I posted this picture to reveal those tired, spent Rhododendron...
Well, can you imagine that the following picture was taken just a week prior?
This was taken from the balcony. Besides the rhodies, we have climbing rose on the left, and blooming peonies on the right (behind the wall, in front of the rhodies), and you can see just a little bit of the lilac shrub on the far right behind the chair.
This was all gone by the time the girls arrived. Boohoo. (Well, the roses were - and are - still blooming.)
Check out this succession...
This was mid-March. Look at those big, pointy buds (on the right).
Then this happened the first week of April! I thought I'd never see those beautiful buds open.
But lo and behold... this is mid-May!
(Why, oh why did Mrs. Smith plant pink on the right and nearly lavendar on the left? It jangles my senses. What could have been delightful symetry is now tainted. {sigh} )
We enjoyed these phenomenal, colorful shrubs for about 10 days.
Well, I'll know what to expect next year and be prepared to relish it even more!
I have to laugh at your comment about the lavender and pink jangling the senses! In the pictures, it makes me feel like rubbing my eyes, like one of those optical illusions or something. At least (and this is coming from a girl in Zone 3) they are alive and blooming. And it's not so bad as, say, orange red on one side and lavender on the other...now THAT combo would jangle....
ReplyDeleteI've loved reading about your discoveries. Actually, when I read about exploding Rhodies, I was a little worried about Rhode Island Red chickens, after your post about wanting chickens. In fact, I didn't open it up for quite a while. I should've known better!