Bloomin' Sunset

It's called a Sunset Rhododendron, and this is its first year at Annie's Cottage. There's something so satisfying about seeing a plant bloom for the first time after you've placed it in the ground. Blooms are HUGE miracles! All folded up inside a stem, they seem to appear out of nothing! So delicate, and so different than the woody stick the bud pops out of. They're a different color, different texture, different everything, and they emerge from a bud that seems to just appear one day. POP!