Rhododendron augustinii 'Marion MacDonnell'

On March 28, 2015 I wrote this blog titled Glykysides in Our Garden. The plants in questions were peonies. We did not bring any of those featured in the blog to our new home in Kitsilano. I showed the blog to Rosemary who expressed sorrow over the fact that we do not have those plants anymore.

Two weeks ago we returned to our old house. It is empty but it is sometimes occupied on weekends through Airbnb. I would not think of going into what is left of the garden but I did this time. Rosemary returns sometimes every week. The garden has been mostly plowed over (this I noticed two weeks ago). 

On the lane garden there were three roses which we liberated from the soon to happen demolition. One of the roses went with my eldest daughter to Lillooet. Two others are languishing with us. The moving should have been made a month ago when the plants were dormant. I believe that at least one of them will survive.

Going to our old garden was more than sobering. I felt melancholic as I remembered what it looked like in its prime.

But there is one happy thought here. And I will use that 21st century term for taking a picture – to capture.

In the above-linked blog the peonies are there to be seen because I scanned them. I have a record of almost all the plants (with corresponding flowers) in my hard drive and in CD and(!) in a duplicate exterior drive.

I feel that I have captured their botanical soul. The garden may be gone but the plants remain in my memory, my visual memory and my memory visual (if you get what I mean).

One plant that did move with us and is blooming today is Rhododendron augustinii ‘Marion MacDonnell’. It is now a tree. Some years ago our friend Alleyne Cook brought a small pot and told me that it was the closest rhododendron to being blue. It is thriving in a sunny spot in our garden.

The plant was named after Dundee-born Augustine Henry and it is supposed to be quite sun tolerant as most rhododendrons prefer shade.

With all that visual memory for our former peonies this Rhododendron is one that I can touch.There is something positive about that.