The first of my rhododendrons has come into bloom. A lovely sunny weekend in my part of Scotland so I got lots of gardening done. Unfortunately rain is forecast later in the week. Fortunately I’m off to Spain for a fortnight soon!
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Hi Gunhild @Gunhild
Thank you very much 
and
Finally had 2 short but satisfying sessions over 2 days…
No, I don’t feel anything on my fingers… apparently a deep, good base… 
and not too long the first few times 20/30 mminutes I guess
pfff, it almost made me grumpy, luckily my wife was free last week and it was such a fantastic spring week, the ladybugs in the garden and here certainly helped too
Hi Gordon @sairfingers 
… My goodness ,You use your house for washing cloths and a grass treatment…and of course without a “permanent” home there was no holiday 
I’ll say it again “you live the good life”
You let me take a look because I was not aware of this early blooming species, all types of rhododendrons in my meadow area come a lot later while the weather is much better here (although most of them originally come from far away altitudes)… This one will be on the list for next year to bloom here as a “spring flower bulb”… 
Have fun in anticipation of your trip to Spain
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I’m not 100% sure Rogier as the plant was in the garden when we bought the house but I think it might be ‘Percy Wiseman’.
Unfortunately if we get a late frost the blooms will fade and some have already.
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That’s not the name I came up with given the much earlier flowering time you have and that associated with that description by that name … ( may/june ) (which is so often wrong of course so often 
)…
but that name does give a great shrub that doesn’t have to be maintained… so that’s a win win win now and I have several places for it…
Early flowering Rhododendron ‘Praecox’ - February /March I was guessing…but wow there are a lot of them
Anyway, this year we finally go buying our first rhododendron… .shame on us … 
There is another one called ’Christmas Cheer’. It could be that.
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That was the other one I was looking for
Greetings
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At least a few things don’t change over the years 
. I know it’s spring time, when your log changes into a gardener’s forum again 
!
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That’s what I thought too 
Essentially, Rogier is the Tom Bombadil of the forum.
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O my ,you make me laugh so hard Andrea
And Withold @witkatz I had to look it up …unfortunately I never started those stories, but I often hear and read shorts about that …it made me laugh…I thought it was a Gertrude Jekyll or some guerrilla gardeners
Greetings from a rainy and windy in the Netherlands 
… luckily I’m about to start with the Purple Rain in an hour to kill some time
every day there are new blooming flowers and creatures to see on this side of the world… enjoy and continue to watch in wonder where you are
there are also some chickens from the past (the Stone Age
)
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Thank you for the beautiful garden pictures once again. Your love of nature and your positivity reminded me of this beautiful character from Tolkien’s story, who lives in harmony with the world, is so helpful and brings so much humor and fairy-tale magic (music is a kind of magic, isn’t it).
That sounds like a beautiful recording, let us hear your version soon.
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Ohhh, how lovely 
This picture just made my day. Here in Germany it is quite cold, windy and rainy today. These cute ladybirds relaxing in the sun instantly put a huge smile on my face 
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Hi Withold @witkatz
Thank you and I say that with deeply red cheeks… 
… very nicely said and nice that I can bring some positive and some “magic” in in any way, and for purple rain it would be handy and by far the fastest way to have my left little finger surgically lengthened for the intro …Ooo how beautiful that is first part , it’s stuck in my head all the time during every quiet moment ( But a live version of Prince )…it was a busy, and not so a “silent night”
How great to read Gunhild @Gunhild
And now I’m typing this again with the almost biggest possible smile on my face… it should radiate through the screen
Greetings and I wish everybody a great ,sunny and playfull day 
… and good luck with the ( proverbial) clouds for some of you
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Thought you might like this photo Rogier. Apparently it’s called a bird of paradise flower. Growing near our apartment in Puerto Banus.
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And in my garden. We call it a Strelitzia
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And in my living room (wel, in another 8 months or so). We call it both Strelitzia and “bird of paradise flower”.
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Nice! That’s my husband’s favourite flower!
Same here. 
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Hi Gordon,
She is beautiful and brings back wonderful memories because I always saw this in “my” village in Italy in the gardens of the better hotels and spas and it was funny what David @DavidP says and than Else @LadyOfTheCastle and confirmed by Lisa @Lisa_S … that’s pretty much what happened at breakfast here after only see the pic before reading … 
I : hey look this pic from Gordon …
H : Nice Strelitzia my sister’s wedding flower and she later had a plant in the house indoors, of course, but she didn’t like it without flowers so she got rid of it…
I : huh what strzlietziatella …Ooo that Paradijsbloem … yes I remember that name
H: No Paradijs…vogel… ( bird)… bloem
Then started reading and I said laughing,
"Oh yes, of course Davisd has that in the garden…it makes me a bit jealous , Can he look at that and calm down if we give him too much work with our typing on the edge or over it? "
Now quietly thinking back to the summer holidays while the hail comes down
Thanks Gordon
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