Heads up for anyone in the US who ordered the Azalea seeds on Vine. They are illegal and prohibited from being imported to the US from anywhere,as they are considered an invasive species that can wipe out the good types of azaleas.
I was concerned when the seeds arrived in a small plain white zip envelope with a silver liner,with the seeds in a glassine envelope with no markings. No company name,no planting instructions,no use by date for planting, no info at all,except in the actual ad on Amazon.There is a bar code sticker from the warehouse on the white envelope.I did a search on the name of the seeds,Rhododendron Simsii Seeds, and found that they are prohibited.
I contacted the USDA and they asked me to put the seeds in a plastic bag and freeze them,and to contact the USDA in our state to give the seeds to,you can find your state here. Do not plant the seeds. The instructions on the USDA site asks to keep the packaging,the receipt,and more info. I already threw out the packaging except for the two bags the seeds came in. Amazon isn't the seller,the seller is The Carpet Creeping Store. Lesson learned for me,never order seeds from an unknown seller. I'm sticking with the name brands I know that are US owned and Operated. I did notify Amazon about these seeds,but they are still listed for sale. Vine CS said they would remove the order from my order list, and remove the tax amount,but it is still in my orders.
It is critical that our US agriculture rules are followed; our farmers and growers are facing enough hardships already, and they don't need their products destroyed by invasive species.