Determining flower color by looking at the foliage – satsuki azalea

I sometimes come across satsuki azaleas of unknown varieties. Although it’s nice to know what the flowers will look like, it can be fun to wait and see what colors show up in spring when the tree blooms.

Young satsuki azalea

In the meantime, I can make rudimentary assumptions about the flowers based on the foliage. Green leaves typically indicate white or pale pink flowers while red leaves indicate pink or red flowers. Striped or spotted leaves indicate striped or spotted flower petals.

Red and green striped foliage

Sometimes different parts of the same tree will produce different color flowers. I expect the azalea below to have darker flowers toward the apex and on the right side. I expect lighter colored flowers on the lower branches.

Young satsuki with red and green foliage

Green leaves

Red leaves

I’ll wait until the flowers open before making a guess about the variety, but with so many varieties to choose from, I don’t have any expectations about whether or not I can identify the flowers.