Piedmont azalea thrives in Nashville...

Two weeks ago Carolyn Schmidt, my best childhood chum, walked with me around Cheekwood Botanical Garden in Nashville, looking at flowering trees and shrubs. The day would have been perfect even if we hadn’t seen breathtaking Piedmont azaleas blooming in the woodland garden. But we did, and their beauty stopped us on the shady path. It was the flowers that got us–deep pink buds and baby-pink, sweet-scented tubes with delicate stamens emerging from them like curly lashes. Piedmont azalea (Rhododendron canescens) is native to the southeastern USA, including...