Exochorda - The Spring Bride
Exochorda - A Patio Bride
Some shrubs get into my garden as grateful refugees, others as happy accidents. My two standard Exochordas were both. They had been sitting around in a local nursery going nowhere, and when I saw their common name was 'The Bride' I was hooked.
A Lurking Romantic
There's always a reality romantic lurking beneath the grubby fingernails and dishevelled fringe of an older-lady gardener. It's why we (well, some of us) record and watch episodes of TV programmes like The Bachelor (though we usually get cross and switch him off when our favourite girlie is sent home, hee hee).
These two spring Brides do have a personal Moosey family symbolism, and they are dragged out (oops - doesn't quite have the right romantic connotations) each spring to adorn the house patio. I see them as honouring the two married Daughters-of-Moosey, though these world-wise women may not be impressed at the pretty, white, flowery fluffery. Head Gardeners can become very sentimental in their older age...
Exochorda -The Bride in Flower
When the Brides are past their best they're unceremoniously plonked in the garden behind a sturdy New Zealand striped Phormium until the same time next year. Oops - symbolically this is going from bad to worse.
Exochorda - A Wet Bride!
Seriously, though, they are a beautiful picture on the patio in spring - their graceful arching shape so feminine, their blooms so fluffy. I should just leave it at that - quit while I'm ahead, that sort of thing...