Gorgeous

While we were on the east coast, our front yard started blooming in earnest. The rhododendron is pale pink, we have three lovely dark pink azaleas next to the walkway, five medium pink azaleas by the driveway (and one discordant purple one by my window that I'm trying to ignore), and many buds on one of the bushes next to the driveway. Also, the two hydrangeas are leafy and madly growing, despite the December massacre. It's incredibly satisfying. We'll see if they bud this year?

From the middle of the front yard:



Kevin caught a bee on the rhododendron with his macro lens:



And from the street:



You can see that the view and yard quite shaded due to the neighbors' Japanese maple. (I'm actually standing next to branches that drape down to only two feet off the ground). Which brings up an etiquette question for all of you. You are allowed in Redmond to cut tree limbs and shrubbery that hang over your property, even if the trunk of the plant doesn't belong to you. The trunk in question actually belongs to a rental house with four guys in it, and we've never met the owner. Do we just cut away the two offending branches, confident in our new tree pruning skills and equipment? Do we try to get the guys to give us the name of their landlord and ask permission? Any opinions?