My flower bed brings a smile this early May day.
If I’ve remembered right, this is year four for my azalea. Okay, I’ll admit it. This is my second attempt. The first one, a lovely plant received for Mother’s Day several years ago teased me. Received in bloom I followed the directions poked into the package and waited. All summer and early fall the plant kept nice green leaves.
When fall came I heaped pine needles around and over it, to protect it for the worst of the Midwest winter. I think I killed it with kindness. The next spring, weeks after I pulled off the mound of pine needles and leaves, one lone green leaf teased me that perhaps the roots had survived. But it was not to be.
My second attempt came from a local nursery. I’ve been scanter with the protective mulch in the fall now. And my reward arrives in the early days of May!
