Azalea ‘Koromo Shikibu’ – The Spotted Spider Azalea is inundated in spring with unusual spidery flowers composed of strap-shaped petals in a glowing shade of lavender-pink. With a spreading and mounding habit the shrub will grow about as wide or wider as tall albeit slowly in the north. The hairy leaves often pick up dusky purple tones with orange and red in autumn which hold onto the branches until extreme cold in the north takes them down. On November 10, 2009 the autumn shades ranged from dark red, purple, orange and gold all at once! The leaves are virtually evergreen in warmer climates. Though listed as bud hardy to -5F once our shrub became well-established it has flowered beautifully each spring after any and all of the unpredictable USDA zone 5b (-15F) winters we experience in northeastern Connecticut. Site ‘Koromo Shikibu’ in fertile, acid and draining soils; good drainage seems especially important for this wonderful plant. This is one we would not be without. If planted in autumn do shelter and protect it from the coming winter. Established potted Azalea, cutting grown.