Rhodo Rainbow

Rhododendrons are abundant this time of year and as the title of my post suggests they come in a multitude of colours. It seemed like a good opportunity to experiment with some picture mosaics too.

"Rhododendron (from Ancient Greek ῥόδον rhódon "rose" and δένδρον déndron "tree") is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, either evergreen or deciduous." 

"Rhododendron is a genus characterized by shrubs and small to (rarely) large trees, the smallest species growing to 10–100 centimetres (3.9–39 in) tall, and the largest, R. giganteum, reported to over 30 metres (98 ft) tall.^[4] The leaves are spirally arranged; leaf size can range from 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) to over 50 cm (20 in), exceptionally 100 cm (39 in) in R. sinogrande. They may be either evergreen or deciduous. In some species the underside of the leaves is covered with scales (lepidote) or hairs (indumentum). Some of the best  known species are noted for their many clusters of large flowers." (Wikipedia)

I saw a mask in the rhododendron below:

I noticed that some of the rhododendrons had five petals and some six, some had brightly coloured contrasting spots, others lightly coloured spots and still others do not appear to have this feature at all. 

Five petals

Five petals

Six petals

Beautiful brightly spotted throat

"The rhododendron is the national flower of Nepal."

"In Joyce's Ulysses, rhododendrons play an important role in Leopold and Molly's early courtship: Molly remembers them in her soliloquy - 

"the sun shines for you he said the day we were lying among the rhododendrons on Howth head in the grey tweed suit and his straw hat the day I got him to propose to me". 

Jasper Fforde a British author, also uses rhododendron as a motif throughout many of his published books." (Wikipedia)

"Species of the genus Rhododendron occur throughout most areas of the Northern Hemisphere and into the Southern Hemisphere in southeastern Asia and northern Australasia. No species are native to South America and Africa."

"The highest species diversity is found in the Himalayas from Uttarakhand, Nepal and Sikkim to Yunnan and Sichuan, with other significant areas of diversity in the mountains of Indo-China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan."

"Tropical rhododendron species range from southeast Asia to northern Australia, with 55 known species in Borneo and 164 in New Guinea. Interestingly, the species in New Guinea are native to sub-alpine moist grasslands at around 3000 metres in the Central Highlands.Relatively fewer species occur in North America and Europe."

There are rhododendrons in gardens, parks, botanical gardens and even some growing in uncultivated areas here in Vancouver and the surrounding area. My pictures are from gardens and parks that are in my orbit. I also visited the Ted and Mary Greig Rhododendron Garden in Stanley Park(described on this site):

Did you know that Rhododendrons are thermotropic? First of all thermotropic means they respond to variations in temperature. I noticed this a few years ago and now use the rhododendron outside my front window of an indication of how cold it is, yes I use it as a living thermometer; as the temperature drops the leaves first droop (about 40F/4C) and then curl up when the temperature drops below freezing. Why do they do this you might ask?  Well to prevent or minimize moisture loss (I believe the pores are under the leaves and curling inward closes them).  

There were peachy coloured blooms but I did not see any orange blooms or deep purple ones, but I'll keep looking. In fact I did find orange, bright yellow and deep purple ones:

I thought I would try out something else new too, I made a "rhodo quilt".

Here is a watercolour that I finished recently, it is called "Taking the path less travelled" and is inspired by a view in Italy:

I am away travelling for a few weeks but through the magic of scheduled blog posts my Whimsy Wednesdays will continue to appear on Wednesdays. I may not be visiting your sites regularly during the next while, depending on Internet availability, so I apologize ahead of time.

Here is an explanation and link to an amazing video by Zoltan Kenwell called "Aurora Borealis Over Alberta":

"Last Monday, April 23rd, a geomagnetic storm created a disturbance in the Earth's atmosphere, leading to an amazing display of aurora borealis lights over Alberta. Luckilyphotographer Zoltan Kenwell was there to capture the show.

This video was shot 65 km East of Edmonton, Alberta, on what Zoltan calls "a beautiful spring night on the Alberta prairies". If you've got a few minutes, it's an otherworldly look at a distinctly Canadian landscape:"

http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/alt-news/video-of-the-day-aurora-borealis-over-alberta.html

Happy Whimsy Wednesday, thanks for dropping by, until next week.....

A Walk in the Park

Here are some sights that I caught on a recent walk around the Lost Lagoon area of Stanley Park. It was a slightly overcast day but there were a lot of people out strolling, cycling and jogging and lots to see.

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir

The Magnolias were in full bloom.

The swans (Mute Swans) were resting along the side of the path, drawing a lot of attention, but almost oblivious to it.

You can recognise a Mute Swan by the noticeable nob or lump on top of its bill.

The swan above is dozing, or trying to and the one below seemed to be grazing on under water plants, and creating beautiful reflections in the water.

Back on the path, still resting.

A little further along, these goslings (4 total) were grazing under the watchful eyes of their parents. At one point someone got too close to the little ones and the Gander started head bobbing and opened its beak and hissed; at which point the offender backed off.

The goslings were awfully sleepy, I saw them nod off several times while grazing.

The gander looking a bit comical with a feather sticking out of its beak. Mum below watching carefully.

 These ferns seemed to be imitating the geese and swans, with their fronds curled like long elegant necks.

More swans were just along the shore, this one was determined to share a woman's lunch; seeming quite eager to eat small morsels of her tuna sandwich.

Further around the lagoon there was another pair of swans enjoying an early afternoon nap; on a Sunday afternoon, I think this is a grand plan too!

 Would you just go away and let a bird get some rest, humph!

 The mallards further along were also in nap mode.

This juvenile raccoon was sitting in the shallows of the lagoon, maybe thinking he was hidden?

He seems to have a scratch on his nose, anyway he finally decided that it was time to move to a drier location; you can see below that his paws and belly were drenched when he moved out of the lagoon.

There were at least a dozen turtles on rocks or logs in the lagoon; these three were absorbing every bit of heat that was available on this overcast day.

The Stanley Park Explorer identifies the turtles as Red-eared Slider Turtles and gives this description of them:

"Red-eared Slider Turtle gets its common names from the fact that it carries a distinctive red (sometimes yellow) stripe behind the eye and that, if disturbed on its basking site, it will "slide" into the water."

"The turtles often stack themselves up on favoured basking sites. Large adults with shells up to 22 cm in length reappear on Lost lagoon on days when the sun is shining and the temperature climbs to 10 degrees Celsius or more. Basking is the art that so called "cold-blooded" creatures employ to regulate their body temperature. I suspect that a turtle in the sun is really quite comfortably warm".

Canada Geese looking for, and getting a handout.

A crow finds a prize of its own.

Camellia bushes were also in bloom, with beautiful pink, white and red blossoms.

I saw this white tulip with a single stripe of red among the bachelor buttons, looking very beautiful.

As I was almost ready to leave I spotted this tree with its odd gnarly bark.

Well the post started with a John Muir quote and here is another:

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul." John Muir

For me the walk offered fresh air, some exercise and fascinating creatures and plants, a Sunday afternoon well spent I'd say!

"Slow down and enjoy life.
It's not only the scenery you miss by going to fast -
you also miss the sense
of where you are going and why."

Eddie Cantor

This week I completed this watercolour of Stellar's Jays:

"The Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) is a jay native to western North America, closely related to the Blue Jay found in the rest of the continent, but with a black head and upper body. It is also known as the Long-crested Jay, Mountain Jay, and Pine Jay. It is the only crested jay west of the Rocky Mountains." (Wikipedia)



Thank you for dropping by, happy Whimsy Wednesday, until next week ....