Forsythia and rhododendron

[eller]

Another page filled in the sketchbook from antaresnox. I'm trying to draw something fast every day. The forsythia is in front of the house... And, of course, rhododendron is everywhere.



It's kind of fascinating: rhododendron is an invasive plant, and when I was a kid, people started to plant it in their gardens deliberately "because the bugs don't eat it". This used to be true, except, oh wait, these days they do... I suppose we're seeing some evolution in progress. XD

Comments

[amberdreams]

Our forcythia had to come out when we had a back gate put in, so no more bright yellow in the spring. In the UK a lot of big estates planted rhododendron and the National Trust are trying to get rid of it because it's a non native invasive species, and it escaped to a lot of places where it pushes out native plants.

[eller]

Fun fact: Bremen has the world's largest collection of rhododendron species. Looks spectacular - but, yes, the stuff is good at escaping.

[amberdreams]

Well I never knew that - and we went to Bremen a few years ago too! LOL

[eller]

It's probably not the first things visitors to the city go see. XD I mean, it's the kind of place you only find if you know it's there, and tourists are very unlikely to be enthusiastic about "YESSS! I came here to look at thousands of rhododendron bushes!!!" It's the kind of questionable gardening decision that breeds very interesting bugs, though.