{"id":13294,"date":"2020-05-21T07:19:28","date_gmt":"2020-05-21T11:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/psnp.info\/p4td_\/?p=13294"},"modified":"2020-05-21T07:20:11","modified_gmt":"2020-05-21T11:20:11","slug":"rhodora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psnp.info\/p4td_\/?p=13294","title":{"rendered":"Rhodora"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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There is a poem that goes with this. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first Rhodora of the season
most often blooms in a roadside
ditch along Rt. 9, between the
ponds on the right, south of Brown
Street and north of the marsh
at Branch Brook and the Wells
Town Line. It is about the most
prosaic place you could hope
to find the particular pinkish 
purple of the herald of May in 
the wet woods of Maine (one of 
only two native Rhododendrons in 
the state) but for those of us, 
like me, who are eager for the 
flowering season, early Rhodora is 
welcome where and however found.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
I was gliding along on my eBike, headed somewhere else, when the Rhodora in the ditch unexpectedly caught my eye. I have seen it there before. Rhodora is, as the poem says, one of only two native Rhododendrons (or Azaleas) in Maine, and it is the only Rhododendron that has separated petals, as opposed to trumpet shaped blooms with the petals fused at the bottoms. The other, Clammy Azalea, one is much more rare, found only in deep swamps and isolated areas of the state. I know of some large patches of Rhodora in a few places I can get to even during the shut-down, but they will not bloom for a week or more, if past seasons are any indication. They always bloom first in the warm corridor along the road. Sony Rx10iv at 87mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications, which I also use for macro. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. I like the way the out of focus flowers in the background frame the focused flowers in the foreground. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
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