Rhododendron Flame Creeper

'Flame Creeper' is a low, spreading evergreen azalea of the Satsuki group, the Japanese evergreen azaleas prized for late bloom and bright, clear color. Rather than rising into a shrub, this selection stays close to the ground, knitting into a dense, weed-smothering carpet of small, glossy, dark green leaves that hold through the year. The name catches both the habit and the color: a creeping mat that bursts into flame each spring.

The flowers are a vivid red-orange, single and open-faced, covering the plant in spring and early summer. After a short rest the shrub keeps sending up scattered blooms through the summer, then gives a second strong flush in late summer or early fall, so 'Flame Creeper' offers warm color across much of the season rather than a single spring burst. The word Satsuki means the fifth month, a nod to the late, early-summer timing that sets this group apart from the earlier evergreen azaleas.

The Satsuki azaleas were refined over centuries in Japan, where the finest forms are cherished for bonsai and for the way a single plant can carry subtly different flowers. Like all azaleas, though, this is a plant for looking rather than tasting: every Rhododendron carries grayanotoxins in leaf and nectar and should not be eaten by people or pets. The open, single flowers do offer nectar to bees and butterflies through the long bloom season.

Standing only a foot or so tall while spreading three to five feet or more, 'Flame Creeper' is made for groundcover work: massed on a bank, spilling over a low wall, edging the front of a shrub border, or threading through a rock garden. The pliable stems can even be trained up a trellis, wall, or mailbox for a low, flowering screen. Give partial shade to full sun, an acidic, well-drained soil kept evenly moist through summer heat, and a cool mulch, and let the flowering carpet fill in over time.