A Secret Garden

Finally rain!  After it stopped, which was too short a time, I was out capturing raindrops on the foliage around my house. This is because I have a thriving shade garden without much colour other than green, so raindrops are the main attraction not flowers. On the other hand, my neighbour’s garden across the street is south facing and has many showy sun loving flowers.  She invited me to capture her new Peony, which I did as well as a few others along the way.

In order to write this post I had to learn the difference between Azaleas and Rhododendrons. This is confusing because while all Azaleas are Rhododendrons, not all Rhododendrons are Azaleas. They are really quite distinctive and easy to tell apart.  Generally Azaleas have 5 stamens (male part of the flower), 5 lobes (petals of the flower) and 1 stamen per lobe. Rhododendrons also have 5 lobes but 2 stamens per lobe which equals 10 stamens in total.  So I just counted stamens and easily identified them. These Azalea and Rhododendron grow in a protected area along the side of my neighbour’s house hidden from the street view. You can see the promise of a large garden but many beautiful aspects of her secret garden are only revealed upon invitation. Lucky me!

 

© Copyright Beth Walsh Photography. All rights reserved.

 

Azalea blossoms

 

 

 

 

Azalea stamen

 

Very shallow depth of field

 

Rhododendron bud

 

Rhododendron blossoms

 

Lavender Bearded Iris

 

Mandevilla red velvet flower

 

Mandevilla red velvet  bud

 

Mandevilla red velvet flowers

 

Pink yellow Rose and bud

 

Black and white Rosebud

 

Shallow depth of field – Rose petals

 

Black and white flowers

 

Burgundy Peony petals

 

Petals and raindrops macro

 

Burgundy Peony close up

 

 

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