By Norman Winter
Encore’s bi-colored azaleas have become a designer’s delight. These azaleas with stripes, flecks or bursts – while different – are reasons to celebrate. Or, as the French would say, “vive la difference.” They are much easier to combine or partner in your landscape than you ever imagined. 
A bi-colored selection is like giving added pizzazz to your Encore® Azalea garden. Take Autumn Twist® – one of our most popular – with large 3-inch purple and white blooms. You’ll no doubt ponder, “Is it a white with purple stripes, or purple with white stripes?” Yet, before you come to a conclusion, you’ll likely notice a blossom or two of solid purple for a special wow moment. 
Consider the wonderful possibilities. Selecting this intermediate Encore that gets 4- to 5-feet in height, opens the door to partnering with an Encore purple variety like the award-winning Autumn Royalty® and/or the white Autumn Lily® for your own spring festival of color. Of course, while we say spring, you’ll be celebrating in summer and fall, too. We selected these varieties for partnership based on color and time of bloom using the Encore Bloom Times Chart, which makes it simple to combine your Encore® Azalea selections for maximum landscape impact. 
Think of the Encore bi-colored varieties as having the unique ability to immediately echo the colors of two partners. Autumn Sunburst® is another bi-colored selection offering coral pink – a rare color, and many times the most sought-after in the garden. 
Autumn Sunburst® is dwarf, reaching 3-feet tall, and would be the perfect companion with Autumn Princess® featuring salmon/pink ruffled flowers and similar growth habit and bloom time. The edges or margins of Autumn Sunburst® are white, so the dwarf Autumn Ivory® — a prolific bloomer spring summer and fall — would be a natural fit. 
Perhaps you would like your bi-colored selection to be a bit more subtle? If so, Autumn Starlite® is for you. This exquisite Encore® Azalea is white with pink flecks, and an occasional pink stripe, but not too gaudy – just right. 
We couldn’t imagine a prettier partner than Autumn Sundance®. It has a similar dwarf habit with rich and vibrant fuchsia pink blooms. Since Autumn Starlite® is so subtle with its pink contribution, you may consider choosing the purple dwarf Encore – Autumn Lilac® – giving you an array of Easter colors perfect for the spring celebration. 
Every gardener that fancies him or herself as a designer will want to try the upright 5-foot-tall Autumn Belle®. This vigorous grower features ruffled pink flowers sporting magenta freckles. 
Last, but in no way least, is Autumn Chiffon™. Its habit is dwarf, its bloom is heavy, and its colors are like a painting. The blossoms are light pink with trails of dark pink arising from the throat of the funnel-shaped blossoms. We at Encore believe bi-colored selections are to be embraced and treasured, not only for their artistic attributes, but their ease at combining with other award-winning Autumn-blooming azaleas. Spring is here and no garden is complete without the incredible repeat blooming Encore® Azaleas.
