When we bought our home it was fall, so the three rhododendrons were not in bloom. My first impression was that they were so big and so oppressive, looming over the space off the deck out back, that I thought I’d take them out.
And then they bloomed the following May.
Insane!
I’d grown little azalea bushes back at the condo, but the biggest of these covered an area more than 20 feet by 20 feet, and as tall as the house! The other two were the same height but didn’t have the balanced shape to maintain their bulk because they had been planted beneath a pair of massive hemlock trees and they were reaching for light towards the fringe.
After the hemlocks were removed, the one to the outside of the three was overloaded with snow and fell. I pruned the other thin one back hard, and took a lot off the biggest one to bring it up to a point where we could at least walk under it.
And every year it puts on a show that is spectacular. These multi-flowered balls of lilac shine at night, like an infrared photo. During the days they buzz with bees. It’s hard to call it a bush.
I look at it now and can’t believe that I considered removing it a decade ago!
