Spring flowers: Rhody in Bloom

Photo by Jan Hansen

We have temperatures below freezing and the threat of snow, (see WeatherWatcher) but the flowers are still blooming.

There are rhododendrons all over my neighborhood and probably all over Shoreline. I suspect there is an shadow HOA that requires at least one rhody in every yard.

I've been surprised and interested to see the rhodies on the west side of Shoreline bloom one to two weeks before mine in central Shoreline. I surmise that it's the amount of sunlight in clearcut Richmond Beach and Innis Arden.

With that theory, deeply wooded Lake Forest Park wouldn't see a bloom for weeks!

--Diane Hettrick