Shrub Construction....

 

 Continued...

I Hope you won't mind, Dear Readers, if this is a boring post about the Rhododendron Shrub construction... again! There is not a whole lot to show you because it is slow going on three different skeletons which are all supposed to look the same. That is the trick... it is nearly impossible to make them look exactly the same... so I have to constantly try to adjust a little one way or another. And as I mentioned on an earlier post, I have to make each step on all three of the shrub skeletons at the same time so I don't lose track of which branches I have done what to.... and even then I occasionally notice that I skipped a piece on one of them. The skeleton in the picture above is Shrub#2 (yes, I have numbered them to help me keep my sanity...!) which will eventually be the green leafy shrub for summer, fall and winter (when it is not snowing). You can see (if you enlarge the photos) I have added glue to the places where Green wire wraps around the brown paper stems! Alas, even with the dry winter air, I have to leave them alone for quite a while after making this step. The glue joins need to be very sturdy.

And this skeleton, is Shrub#3, 

getting the same glue treatment on its branches.

When it is finished it will be the leafy shrub in Winter

 with snow on its leaves,

 for those few times I need to set a

 "winter story" at The Folly!

And this one is Shrub#1, which is the "prototype"

 and will be the one with the blossoms when it is finished.

Here they are all together in a row...

 I know, you can't easily tell where one ends and the next begins...

But I have to have them all together while I am working on them!

(Sorry, my table is a mess... I was also sneaking in an extra small project

 sort of visible in the background.... more on that another time!)

And here you can see Shrub#1 in The Folly Garden where it will live,

 showing the added stems on the part that leans toward The Tree House...

Here you can see it a little closer,

 from an angle that shows more of The Tree House trunk...

 and shows how the Rhododendron Shrub will be a big part

 of what keeps the Tree House doorway concealed from passing humans!

(Ah, yes... when Will I get back to building The Tree House???)

The long downward branches will be trimmed and added to next.... 

as I figure out just which branch needs to go where!

And Meanwhile, Dear Readers, you can rest assured that

 the collection of "blossom clusters" is growing at a great rate!

I have added 18 clusters in the past two weeks,

 and am up to a total of Fifty clusters!

I have been diligently adding leaves

 to the clusters that didn't have them.... 

but am still behind on that task.

I have not yet gotten a good leaf making schedule

 worked into the blossom making one...

But it's only a matter of Time, Dear Readers,

As the Shrub Construction continues...

And Continues..... !