Botanical Gardens and the Camellia Show

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So the last post was all about the orchids. But I did take some other pictures as well. After all, I am still playing around with that new camera. Not too much was blooming outside...except the pansies, some daffodils and some hellebores, but I do love the "bones" of this part of the garden, with the sky line in the background.

 

As I was waiting for Michael to drink his, like, fourth cup of tea (the man can go through some tea), I played with the Shutter Priority setting on the camera. Only fair, since last time I played with the Aperture Priority mode (note: more orchid shots at that link, too ;).

So what can Shutter Speed do for you? Well, it can stop water in its tracks:

 

Or make it look like you're in the middle of a monsoon:

 

Or somewhere in between:

 

The first picture was with the shutter speed cranked all the way up (as fast as it would go), the second all the way down, and the third, as I said, was somewhere in the middle (slightly to the slow side).

But Heather! you say. I came here to see camellias; you promised camellias: WHERE ARE THE CAMELLIAS??!?

GEE WHIZ, OK!

 

Oh, what, you want closeups? ;) They're coming; I just had to show you how many camellias we were talking about. And this is only about one third of the tables!

I love the structure of these pink and white beauties (of course I could not be bothered to actually write down the variety name...I mean, really, does that sound like the kind of organized thing I do??). Their shape reminds me of a magnolia flower.

 

No wonder this one got a blue sticker; look at the simple perfection!

 

I've never seen these neat, crazy curled petals on a camellia "in the wild".

 

This table was very interesting because each entry was a triplet of blooms. I can't imagine getting one perfect bloom to happen at exactly the right time to enter it in the show, much less THREE!

 

I love the variation in this one.

 

I took a few more, but I was really anxious to get to the orchids!

On the way out, I played with the panorama mode on the camera. The giant glass windows are what you face as you walk in to the welcome center and are the way out to the gardens. The sculpture hanging from the ceiling is by Chihuly and was inspired by our collection of pitcher plants!

 

JiffNotes
I think I still like the orchids better for their range of colors, but the camellias are gorgeous, too!