Rhododendron faithiae progression

Last week, after returning from eastern Washington, I had little energy for anything but making periodic forays outside to move a soaker hose here and a sprinkler there. This heat is sapping me of the will to do much of anything. Even sitting in air-conditioned comfort, I can't help but think of how hot it is outside, how I finish one round of watering only to begin again where I started, and how certain plants (like the heaths and heathers I transplanted this spring) look like they won't make it through summer. I find it all rather depressing. However, the prospect of autumn gives me hope and, since it's already July, the fall planting season will be here before I know it. In the meantime, I am sporadically planning for fall and reminiscing about the wonderful spring we had, though it was short-lived.

One of the plants I photographed frequently, if not regularly, this spring, was Rhododendron faithiae. Last year I was smitten with the new growth, and even got an encore when it decided to put on another round of new growth. An encore may or may not happen this year, but I did form a collection of images following the progression of the new growth this year. It's not the smooth, regular progression I meant to show, but it'll do.

The first photo was taken around April 13th and the last one around June 3rd.

I did some hand-modeling in some of these shots for scale.

Eruption! The leaves finally burst from the bud scales.

At its best and deepest color.

The expanding leaves start lightening towards copper-pink.

 I was hoping at this point that the midveins would brighten a bit like they did last year, but I think the early warmth reduced the colors that would have otherwise shown and shortened the lifespan of those that did.

The new growth has since matured to green. I have several little plants with big leaves like this one that make me laugh. Like a puppy that's all feet and ears, these plants are all big floppy leaves. One burst of growth doubles the size of the entire plant. My three Magnolia 'Silk Road' x insignis are finally tall enough that not all of their big leaves brush the ground. Rhododendron rex was the last rhododendron to push new growth. I'm trying to make a collection of shots for it like I did with R. faithiae, but I've been rather lax. We'll see how it turns out.

One benefit of this heat was that it's been much quieter this past week than it normally is. Usually, fireworks and bottle rockets start a few days before the 4th. This year, silence held until darkness fell on the night of the 4th, and even then it was rather tame compared to past years (what I could hear of it through the windows that stayed closed because it was too hot to open them and switch off the A/C). Maybe I'm being an unpatriotic curmudgeon, but I enjoyed the quiet.