 inches above the natural grade. His rhododendrons are blessed with an ideal location. They have dappled light that niters through the tall hardwoods and pines where the soil is loose and fertile.

Unselfish Teacher

Each year, several hundred people tour Tom's farm. He walks them all over the property, sharing his wealth of knowledge. The hundreds of native azaleas and the huge colorful blooms covering the rhododendrons blow away visitors. In late winter and early spring, they marvel at the number of flowering camellias.

Tom is patient and tries to answer every question. He talks about seeding, grafting, and pruning and shares some of his techniques. He enjoys promoting gardening, and many guests leave with a small plant, a cutting, or seeds. Tom's farm is about loving a place and pouring heart and soul into it. His is a garden where people enjoy learning, seeing plants, and getting ideas. Tom's love of the land is visible in the awesome beauty surrounding him.

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Apr 2006
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