Over the years we’ve spent several months of March in Myrtle Beach, which is when the rhododendrons bloom. Or do they? Although I fully expected to see bushes covered in pink flowers when we arrived a little more than three weeks ago, the bushes below our balcony were green and stayed stubbornly so.
But a week can make a difference. Even what-a-difference.
How it started (Mar 23) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How it’s going (Mar 30)
If my memory is not entirely to be trusted with respect to the precise timing of this bloom-arama, is my casual identification of them as rhododendrons similarly suspect? Could they, in fact, be azaleas? It’s a tricky question because it turns out that all azaleas are rhododendrons, but not all rhododendrons are azaleas. It’s a squares/rectangles thing, if you remember that geometry distinction from sometime in the depths of school.
Of course I’m not the only one to wonder how to distinguish azalea from non-azalea rhododendrons. It seems that the best method is to count the stamens:
- Are there 5 or fewer? It’s an azalea.
- Are there 10 or more? It’s a rhododendron.
As a side note, I find it odd that I still know stamen when I have had little occasion to use it in the intervening 60-or-so years since I first committed it to memory along with the other parts of a flower. After all, so much other learning has wandered off. Including the names of the other parts of a flower.
Anyway, given that we have to count the stamens, it’s a good thing that I succumbed to the impulse to get a close-up of these flowers, especially a side view. They’re clearly rhododendrons, not those tricky azalea poseurs. They’re also in flower right now, and they’re lovely. Why did I have any doubts about my memory? This is *exactly* what I remember.
It is not often that I stop to question the words in your blog. My first glance at the photos made me think, “Wait, those look like the azaleas in the South.” Then, you proceeded to answer my question in depth! My idea of “an azalea” had been a small, foil-wrapped potted plant that would appear around Easter in my grandmother’s living room. When I moved to Florida and saw the towering pink bushes on the U of F campus, I could hardly believe they were the same plant. But now, I wonder, were they? Perhaps rhododendrons made those glorious spectacles.
Laurna – 🙂 I think I started calling them rhododendrons when I saw similar bushes in the Pacific Northwest, and assumed that was their name because they have a Rhodie Festival in the spring. I never counted the stamens, but I sure appreciated their multi-coloured framing of farmyards. At the right time of year they’re spectacular.
The very minor amount of thought I have given to azaleas and rhododendons left me ignorant that they were in anyway related. Of course, this is undoubtely because I have never lived where they bloom, except I think as house plants in my mother’s time. Much too far back for my weak abilities to identify flowers, except for, “Those are beautiful!” Both the flowers and your photos are beautiful.
Judith – Thank you, and I know what you mean about not living where these plants abound. I couldn’t do the summers down here, but the springs are magnificent. (Maybe springs are magnificent everywhere?)
They’re pretty either way.
Tom
Ya got that right! 🙂 (IMO, they also look a bit like hibiscus, but the blooms last longer than a day.)
Must admit I mentally differentiate the two based on size, but unless seeing them side by each, that leaves a bit to be desired.
Now I know the authoritative way to tell them apart
Thank you for that and nice photos too!
Jim R – It may be that size is often a reliable differentiator – I sure think of azaleas as the smaller bush – but it seems (maybe after selective breeding?) that there is significant size range withing each class.