FORSYTHIA, LILACS, RHODODENDRON WITH BEE

There’s a sequence of blossoming shrubs around our neighborhood that goes all too quickly – the forsythia, lilacs, rhododendron, azaleas. I’ve come to have wonderful memories to go with each. For instance, I saw my first rhododendron as a 12-year-old Boy Scout backpacking on the Appalachian Trail. We came upon the marvelous expanse of the shrubs in full bloom atop mile-high Roan High Knob on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee after a difficult week of hiking. The experience was truly heavenly.