Rosebay Rhododendron - Rhododendron maximum

Ericaceae - Heath Family
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 28
Rosebay Rhododendron
Rhododendron maximum

Spring

The Rosebay Rhododendron - Rhododendron maximum

This Rosebay Rhododendron lives at the Asheville Botanical Gardens.  ashevillebotanicalgardens.org

Summer

Rosebay Rhododendron, Rhododrendon maximum

The White and Pink White Flowers of the Rosebay Rhododendron were blooming all over Asheville and the mountains around the city when I took this photo in June.  The best place to go to see this tree is the Appalachian mountains. The Pisgah National forest is filled to the brim with these beautiful trees. The Smokey Mountains National Park is another great location.

The mountain I live on was covered in blooms that look just like this. They are clusters of five petaled flowers.

Tonight, as I am typing this post, the summer sounds are all around me. I have the windows open and the night insects are singing very loudly. I love this sound and I will enjoy it while it lasts, for soon enough it will be gone. The night sound is the music of the katydids, crickets, cicadas, and tree frogs.

Fall

Rosebay Rhododendron in November

Winter

The Rosebay Rhododendron.  Photo by Robert Priddy
http://www.robertpriddyphoto.com/

The Rosebay Rhododendron. 

              Rosebay Rhododendron June 2026

                            Priddy Woods

Today is the Rosebay Rhododendron Day.  I love the beauty of this tree in June.

The Rosebay Rhododendron always reminds me to look, to be still each and every day in nature.   I encourage you to be still long enough to see it.  Thank you Rosebay Rhododendron.

Haiku to the Rosebay Rhododendron 

White and Pink flowers

The Rosebay Rhododendron 

June on the mountain

For the love of the trees,
Becky

Catawba Rhododendron - Rhododendron catawbiense

Ericaceae - Heath Family
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 27
Catawba Rhododendron
Rhododendron catawbiense

Spring

The Catawba Rhododendron

The flowering rhododendrons make great habitats for wildlife.  The flower nectar and the year-round cover are two of the most important reasons why.  So plant some native rhododendrons, and you can help provide some wildlife habitats for many species of birds and small mammals.  These rhododendrons grow the best at over 3,500 feet in elevation.  Rhodos likes to live on  rocky slopes and ridges, as well as naturally treeless areas called heath balds.

The Asheville Botanical Gardens, Roan Mtn. in Tennessee, The Great Smokey Mtn. National Park, and Mt. Pisgah and Craggy Gardens on the Blue Ridge Parkway are some of my favorite places for seeing these incredible flowers during May and June.

Summer

The Catawba Rhododendron

The Catawba Rhododendron

The Catawba Rhododendron is known as one of the most beautiful small trees or large shrubs in North America.  The leaves of this tree are more rounded on the bases and bluntly rounded on the tips.  This is what  distinguishes this Rhododendron from the Rosebay Rhododendron.

The Catawba Rhododendron.  Photo by Robert Priddy

The leaves are evergreen and leathery, and the underside of the leaves are hairless.  The flowers bloom in large bouquets and are pink or purple. The peak of the flower season varies from elevation to elevation. The flowers are usually quite beautiful in June.

This species is usually found at an elevation of 3,500 0r above. You can find this tree along Newfound Gap road in the Great Smokey Mtn. National Park. You can also find this tree in abundance at Roan Mtn. State Park in Tennessee where there is a Rhododendron festival every June.

Fall

Catawba Rhododendron in late September 

Winter

Catawba Rhododendron

The large evergreen leaves will be rolled into themselves on most cold winter days.
In this image, the winter Catawba Rhododendron is pulling into itself.  It was only 12 degrees F when I took this image of the  Rhododendron on the mountain in my neighborhood.

The Champion Catawba Rhododendron lives in the Great Smokey Mtn. National Park. It is 25 feet high and has a circumference of 15 inches.

Today is July 27, 2026, Today’s tree to visit is the Catawba Rhododendron.  I am happy to say that many Catawba rhododendron live where I live.  They are so beautiful and full of life right now.  

Hiaku  to the Catawba Rhododendron

Red and pink blossoms

Appalachian summer time

Glowing on the ridge

For the love of the trees,

Becky

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth, find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts."  Rachel Carson

Sourwood - Oxydendrun arboreum

Ericaceae - Heath Family
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 26
Sourwood
Oxydendrum arboreum

Spring 

The Spring Sourwood Tree.  Image by Robert Priddy.
http://www.robertpriddyphoto.com/

Summer

Sourwood Tree in Summer

The beautiful white flowers on the sourwood tree are bell shaped and all in a row.  As I took this photo today, the bees were busy collecting nectar to make their sourwood honey.  Some of the leaves are even starting the color change to red.  This tree is the first to change colors.  In the photo you can see how the red in peeking through.

Sourwood summer leaves

Fall

Sourwood Tree in the Fall

October and the Sourwood tree; it does not get much prettier.   These trees are the ones with the burnt-red colored leaves and the gently-bending grooved-barked trunks.

Winter

The Sourwood Tree

This tree is also called Lily of the Valley or Sorrel Tree. It can grow to 60 feet tall. The bark is so distinctive in the winter. The young green leaves in the spring are beautiful. Just you wait till you know the beauty of this tree in the summer and fall, oh my goodness. This is a native tree of America. The leaves taste sour, thus the name. Tea is made from the leaves to quench thirst, and honey made from the flowers is a gift from heaven above.

Evening light on the Sourwood Tree

The Distinctive deeply grooved Bark makes the sourwood tree stand out in the winter. The way the sourwood tree leans is another way to identify the sourwood tree in the winter. A teacher once told me that this is the artist's tree because the graceful curve of the truck and branches are so beautiful.

Today is July 26, 2026, I have been journaling about the sourwood tree today.  I live in the woods with a very big Sourwood tree near my house.  It is so big and strong and blows in the wind today.   I wrote a Haiku to the sourwood today.

Your leaves rest my eyes

Your trunk bends in many curves

You are an artist 

May you all find a sourwood tree to visit and journal about and may you sample the honey the bees make from the sourwood flowers. The honey is such a delight

For the love of the trees,
Becky