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Article: Can a 50-Year Love Affair With Azaleas Become Too Much Of a Good Thing?; Washington's Landscape Cliche
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- May 12, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Over the past few weekends, tens of thousands of
Washington-area residents have crammed into their cars for the
annual viewing of the azalea collection at the National Arboretum in
Northeast Washington.
The Martian might consider this odd behavior. Why would these
folk endure traffic jams, parking shortages and the general anxiety
of large human gatherings when they can see the same flowering shrub
in abundance in their own neighborhoods? Ha, but what does the alien
know about earthling love and the sickness that attends it?
For the past 50 springs, the azalea's explosions of color,
often mismatched and overblown, and our need for year-round
foundation shrubbery, have defined our notion ...