Cool Flowers Photo images

Blow Fly on Stapelia gigantea flower

Image by Martin_Heigan
Stapelia gigantea flower attracting a fly for pollination purposes.

Stapeliad & Asclepiad Group
All things beautiful in Nature Group

Leonardslee Gardens, West Sussex, UK | Tranquil walks through woodlands filled with flowering azaleas, bluebells and rhododendrons (6 of 23)

Image by ukgardenphotos
Leonardslee Gardens: Woodland Walks

For a few weeks in May of each year, Leonardslee Gardens in West Sussex, UK, erupt into a spectacular display of the most amazing color combinations of flowering rhododendrons and azaleas. The green, wooded valley gardens then turn into a place of vibrant colors and outstanding natural beauty. Filled with the scent of the massed azalea plantings the whole area becomes a forest paradise. Visitors have often described its peace and tranquility as being like ‘heaven on earth’.

This photograph shows a peaceful, but colorful, path through the yellow azaleas and pink and red rhododendrons underplanted with English Bluebells at Leonardslee landscape gardens.

For many years, tens of thousands of visitors have enjoyed the picture-postcard qualities of this Grade 1 historic garden. Unfortunately, the gardens are now closed to the public as they have been sold to an international businessman.

Details: Leonardslee Gardens is a truly outstanding English landscape garden having a Grade 1 Historic Garden status (English Heritage Register). It covers about 240 acres (97 Hectares) in a wooded valley, contains seven lakes and is extensively planted with azaleas, ancient rhododendrons (some well over 100 years old), acers and camellias - all with a delightful under planting of bluebells in spring.

The great Victorian plant collector, Sir Edmund Loder (who gave his name to the large flowered and scented Loderi Rhododendron Hybrids) purchased the estate in 1889 and planted large numbers of Rhododendrons there. Sir Giles Loder later planted an extensive collection of camellias at Leonardslee. The estate remained in the hands of five generations of the Loder family until 2010 when it was sold to an international businessman. However, the Loder Rhododendron nursery was not sold and is still in business.

Location: Leonardslee Gardens, Lower Beeding, Horsham, West Sussex, England, RH13 6PP, UK. UK Map references: OSGB36 Grid ref:: TQ220259: Map tile ref: TQ22NW40

Links: A more detailed history of Leonardslee Gardens is available on Wikipedia. Leonardslee nursery is still run by Chris Loder and his website contains useful information on Rhododendron Loderi, its varieties and hybrids.

© 2011 ukgardenphotos

Daily Disney - Sunset Boulevard Flowers

Image by Express Monorail
This is one of those shots where the 50mm prime forced me to really think about composition. I've seen a picture a few times where the giant guitar from Aerosmith's Rock N Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror are composed in the same picture. 50mm is too close for this shot and since I didn't have my wits about me to do a panorama, I instead wondered what else can I place in front of the Hollywood Tower Hotel that I haven't already done before. Which is about when I discovered this flower bed around the Aerosmith guitar...

Quick Exif:
Exposure: 1/100
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 50mm
ISO: 200

Pictured:
Hollywood Tower Hotel / The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Sunset Boulevard
Disney's Hollywood Studios
Walt Disney World Resort
Bay Lake, Florida
June, 2009

Quick Fact:
Hollywood Tower, originally known as La Belle Tour, is a large apartment building in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The tower, built in 1929, was a popular residence for entertainment industry employees for many years and has often been cited as the inspiration for Disney's Twilight Zone Tower of Terror rides. The real-life Hollywood Tower was listed in the National Register of Historical Places in 1988.

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