Exuberant Azaleas!
Last year the azaleas in front of our house bloomed in nice,
neat, round bushes, as they have for years. They gave the entrance a pleasing
and colorful approach. Most of the other azalea bushes in the neighborhood
behaved in a similar way. They were polite. Refined. At the end of the season,
I pruned the bushes to remove some dead branches, being careful about pruning
off the buds that are laid down after the plants bloom. I expected another year
of dignified flowering.
This year they flowered, right on schedule, sending out
their customary peachy blossoms. Only something changed. The bushes became
exuberant! They shot out beyond their customary shape and reached for the sun.
There is no restraint here. I had never seen anything like it.
Each time I think I should do something about the wildness,
I end up smiling instead. When I come home, I have to stop for a minute to
enjoy the fullness of the bushes and the in-your-face burst of flowers before
going inside. My friend, coming to visit, stood dumbfounded when she saw the
azaleas. “They don’t usually grow like
that,” she said. Certainly not in suburban gardens. Then she said something
about them fitting in with my energy.
That got me thinking. There are thousands of varieties of
azaleas, with different colors, heights, petals, and growing patterns - in their own particular way. There are billions of
people expressing themselves in their own particular ways. And why not? There
is energy in diversity. If we can tolerate, even desire, variety in Mother Nature then
why not in human nature, too? There may be surprises, sometimes problems, but most
often there is dynamic growth.
A helpful guide to growing azaleas:
For FAQ and in-depth answers, try the Azalea Society of
America’s website:
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