Tag Archives: Rhododendron

The Merry Month of May…

My yard busts out in all it’s pink glory in the Month of May. Get ready for pink overload. I’ll throw in some non-pink, too, just for some contrast.

The Rhododendron is the Washington State Flower. We have 4 mature plants in our yard. We added a new Rhoddy last year from our trip to the Rhododendron garden on Whidbey Island. When it blooms it should be yellow.

Here’s that little break from pink I was talking about. This is one of our dwarf Top Hat Blueberry bushes that can thrive in pots.

Our Rosemary bush is in full bloom. We use the fresh rosemary year round in cooking.

These pansies are still making me smile. I can see them from my kitchen window.

More proof that I have other flowers that aren’t pink in my yard and on my deck.

My Lenten Rose has gone mostly green at the end of it’s cycle.

My azaleas are full. This darker variety is in full bloom and the light pink has all budded and waiting to open up fully.

My Dogwood tree only has two blooms this season and my lilac has none. I’m wondering if I planted the lilac in a spot that is too shady…

Yes, my Dogwood tree when it blooms fully should also be a lovely blast of pink. Here’s hoping it thrives…

Hope you are thriving and enjoying Spring wherever you are and as not to forget our friends in the Southern Hemisphere you should be enjoying your Fall. Have a great weekend everyone.

Heavenly Sunlight ~ Hymn

Heavenly Sunlight

Verse 1
Walking in sunlight, all of my journey;
Over the mountains, thro’ the deep vale;
Jesus has said “I’ll never forsake thee;”
Promise divine that never can fail.

Chorus
Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight,
Flooding my soul with glory divine;
Hallelujah! I am rejoicing,
Singing His praises, Jesus is mine.

Verse 2
Shadows around me, shadows above me,
Never conceal my Saviour and Guide;
He is the light, in Him is no darkness,
Ever I’m walking, close to His side.

Verse 3
In the bright sunlight, ever rejoicing,
Pressing my way to mansions above;
Singing His praises, gladly I’m walking,
Walking in sunlight, sunlight of love.

Happy Mother’s Day to all who wear that title!

Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens

Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens was founded by Ann and Max Meerkerk in the early 1960’s. Enchanted by Whidbey Island, they began these Gardens with 13 acres.

The Meerkerks began hybridizing rhododendrons and collecting unique specimens of rhododendrons, flowering trees and conifers. They planted the first five acres, known as the “Secret Garden” as a miniature arboretum.

Before Ann passed away in 1979, she bequeathed the Gardens to the Seattle Rhododendron Society to care for as a “peaceful woodland garden with an emphasis on rhododendrons and companion plants.”

Today Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens is an independent not-for-profit organization open to the public. Fifty three acres of inspirational woodland gardens and a forest preserve offer over 5 miles of trails to breathe in the serene beauty and nature here.

We were so fortunate to be on Whidbey Island during the gardens peek blooming season. The day after the wedding we enjoyed a drive up the island to this garden and to another garden center plus some antique shops and we had some good eats, too.

Whidbey Island is a lovely getaway island in the Great Northwest. I hope you all have a chance to visit! Happy May everyone!

Around the Yard…

 

Tuesday was a busy day around my little domain. Favors given and orders picked up. Emails sent and received. My main goal for the day was to mow the lawn. After that was accomplished I started dinner. We ate dinner which is an early experience here. Now we three are sitting with our feet up and watching (for the first time) The King’s Speech. Yes, we are the last people in the world to watch The King’s Speech!  Here we sit exclaiming…it’s Darcy, it’s Elizabeth Bennett, it’s Mr. Collins! It’s a Pride and Prejudice Reunion!!

What does all this have to do with my mosaic you might ask? Well nothing except if you know me and my blog I am compelled to share at least one nice photo a day. These Azalea blooms, a rhododendron bloom, and the pears on our tree just showing themselves were the subjects that called out to my camera on a recent turn about the yard.

Hope your Wednesday is going well.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Mosaic Monday ~ Rhododendron Bushes

 

These are photos of our two large rhododendron bushes in our back yard. I think they really need to be pruned but I need to call someone over to show me how to do that without killing them off!

Coast Rhododendron
Rhododendron macrophyllum

In 1892, before they had the right to vote, Washington women selected the coast rhododendron as the state flower. They wanted an official flower to enter in a floral exhibit at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Six flowers were considered, but the final decision was narrowed to clover and the “rhodie,” and voting booths were set up for ladies throughout the state. When the ballots were counted, the rhododendron had been chosen as the Washington state flower.

For more Mosaics please visit Mary at Little Red House.

A Glorious Day in the Northwest!

 

Just had to share and to document the sunniest warmest day in the Northwest so far this year!

Might as well confess that I broke my lawnmower today, too. Not so much the whole thing but I managed to bend the blade so that it needs to be replaced. I would suggest that you do not try to mow a rock!

