Today I thought that I would share some of the plants we have with indumentum or fuzzy leaves or buds on them :) Above is a photo of a bloom on the Viburnum carlesii 'Aurora'. I just love it's silvery colored leaves coated in a thick fuzz. The clusters of bright pink flower buds actually look like the bloom from a distance but the true bloom is more of a pale pink but still equally as pretty and very fragrant.
Did you know that rhododendrons have been grown in Britain since the 18th century and that the only place that they don't occur naturally in the wild is in Africa & South America. The above rhodo 'Silver Skies' is a Yakushimanum hybrid or 'Yak' and you can see the fawn colored hairs or wooly covering that is coating the spring growth. The kids love to run their fingers along it since it is so soft :)
Above is a better picture of the complete coverage of indumentum on the underside of a 'yak' rhododendron leaf.
And finally this is one of the fuzzy blooms on my mom's Magnolia tree 'Susan' which happens to be one of the girls from the 'Little Girl' series started in 1965. There are 8 sisters in all ~ ‘Ann’, ‘Betty’, ‘Judy’, ‘Randy’, ‘Ricki’, ‘Susan’, ‘Jane’ and ‘Pinkie’. Wouldn't you just love to have all of the little girls playing in your yard?
Oh, I want things to start growing here! I only see one itty-bitty sign of spring in my flower bed at the front walk. It's so depressing. Here it is Easter, and we have very little spring goin' on. *sigh*
I love your pictures! I'm choosing to live vicariously through you!
