(click all pics to enlarge)
Rhododendrons………”Rhodies” to landscapers and gardeners who deal with multitudes of them in the Pacific Northwest, are pretty much my favorite flower. Recently, I took a spin just in my local neighborhood on a rhodie photo shoot. The pictures posted here reflect what this half block experience gave. Everyone has them and we all revel in their uncommon profuseness and general beauty. As common as they may be here in the Northwest, they simply have very few peers in terms of their absolutely gorgeous look.
Their other amazing quality is that they almost all bloom at generally the same time. This is an insanely small sample, actually, but I think it well reflects my point about their beauty and, if you believe me when I say all these pictures were taken in a half block area, it also testifies to their numbers in the Northwest.
Rhodedendrons have certainly come a long way. From their origins as one-color native plants in England and America, their hybridization from their Tibetan cousins and further weird genetic work from aficionado’s the world over have now resulted in a plant of absolutely uncommon floral beauty. I love me some rhodies!