This morning I received a text message from a friend about visiting Betty’s Azalea Ranch in Fairfax, VA. She wanted to check out some possible options for landscaping plants.
Betty’s Azalea Ranch General Information
Betty’s Azalea Ranch is family owned and started back in 1962. The garden center is located on 16-plus acres of land. Their claim to fame is that they advertise they have the largest collection of azaleas for sale in the United States.
The door is open to the greenhouse full of plants.
They sell anything from Japanese Maples trees, dwarf conifers, flowering dogwood and crape myrtle trees. They also have a large collection of shrubs and plants anything from ferns, azaleas, gardenias, boxwoods, etc.
Selecting Landscaping Plants
My friend had previously scheduled a home visit with one of their landscape designers. The landscaper presented her with a planting plan to improve and refresh the her front, back, and sides of her home. He suggested a careful selection of trees, plants and shrubs. She was given the actual plans, so that she could visit to the garden center and look at the plants. She could also make any changes.
Apparently, Bettys’ Azalea Ranch’s landscapers are employed full-time. But, interestingly, the landscape workers are also employed full-time. This is helpful because there is no retraining anyone in the spring.
Our Visit
This was my first time visit to this garden center. My friend had an appointment with the landscaper to tour the garden center and check out the possible plant selections from the plan.
We were met by Kevin Quinlan, a friendly and very knowledgeable landscape designer. I liked the fact, he knew all about the plants we viewed. He answered questions from anything about growing instructions, trimming needs, and watering of the plants. He also talked about any possible insect issues or other care needed.
I like that he felt some of her present landscaping trees and shrubs were salvageable, so these were incorporated in the final design. Some plants, however, would require moving to give them their best site. The landscaper told us he never likes to toss out good plants. I totally agree with him on this point.
This Little Gem Miniature Spruce Standard likes full sun and only grow 9-24 inches high.
This brick walkway is lined with a variety of Japanese Maple trees.
Amazing Collection of Swallowtail Butterflies
It is worth a visit to this garden center just to see their collection of Pugster Butterfly Bushes full of Swallowtail Butterflies. Apparently, this section of the nursery is a favorite with visiting children. On our visit, the bushes were full of Swallowtail butterflies. I saw one black Swallowtail butterfly but apparently they also get Hummingbird Moths. These moths fly and move like hummingbirds. In fact, some people actually think they are small hummingbirds.
This Puster Butterfly bush only gets 2 feet tall and 2 feet wide. I believe this color is amethyst. Years ago, I had a huge butterfly bush in my yard which needed constant trimming and took up a lot of space. In my opinion, this smaller variety is a huge improvement over the older larger varieties.
Ending Notes on Betty’s Azalea Blog
It was an enjoyable morning and by the end of our tour, I believe my friend had made some excellent plant decisions.
A special thank you Kevin Quinlan, Senior Designer, for the educational plant buying tour and also for allowing me to blog/take photographs of Betty’s Azalea Ranch.