Rhodos galore

Rhodo Dave will be disappointed, possibly even dismayed, to discover I’ve only just given the rhododendrons the feeding he reminded me to give them last month. But, you know, what can I say – March malaise. Hope it’s not too late. (I’m sure he’ll let me know.)

These are the original two, planted at the back of the house after I learnt that deer don’t eat rhodos. The one on the right has deep pink flowers. For the past few years I’ve been lucky to see one or two. This year there are going to be nearly twenty!

I can’t even remember what the colour of the flower is on the one on the left because I can’t remember the last time it flowered. I do remember it flowered later than the one on the right and I’m hoping these might be flower buds, but time will tell.

A few years ago Rhodo Dave picked up a couple of plants for me when he went to the specialty nursery on Vancouver Island. One, as requested, was purple and was planted at the front of the house. It’s always produced some flowers, but this year it’s going to have sixteen.

For the second rhodo I asked Dave to find one known for its lovely scent. He assured me the one he bought does. Unfortunately I cannot attest to this as it’s never flowered. Nor can I remember what colour the flowers are supposed to be, but I’m going to find out this year, because there are at least a dozen flower buds.

After feeding the rhodos, it was time to go to the garden to use the same food on the lilacs (which I’ve been doing, with limited success, for a while now). Ran out of food after the first two. Oh, well, at least the largest has plenty of flowers already.

It seems it’s not just me who’s going to be lucky with flowers. Unlike my poor butterfly bush, which was nearly killed by it, rhodos must have like last summer’s heat dome. (God, I hope I get my heat pump before the next one.)

Speaking of which, there does seem to be a fair bit of new growth, although it is greatly diminished in size. Hopefully it will still flower for the butterflies.

Oh, and here’s something I didn’t know: Hydrangeas lose their leaves in the autumn. Had me worried for a while, but it’s bouncing back nicely.