Tonight while I’m watching Major League Soccer my Canadian cousins will be watching the Stanley Cup Finals. I’ll check to see if the Canucks are ahead at the Sounders halftime. Go Sounders! Go Canucks!

FFF ~ June Already!

Time again for Friday’s Fave Five hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story. When you get to my age it’s good to consider and document good things before they leave your mind forever…

We spent time remembering what Memorial Day Weekend is all about. When you have a loved one serving in the military it impacts you in a more personal way for sure.

Here are my Five Favorites…

 

1. On Sunday Josh and Laura joined us for smoked ribs, barbecued corn, beans and cornbread. For dessert we enjoyed angel food cake with pudding and fruit. We had a good time together eating and then discussing a book we had read that’s causing quite a stir in the Christian community.

 

2. On Monday Memorial Day Katie and I went to Sunset Hills Memorial Park and we were happy to catch a great Memorial Day Service with bagpipes, flag ceremonies, a flyover, and a traveling museum of military memorabilia. We enjoyed this framed artwork…

 

3. Our Rhoddies are blooming brightly!

 

4. My hairdresser talked about a dish drying mat and I found them at Bed Bath and Beyond. It really works great. It absorbs a lot of water and then dries well and hangs up to be stored.

 

 

5. I was happy to get a call from the doctor’s office to tell me everything looked fine from my procedure last Friday and I won’t have to do that again for 7 years! Yippee!

Hope all is well with you and I hope y’all noticed I only mentioned food once this week. If you haven’t entered my cookbook giveaway make sure to scroll down and check it out. The contest ends 6:00 P.M. Pacific Time on Saturday.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

The Rhodora ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Rhodora

On being asked, Whence is the flower?

In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
The purple petals, fallen in the pool,
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then Beauty is its own excuse for being:
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask, I never knew:
But, in my simple ignorance, suppose
The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Walkabout…

…the yard.

Merriam Webster defines “walkabout” as a 1908 coinage that refers primarily to “a short period of wandering bush life engaged in by an Australian aborigine as an occasional interruption of regular work”

Well after being sequestered in my garage all day working on boxes, boxes, boxes, I decided a walkabout the yard to see what’s blooming was in order. For the record I emptied lots of boxes and haven’t even gotten to the dishes yet. Oye Vay!

 

Two of my rhododendron bushes are blooming. I have to get some expert advice on pruning them this year because they are growing higher then the roof…

 

The Rosemary bush is at the end of it’s bloom. When the blooms are fresh it’s fun to use sprigs of it to garnish platters. We garnished our lamb at Easter with the sprigs but I forgot to take a photo.

I don’t know what this is but I like the color of the blooms.

Two of my Azaleas are blooming profusely. The two pale pink ones are just budding.

 

My garden gnomes are being overgrown…

We had some interesting changing skies yesterday and some fun visitors to the apple tree.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Duck spent a good portion of the day resting under our tree.

I’m linking up with Sandy at The Reluctant Entertainer this week. Here’s her theme for this week…

What flowers are in your yard right now, or in your kitchen window, or on your counter tops? Do you have any dinner plans to use them as a centerpiece?

Click on the image to get to Sandy’s to join in the fun. Today is Cinco de Mayo and I’m still working on those boxes so Dear is taking me out for some good Mexican food tonight. I won’t be setting a table till this weekend or bringing fresh flowers in till then. I’ll just have to take another walkabout to enjoy the blooms outside!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ Family, Flowers, FDA, Funnies…

Time once again to consider the past week and choose 5 favorites. Visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in or see more Faves…

Here are my favorites and it was hard to narrow it down because of everything that happened last weekend…

 

1. Spending time with my family in Southern California. We packed so much into 2 days. Brunch at my mom and pops, Descanso Gardens with my sister and her family, Dinner at Tam O Shanter with the same crowd, rendezvous with my nieces and daughter at the hotel. That was Saturday! Sunday we met at Golden Skewer in Montebello for a wonderful Armenian lunch together.

 

2. Having my daughter Katie with me in Southern California for 2 days so she could spend time with her grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. She also got to meet little Avery for the first time.

3. Enjoying the Rhododendrons blooming in my yard and other blooms that are a mystery to me.

 

4. Hearing the announcement and the cheers and happiness over Dendreon’s drug Provenge being approved by the FDA. It’s a cellular immunotherapy for men with advanced Prostate Cancer. It uses their own immune system to fight the disease. This is the company Dear is working for here in Seattle. This approval means he will still have a job on Monday. :0)

5. This next photo is something that made me laugh. We saw these signs on every tree on a street in Whittier, California this past weekend

 

Makes me wonder if the city got sued for sap dripping on cars or what???

My morning will be very busy because the moving van with all our stuff from the condo is arriving Friday morning bright and early. Here’s what I’ll probably be saying…no put that over there, those go in the basement, that goes upstairs, put that in the kitchen please, that needs to go in the garage…the joys of having more crap stuff then you need!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone…

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.