Rhododendrons

[bucolic_frolic]

[applegrove]

1. Bug magnets but beautiful.

[WheelWalker]

2. Bug magnets? Not my experience. Deer proof and attract bumble bees.

I have more than a hundred mature rhododendron. Never had a 'bug problem' on a single one that I can remember in over 50 years. Some people might have a different experience. Even in these drought-stressed times, bugs haven't so much as shown on radar.

[applegrove]

4. I meant bees. I was a flower sniffer as a kid. My mom labelled the antihistamine

"Xxxxx's Wasp Medicine" with my name on the label. Babysitters were warned of the routine. I never learned. I would find bees and get stung. There were lots of gorgeous, fancy gardens in my early childhood and lots of bee stings. I ended up allergic. Your photo so reminds me of those gardens. Beautiful.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Glorious photos of a wonderful flower! Thank you, my dear bucolic_frolic. ♥

[gademocrat7]

5. Beautiful Rhododendrons

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Thank you all for the kind words

This rhododendron's flowers are a deeper color than its other 2 siblings. Its green is deeper too, even though it spends 1/3 of the day in the shade. Also the deer eat the living daylights out of the other two, but not so much this one, which is tucked under the north side of a Norway spruce.

[BobTheSubgenius]

7. I love Rhodos!

There is a Rhodo garden in a park near here, and I had no idea, before seeing that park, just how many varieties there are, and how different from each other they can be!

[George McGovern]

8. NICE!!!

[benfranklin1776]

9. Nice!

Very pleasantly appealing photogenic heralds of early summer!

[Bo Zarts]

10. On the Blue Ridge Escarpment ..

Mountain Laurel are in crazy bloom. Rhododendron blooms later.