Rhodies
The first season with new plants can sometimes be a trial. Last year we bought three rhododendrons and one azalea at the end of the season when prices were better. That meant they had already flowered so we bought them based on the descriptions and the recommendations of the nurseryman. Last fall, the azalea seemed like it got burned either by heat, or by the cats and I wasn’t hopefull that it was going to make it. It still had one little bit of green on it, but by winter that had died too. I figured I’d leave it in the ground and see if anything came back after the hard frosts that we had this year. Only because my attention was on other projects did it not get ripped out earlier, and this week I thought I should finally get rid of it and as I grabbed it to yank it out I noticed that it finally had new growth. So I guess it’s like my sister, and it really likes to sleep in.
Of the three rhodies, we’ve been surprised by two of them so far. The first surprise was by one that had buds that looked like flower buds, but when they opened they were weird looking green spikes, that eventually turned into the new leaves, at which point all the old leaves immediately fell off. Still no sign of flower buds on that one.
The next one to wake up actually flowered, that’s the one in the photo. We’re still waiting for any signs of activity from the third one, which seems healthy, it’s just not doing much.