The Missing Azalea Bush

Hubby and I have been working on the yard, getting things pretty and planting flowers.  He mows and runs the weedeater, and I'm in charge of planting flowers and pulling weeds in the beds.  All my roses are starting to bloom so pretty and the laurel bushes have pretty white flowers on them.  I've got pansies in flower boxes and pots that came up again from last year and the boxwoods are so big they are definitely going to need trimming this year.  The hostas and daylillies are popping up, with the little pink carnations and purple catmint that come up every year.  Everything is so green and lush.

As I pulled out of the driveway this morning, I scanned across the front flowerbeds admiring my pretty rosebushes when it struck me.  My beautiful pink azalea bush was gone!  I planted it about three years ago, in the flowerbed right in front of my laurels.  Hubby bought it for me on a trip to the hardware store and every year it doubled in size.  It always looked so pretty with it's bright pink blooms.  I stopped the car and looked again, thinking maybe I just wasn't seeing it because it wasn't blooming yet, but no, there was no bush at all.  Just a big empty spot where it should have been.  What in the world?  Where could it have gone?

All the way to work I was worrying about where my azalea bush had gone.  Surely no one would have taken it!  If it had died, there would be something left there for me to see, wouldn't there?  And who would steal an azalea bush, for heaven's sake?

Maybe a little bird family had a nest in it, and the Papa bird got relocated for his job at the worm factory and they had to move.  The poor little Mama bird couldn't bear to leave her beautiful home, so they found some way to uproot the bush and take it with them.  That could happen, right?

Or maybe the azalea bush was lonely there in front of those laurels, competing with the snobby rose bush that towered over it, always blooming so profusely.  Maybe the azalea bush was homesick, missing it's family and just uprooted itself and walked back home to where it came from.

Regardless of what happened, my azalea bush is gone and it's a mystery for sure.  I guess I'll be going to the nursery this weekend to pick out something else to take it's place.  I'll miss you sweet azalea bush!