Still Here!

Margaret's rhoddie - transplanted from Yorkshire when she sold off the bottom of her garden - took a long time to settle here. 

Most of the time it looks as if it is about to die - it has very long, thin knobbly stems with a few huge leathery leaves at the end of them.  In spring it produces  huge blossoms, spheres about 12 inches in diameter, one at the end of each branch.  They last quite a few weeks, and then it returns to looking skeletal again.

It is probably something very rare and exotic - M's late husband was a keen grower of rhododendrons.  She has given me several of his books on the subject but they haven't helped me to identify it.

I'm always relieved when it survives another year, and this year it is flowering so well that I'm a wee bit worried that it might just be the final flourish.

Thank you BikerBear for continuing to host Flower Friday!