Again

Once again the mountain laurel fills the woods. They do not grow in my woods or yard, but seem to spread themselves happily across the peninsula on the other side closer to the Bay.  I think they may be like some orchids and need a certain fungus or mineral in the soil to make them happy.  They vary from soft white with red stripes to pink to a deep reddish pink.  Unfortunately the reddish pink ones are across the marsh and I did not get a photo of those.  These usually grow higher in the mountains where the soil is sparse and the climate cool.  But I am lucky to have a  few hundred nearby.

I must have hundreds of photos  as well because it seems that I am compelled to take new ones each and every spring, as if I had never seen this miracle blossom before.

Are they fragrant?...not so much to this old crone's nose.  But that doesn't seem to make any difference in their elegance. They grow as high as eight feet or more and sometimes tower over my head as I stroll down the path.  Like most spring flowers they last a little more than a week, so one must get moving if one wants to see them or you can just look at  the photo above instead.