© Dennett — Coastal Azalea / March 31, 2024

Mystery Azalea

A volunteer flower story

Published in
2 min readApr 1, 2024

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From my chair in the living room, I can look out our patio doors and through the back porch screens to my garden area, then to wild trees and bushes, then to Unicorn Lake.

My garden area consists of avocado and ficus trees, a mature Starburst Clerodendrum and several small volunteer Starbursts, and white and pink traditional Azalea bushes. Other than the avocado and ficus trees, which I planted, everything else was here when we moved in.

In the “wild” area, the trees are mostly pine and oak with a scattering of Palmetto bushes. Beyond the trees are two Flame Azaleas — one in bloom and the other just budding. The previous owner of our unit planted those.

© Dennett — Flame Azaleas / March 31, 2024

Yesterday, as I gazed toward the lake, I saw a gathering of white flowers in the wild area. What? There aren’t any white flowers there. I wondered if the white Azalea had sent out suckers that took root in the wild area. That seemed unlikely. Although traditional Azaleas will send out suckers, they are always near the roots of the parent bush. The flowers I saw were at least six yards away.

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I was always a writer but lived in a bookkeeper’s body before I found Medium and broke free — well, almost. Working to work less and write more.