I biked to the arboretum, 10 min late, sweating. A lot of people on today's tour. Also a lot of people and kids today, maybe due to the sunny warm day. I saw 2 groups leaving the visitor center when I was locking my bike. First time using a phone clip (really useful) on the bike, I forgot to take the phone off! Only when I wanted to take a photo, that I realized my mistake. Ran back to the bike, and I was able to catch up the slow moving group. Azalea and rhodadandrons are blooming very nicely, stealing the show of other flowers. According to our guide today, there are about 5 groups of rhodadandrons, thousands of varieties, no clear indication of which ones are azalea. PNW's native rhode is pink, but Asia has other colors.
Something I learned today are:- the large flowered white dogwood is a hybrid between the east coast and local, to avoid some disease.
- the Mexican dogwood has curled up brats.
- the Mediterranean redbud has larger flowers than the common east coast redbud.
Afterwards, I biked to Japanese Garden, and a tour was just starting, so I joined the group. Same guide, Patti. She's loud and clear, a good tour guide.
