Christian Pipe Smokers

In '70 or '71 my mom and dad took a road trip as far North as Vancouver Island, where there is the world famous Butchart Gardens.
They brought a small souvenir Rhododendron home and for nearly 50 years it's been a cheerful explosion of color greeting visitors to our front door and supplied blossoms for the cemetery which I suspected mom would have liked.
Until today.
I don't know if Rhododendrons succumb to old age or if the drought got the better of it-----Fresno isn't where Rhododendrons are supposed to be growing anyway, but this one lasted quite awhile.
I'm sorry to see it go.
Next week I'll dig up the stump

I'm sorry to read of that, Hovannes. We grow fond of things, particularly meaningful things.

Yeah they need to be watered in dry conditions. Vancouver island is pretty .... damp.

Sorry for the loss of a comforting memory. I pray next spring you have a new one to carry forward. Just as the old passes away, we have new life in Christ Jesus. Plant the new one for the testimony of what lies ahaed.

So sorry to hear this. Plants can become such a fixture in our lives and leave such an empty hole when they're gone.
SW Pennsylvania, where I grew up, is a hotbed for wild Rhododendron. They would find a perfect spot in the woods and just take off. A grove of wild rhododendron is beautiful.

Sorry for the loss.

I'm not familiar, and had to Google rhododendron. Perhaps you can save the wood and repurpose. I've done that with various trees lost from hurricanes.