A snowy morning in Bellevue

[redbird]

I'm not sure which is more of an anomaly, the rhododendrons in bloom or the morning's snowfall:

macro shot of rhododendron in snow, a photo by rosvicl on Flickr.

ETA: I am reliably informed that these are camellias, and a google image search agrees. I still like the contrast of flowers and snow.

Comments

[kaberett]

Oh huh, I looked at that and thought "camellia"! But then those are winter-flowering in these parts, so :-)

[light_of_summer]

Agreed, it's a camelia. Down here in the Bay Area, them blooming around now is ordinary. Snow, not so much. *grin*

[redbird]

I think of camellias as larger. Hmm.

[light_of_summer]

Possibly a mix-up with magnolias?

In my experience, camelia blossoms are around the size of the palm of my hand (they can be a little larger or smaller), but some magnolias are dinner-plate-sized.

[redbird]

That, or maybe remembering the camellia tree I saw in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden a few Februaries ago, and thus thinking of them as a tree rather than a dense shrub. (I'm still getting used to rhododendron-as-tree, which is very common over here; it's not just that the rhododendrons are taller, it's that there are rhododendrons with single trunks and no branches for several feet up that trunk, planted as street trees or one on each side of a building entrance.)

[amaebi]

I think the contrast is even more piquant with them camellias.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

I was just going to say. :) It's a nice photo, though. Strange contrast!