Tuesday 801

I did not post on Monday, and if I don't post today, then I run the very good risk of not making my bold goal of 1000 posts by December 31.  So even though this is late today, I am posting. 

Azalea

Delicate vessels,

Lavender blossoms afloat,

Buoyed by green capped waves.

Our "discarded and ignored" azalea bush in the backyard, is blossoming again...lots and lots of blossoms.  Years ago, we had meant to plant it in the front yard, but time got away from us that summer and we set it, pot and all in the back yard on the edge of the woods.  Even though the pot was exposed all that winter, the plant stayed alive.  We determined that it would be planted that spring.  It wasn't.  It didn't blossom and we kind of forgot about it.  About three years later, it was STILL alive, and it produced one blossom.  We determined to plant it.  We didn't.  The root system was through the little holes in the bottom of the pot, and we were afraid we'd break them and kill it.  After that year, it started blooming every spring.  And every spring we think about how we should try to move it.  But it has SO many flowers now and seems SO happy where it is.  No matter the winter we have, it doesn't freeze the roots somehow.  We could not have been more neglectful of this hardy bush.  I love it.  Tomorrow I will take a picture of it and post it.  It was small when we bought it, and it hasn't really grown by leaps and bounds (I wonder why?), but it has grown some and definitely is a beautiful plant.  It deserves the front yard!  But I do not want to kill it or set it back any more than we have.  Maybe I will get it some dirt and surround the base, slitting the black plastic pot it is in...maybe it already is breaking on its own.  I'll look tomorrow.  I can at least give it a little help.
I love gardens and plants, and know the names of many wild plants.  My husband was raised on a farm, so we know our potatoes.  But we are just not gardeners.  Plants in our care have to be self-sufficient, self-motivated, self-starters - independent sorts.  I have the utmost respect for those out there who enjoy gardening and have thriving plants surrounding them, and I would like to be in that group.  But I'm not.