Who will bail out Washington’s azaleas?

The United States National Arboretum (USNA), located in northeast D.C., has one of the most breathtaking collections of azaleas in the world, strewn about a moderately-sized hill dubbed Mount Hamilton. But if you’ve never seen the display, you might want to make a point of checking it out next April and May — the leadership of the Arboretum has admitted that, despite the flowers’ popularity, it will likely not be able to maintain Azelea Hill due to a shortage of funding.

The proposed action to remove the plants, tentatively scheduled to take place next summer, is as ugly sounding as the blooms are colorful — the azalea trees would be chopped down and coated with herbicides. Obviously, plant advocates are none too pleased about the proposal. Don Hyatt, blogging at WashingtonGardener, was particularly irked after several email conversations he reports having with USNA Garden Unit Leader Scott Aker. Among fiscal reasons (which Hyatt attempts to debunk), Aker reportedly said that the main reasons that the azaleas would be removed was that they are too popular — and that the Arboretum is “unable to accommodate the crowds of visitors in April and May…We have inadequate parking and restroom facilities.” The in-bloom azaleas attract about 100,000 people every spring.