The Beautiful Rhododendron! Washington’s State Flower

27 Comments on “The Beautiful Rhododendron! Washington’s State Flower”

1. How beautiful, Susanne! Now I know you are in Washington! Within the next year, I may be your neighbor as we are closing on some property in Spokane. My new state flower 🙂

   • Oh wow! Welcome to Washington! 🙂

     • I will blog about it all when we get some final details. The property is in Nine Mile Falls along the Spokane River. In what area do you live?

     • I was born and raised in Seattle and now live just south of Seattle in Renton. Spokane and Seattle are very different in many ways; I’ve only been there a few times since it’s a five hour drive across the state. It’s a charming and much slower paced town compared to Seattle. I really enjoyed our last visit there a couple years ago and can see why people are moving there.

     • I have quite a few relatives that live near Seattle, so a trip there is imminent once we get moved and settled. Such a beautiful area. We are excited to be closer to two sets of families, all who had moved from Southern California at one point. Plus it reminds of of Lake Tahoe without all the tourists 😁

     • You will love Washington! So much natural beauty in the mountains, water and forest and most of the tourists are on the west side. And it’s wonderful that you’ll be closer to family. 🙂

   • The climate in Spokane looks ideal. Much drier than in Beetley. 🙂

     • Yes, and with more distinct seasons. But colder and more snow in the winter. There are always tradeoffs. 😉

2. Lovely blooms, Susanne. We struggle to grow those in this area, as the soil is the wrong kind for them.
   Best wishes, Pete.

   • Thanks Pete. They are everywhere here, so much so that I really do take them for granted. But they are so beautiful. 🙂

3. Wow! Beautiful – rhododendrons are a favorite of mine.

   • Thanks so much! They truly are beautiful but they are so abundant here I tend to take them for granted. 🙂

4. They are gorgeous.

   • Thank you! I love them too! 🙂

5. Lovely photos. I used to live in Port Townsend, which held an annual Rhododendron Festival with a parade and other assorted activities. Rhodies are such a colorful, showy flower, especially against a backdrop of evergreens as is often the way.

   • Thank you. I love Pt. Townsend but somehow have never made it to the Rhododendron Festival. I’ll have to add that to my list.

6. Hard to spell, you are so right there, Susanne! In Ireland, Rhododendrons start to bloom around mid-April and I can’t wait to see colour bursts around every corner. Thanks for sharing and have a lovely day 😀 Aiva

   • Thanks so much for your comment! I imagine Ireland is beautiful!! And every single time I wrote the word in this post I spelled it wrong the first time! 😆

7. Beautiful photos Sue! I have never really paid much attention to rhododendrons, other than having seen the name before. So I didn’t even know what they looked like or that they came in different colors. I don’t think they grow in Fresno🤔

   • I’m so glad you enjoyed them. 🙂They are so common here that’s it’s easy to stop seeing how beautiful they really are!

     • I have two camellia bushes (had to look it up to know how to spell!) that bloom during the winter. They seem to take very little care, and have been there for over 30 years. They don’t seem to require a lot of water, which is a good think where I live😋

     • I love camellias too! They also do well here.

8. My biggest surprise was years ago hiking into the woods near Mt. Hood and seeing the wild rhodies. Here the neighbor has a large old one, but in general they aren’t very common.

   • I love seeing them in the wild and remember counting them on our way to Hood Canal. They were so plentiful we could see them in the woods from the car.

9. Terrific photos!

   • Thanks John! 🙂

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