Flowers for the flustered

I needed a flower today… so here you have them.

These are images of the beautiful splendor that is the native Pacific Coastal Rhododendron in bloom. Blooming for wild rhodies in the Pacific Northwest typically occurs in May. Rhodies in the forest interior will take their own sweet time, however.

It was mid-winter when I was conducting my study of the rhododendron we’ve been talking about. Consequently, the pictures here are of another rhododendron… one with its own story.

One day, I was wandering the backyard when I came across a chunk of rotting wood about a foot long with a bend in it like my elbow. Springing from this wood was a tiny rhododendron seedling. Excitedly, I scraped back the earth with one hand while cradling the wood with the other right next to the fencing you see in the pictures. I placed the wood in the earth with the rhodie seedling sticking up, and left it to go about its business.

The rhododendron happily sprang forth, and the pictures you see here are taken in its second year when it bloomed for the first time. Talk about a healthy first bloom! Incidentally, these are the images I used as templates for my sketches of the rhododendron on my design for the Washington State Quarter.

Be sure to click on these pictures for maximum enjoyment. Better yet, come visit Kitsap County in late May – you won’t be disappointed!

trees
forests
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Seabeck
rhododendron
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