Pacific Northwest Gardening: Laurie's Garden Tour 2, 1 by

wrote:
Laurie, I am completely envious of your owls! I do love owls! We have a pair of great horned owls in the neighborhood and we hear them at nesting season. Come to think of it, I should be hearing them about now! I put an owl box in the wooded area, but no one has been interested yet. But I love knowing they are there. Now about the bats, we have lots of bats. They swoop in and out of the yard catching insects, so they live around here. They roost in the fir trees. We have seen them leaving one fir tree in particular at dusk, just across the street. They just have not roosted yet in my bat box. When we were in Australia we saw the biggest bats I can even imagine. They were called flying foxes and were absolutely huge! Probably had a wingspan of 2-3 feet. I'm talking HUGE! We saw them swooping out of a park in Sydney right at dusk and I almost wrecked the car trying to get a look at them. Then we went to a restaurant and at the top of a building next to us there was a large light. You could see them circling and swooping in the light, catching insects. I asked the waitress what they were and she told me they were seagulls!! LOL!! I think she must have thought if I knew they were bats I would scream or something. Silly woman.

James, you showed me yours, so here is mine! I am a fan of buttery yellow rhodies. We have an 'island' of them in my yard. Looks like your house and mine were built in about the same era so I'll bet some of your rhododendrons are about the same age as mine. We should get them together for play dates! LOL! This isn't a great shot of these rhodies. They are a real presence in the yard in the spring. There are 4 of them together and they are about 10 feet high. I live down the street from Lakewold Gardens and they have a beautiful rhododendron collection and beautiful shade/woodland gardens. They have a tangerine colored one that is simply stunning. I am working on moving more of mine into the wooded area and also getting more species rhodies.

Laurie, it's too bad you don't like them, but, of course, you have excellent talent in the garden so I can only think you are making the correct decision in getting rid of the rhodies. I will say a prayer for them as you rip them heartlessly out of the ground! Also, yours and Jame's expressing your true feelings about forsythia gives me courage to consider taking mine out. I discovered this shrub struggling to survive being overgrown by ivy, blackberries, etc when we moved into this house. I have nursed it along and it is a splendid specimen now, but to what avail I ask you?? A brief show in the spring and then nothing more. I'm considering calling it good and putting in something more interesting. You give me courage.

James, if and when you decide to find homes for some of your rhodies, I may be able to help if you need homes. My sister is on 5 acres in Gig Harbor, some of it old growth forest. She is looking for large rhododendrons to place at the edges of her woods. I'm donating some, which gives me the freedom to take out the ones I've been struggling with, now that I know they will have a good home.