Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Saturday, April 19, 2008
The Woods Awaken: Native Azaleas
Except for the tree pollen, I love this time of year in the woods. The shrubs start to leaf out, then the trees take on a green haze and the light becomes diffuse but still bright. Last year, I almost missed the native azaleas while looking for spring ephemerals on the forest floor. This year, I've been watching them for 2 months and now they've begun to bloom.
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| Native azalea (Rhododendron periclymenoides) |
I believe all the ones I've found are members of the same species (Rhododendron periclymenoides), but the flowers show some color variation. I just found this key, and I'm going to go double check my conclusion after I publish this. Why not before? Good question, but I'll update the post if I got it wrong the first time.
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| Native azalea |
The dogwood flowers are all unfolded now. They have a lot more flowers when they're in the sun, but I like them best in a lacy swath through the woods.
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| Dogwood (Cornus florida) |
Some of the moss is "flowering" too.
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| Moss, unknown species |
The leaf buds are as varied and interesting as flowers, and I recently learned a bit of folk wisdom about the Beech tree. It's said that when the Beech trees finally drop last year's leaves and begin to open the new ones, there will be no more frost. Looks like we're not quite there yet.
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| Leaf buds of American Beech (Fagus grandiflora) |
Labels: azaleas, beech, dogwood, wildflowers
11 Comments:
A very enjoyable walk in the woods with you. The native azaleas are bred into the big exburys that are my most favorite flowers in the world. Ours are blooming now also, and are so fragrant it takes your breath away. Thanks for showing us the names, something I don't know anything about.
Frances: I wish our wild azaleas were fragrant. As I recall from last year, the lack of scent was one of the things that made me think ours were R. periclymenoides. I still haven't gone out to double-check against the key I found, however. I'm coming right over to see your azaleas!
It's amazing how graceful these native azaleas are... when so many of the cultivated "new" types are blowsy, brazen hussies. I like the natives so much better.
And that picture of the moss flowering is gorgeous--great photography there.
Blackswamp Girl: Well....I have the other kind of azaleas too, but I definitely agree with you about the elegance of the native ones. The hybrid flower-factory azaleas lost a lot of their charm while gaining flowers.
I just happened upon that patch of moss with the sunlight shining on it and thought it would make a good picture.
Thanks for the pics of the native azaleas as I hadn't seen those before. Such delicate flowers, very pretty! I love your eye for detail, nothing escapes you, does it? Not even the flowering moss. :-)
I have never heard of the native azaleas before! They are so beautiful!! Are they growing wild?
Yolanda: I feel so fortunate to be surrounded by woodland. So many interesting plants, and none of them planned or planted by any human gardener.
Bek: Yes, the native azaleas are growing wild near our house in central Virginia. I used to see them also in northern Virginia along the Fairfax County Parkway, but that was a long time ago and I don't know if they're still there.
I just noticed the fagus I passed by today had tiny green leaves. Your photos of the azaleas and dogwood are just stunning. I do alright with individual flowers but shrubs and trees are a bit difficult. I guess I don't have unobstructed open space like you do so cars, pavement, houses intrude. You must have a wonderful lens to blur the background even in long shots.
Last year we had a lot of moss blooming but I practically see none this year. Strange.
Ki: That's one of the reasons I don't publish many wide-angle photos of our northern Virginia garden - every time I try to capture even the best features I end up with suburban ugliness in the background. It's soooo much easier in the country. The dogwood and azaleas are both fairly deep into the woods. The trouble with that sometimes is that it's hard to find a good angle for the light with a clear space in front of me at the same time.
The beech leaves in northern Virginia are open now - I'd like to keep records to see if that bit of folk wisdom holds true.
Maybe the moss is an alternate year thing? I don't know much about moss, except to admire it.
Oops ... your link sent me off reading about native Azaleas. The flowers are so different from the few hardy Azaleas that survive here that I wanted to find out more about them.
I wish the dogwoods I know had blooms like the one in this photograph. The photograph looks amazing.
I wonder if we have native azaleas here? I've never seen anything like that in our woods. Beautiful!
I've got a similar photo of the moss. Isn't it just the most exquisitely teeny tiny growth going on?
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