Flowering bushes

My next door neighbor has two beautiful rhododendrons. They purple flowers are lovely, and the bushes themselves are exceptionally tall - we actually had a landscape architect come by last year to talk to us about our front yard, and she said that they were the largest she'd ever seen! They are almost taking over his front yard. But when they make flowers like this, it's hard to want to cut them back!

I took these photos early in the morning so that the natural sunlight would fall across the flowers.

 On this last photo I applied a couple of post-capture effects to change the lighting/coloring. I like the natural light above, as well as the darker more tropical-looking colors below.

 In our front yard we have two lovely azaleas; I could wish they were bright pink like our neighbor's, but instead they are white. Despite the more boring color, they produce a nice scent and look pretty in their own way. I like the hints of yellow that you can see inside of the flower here.