Category: Bloedel Reserve

It’s probably not a native Rhododendron, but this Rhododendron at Bloedel sprang forth.

At the very least, it must be Spring somewhere so it can’t be far behind here.

If you’ve been working steadily in your backyard for nearly three months and decide you need a break, what do you do? If you’re Leslie and Loren you return to Bloedel Reserve to see what’s in bloom. We were surprised to see for more visitors than we’ve ever seen before even though the gardens didn’t seem quite as beautiful as it is in other seasons.

Which is not to say that it wasn’t a delightful respite from moving cement blocks and laying cement tiles in our backyard. Huge hydrangea took center stage on this visit; this one was a personal favorite.

Small purple flowers along the trail contrasted with the dazzling hydrangea.

With so few plants in bloom, even this simple white flower attracted attention.

If this was an azalea,

it stood out not only because of its brilliant orange color but because it was also the last one in bloom.

When Friday was predicted to be rain free, Leslie suggested that we finally return to The Bloedel Reserve since they told us there would be more flowers shortly. They weren’t wrong. There were early native flowers, like these Red Currants

and fields full of magnificent Skunk Cabbage.

Of course, there were also a lot of non-native flowers blooming, particularly camellias like this is pink beauty.

There was also some of the earliest Rhododendrons I’ve seen, like these beautiful white ones.

Of course, it would be Bloedel Reserve if we didn’t see flowers we’ve never seen before like this exotic specimen.

There weren’t a lot of birds, but most of them seem accustomed to seeing people and were more than willing to have their photo taken.

As temperatures approached the 60’s it was impossible to deny that there was a lot more Spring in my step than there has been for nearly a month.

It’s been a strange winter here in the Puget Sound area. The mountains have lots of snow, but we’ve only had light snow here in Tacoma. On a particularly sunny day last week we decided to return to The Bloedel Reserve to see what was happening.

Judging from the number of flowers we saw, Spring is about to happen, even though they were shut down for snow a few days before. We had barely begun our walk when we encountered these white flowers blooming.

A few yards further along we saw two young deer nibbling on the flowers.

Although I brought my birding lens because I’d seen so many birds on my last visit, all I saw this trip was this male Bufflehead and two females.

Mostly, though, we saw flowers that I half-recognize but can’t quite remember their name.

I promise that in my next lifetime I will memorize the names of plants and flowers. Until then, I’m stuck just admiring their beauty wherever I find them.

It’s not surprising that I don’t know the name of this flower because I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.

We see this flower often enough that Leslie actually told me its name, but since I’ve resigned myself to not knowing flowers’ names I’ve managed to forget it already.

Luckily I’m a firm believer in Shakespeare’s “A rose by any other name would still be a rose.”