Never have I seen so many Rhododendrons! They are in flower— pink, red, white—in front gardens they are trimmed into shape, ‘buns’ of green and bright colour.
At the city end entrance to the Bürger Park is the Hollersee, which is more like a large pond, the Park Hotel behind. The Rhododendrons border the path and have been left to grow together into a continuous mass reaching 3m in height and at least twice as wide. There is an entrance in under the growth, a quasi path made by someone’s footfall. It invites with the possibility of adventure into a child’s secret world of cubby houses and fantasy beings but at the same time, the sense of another’s presence has me step away. I don’t want to transgress someone’s privacy.
The Summer heat which has been missing until now has finally arrived. How quickly the grass in the parks turns brown and patchy. The ground is dusty and it rises in the wind and leaves a thin layer on the parked cars. In spite of the cold weather it has not rained that much.
Along the Wallanlage they have been watering the plants—some of them. Other recently planted trees have died. On the street no one seems to have noticed that the Rhododendrons, particularly those which have to tolerate hours in the full sun, are drooping and need to be watered.
