Blooming Rhododendron - May 2022

It was a dark, damp, breezy morning for my photo shoot in dad's garden this week, but there were some new blooms to shoot, which made it worth braving the awful weather.

My favourite were these Rhododendron blooms, which, if you saw last week's article, were showing as dark red flower buds.

Blooming Azalea - May 2022

Over in a neighboring garden were these bright magenta coloured Azalea (Rhododendron) blooms, which certainly brightened up the darkening conditions.

Blooming Tutsan - May 2022

Back in dad's garden, I found this little Tutsan (Hypericum androsaemum) bush which was just in the process of forming flower buds.

Blooming Herb Robert - May 2022

It was really good to see that the Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) plants had once again self-seeded. Many consider these lovely little things weeds, but I think they look prettier than many cultivated flowers.

Blooming Pink Erigeron - May 2022

The Erigeron 'Stallone' (Erigeron karvinskianus) blooms continued apace, with quite a few pink variants popping up...

Blooming White Erigeron - May 2022

...amongst the more usually coloured white ones.

Blooming Buttercup - May 2022

It was great to see that the Buttercups (Ranunculus) had returned, and would be attracting quite a few insects - once it had stopped raining!

Blooming Cherry Blossom - May 2022

The Cherry (Prunus) tree blossom was almost at an end, with a few flowers still hanging on to their branches. It wouldn't be long before they'd all fallen off though.

Budding Lupin - May 2022

The Lupin (Lupinus) plants had been a bit of a disappointment so far this year, with only two of the half dozen or so returning from last year. One of them had a flower spike forming though, so at least there was some good news about them.

Lupin Leaf Jewels - May 2022

Finally, it's always good to see how the raindrops attach themselves to Lupin leaves, eventually making their way into the centre of the leaf to form one large droplet.

So this week I went with Blooming Rhododendron as my Image of the Week simply because I thought it was interesting how they'd dramatically changed colour since last week...