The rhododendrons are blooming in the yard. A native of these mountains, they require no maintenance, grow taller every year, are green year-round, and bloom right on schedule every June.
The moral of the story is just enjoy what grows naturally here in the forest. I wish I could accept that, but every year I try to plant flowers, with mostly no luck at all.
A couple of years ago, it was the deer eating the hostas. Then this spring the rabbits appeared and mowed down the tender hosta shoots as soon as they emerged from the ground. This really bummed me out, and prompted me to say, "I give up!" But daughter Melissa got me some Rabbit-be-gone spray, so I decided to give it another shot.
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On Friday, I was cleaning the weeds out of my flower beds in anticipation of going on Saturday to the local hosta farm and possibly to Lowe's to bring home some plants. As I reached down to pull up a little oak tree that had sprung up from a fallen acorn, I noticed the brown pine bark had a rather uniform pattern -eeekkk sssnake!
After I ran into the house, hyperventilating, and swearing not to set foot into the yard again, Buddy went outside to check it out. He confirmed it was a copperhead, and he promptly turned it from a bad snake into a good snake.
Once again my gardening energy was dashed, the empty flower beds look just fine as they are. It is hard enough to get anything to grow anyway with all the shade, but now with all the critters taking over, I give up (once again)! Sometimes I feel like I am living in a jungle! Just one more sign that the forest is taking over!
I will just stick to flower boxes on the deck, and enjoy the annual mountain laurel and rhododendrons.
"I have a rock garden. Last week three of them died." ~Richard Diran
