This deep pink rhododendron has been a cheerful March and April sight on the Boggy Brae. Its flowers are just beginning to open today on its sunniest side. In full bloom nine years ago it looked like this. Toadlet and her friend would swing in the hammock beneath it.
As the flowers died they would litter the ground underneath. I hate litter usually, but not this kind.
There were actually three of these bushes but three years ago two of them began to die. The rhododendron trunks looked as if they were strangling those of a holly that was growing with them but the holly is fine and getting bigger by the year. When they didn't flower and the leaves looked poorly, I pruned them and just left the trunks to be used for firewood in due course. The rhodies now have this fungus growing on them.
Today was such a nice day that after some Saturday errands I sat out with a mug of tea under a wild cherry tree near the deep pink rhodie that survives. My feet were among the bluebell shoots that grow there and all around me were the stones of wild cherries, gnawed open by mice or field voles. And the first deep pink flowers are showing.
What could be nicer than early spring sunshine on your face and signs of new growth after a dark and dreich winter?
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