Day 133 - The Color Purple

"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple
in a field somewhere and don't notice it."
Alice Walker

In spite of the wind and rain we've been having, our newly blooming rhododendron was just begging to kick off this week's purple theme.

Day 21 - Brrrrrr

"Many rhododendron species protect themselves by turning their leaves downward and rolling them parallel to the midvein when it is extremely cold. This protects them by decreasing the area exposed to the sun, which keeps the leaves from warming up and losing water." (Pamela S. Mercure, Univ. of CT)

Even the front yard rhododendron have hunkered down and snuggled together to stay warm in the bitter cold we're having. Taking a teeny-tiny clue from nature, I didn't even attempt to stick my nose out the door today... wellll, except for sticking it out the window to take the pictures!

Day #131 - Still more blooms...

(without flash)

(with flash)

Our rhododendron are all suffering from some kind of leaf damage this year, probably due to the irregular weather, but they're still presenting us with some beautiful flowers. Still waiting on two others to show their stuff, but this second one has burst into bloom in the last few days.

(If you enlarge the photos, the stamens look like they're painted with gold paint! Isn't that wild?)

Day #128 - Beauty in bloom...

At the risk of y'all getting sick to death of my flower/yard photos, I just couldn't resist our first rhododendron bloom of the season. And this is from a bush I thought was dying years ago. It's all scraggly and spindly and only gets a few blooms a year, but the flower is so unique and pretty I just hate to dig it up.