Azalea Lane draws visitors away from the Estate House, toward the perennial gardens planted within the ruins of an old bank barn. The azalea collection represents a period of intense cultivation by Everett and Grace Rodebaugh in the 1940s and 1950s, and is a legacy of one of the great booms in American azalea breeding – in particular, that of the mid-Atlantic region. Many of the plants are one-of-a-kind, donated by award-winning plant breeder Lloyd Partain 
when he retired to the area in 1972.
Ongoing development of the collection emphasizes the Glenn Dale and Robin Hill azalea cultivars, introduced by Benjamin Y. Morrison and Robert D. Gartrell, respectively, as well as cultivars of native azaleas and Exbury hybrids.
Visualize a healthy woodland, with its canopy of tall trees, understory of woody shrubs and flowering trees, and smaller herbaceous plants on the forest floor. Now look closely at Azalea Lane: the layering effect here is accomplished by weaving a tapestry of perennial groundcovers among the stems of shrubs and taller trees. These layers create shelter for a variety of wildlife, and beautifully illustrate the transition from the Estate House’s formal gardens to the naturalistic areas of the Lower Arboretum.