A couple of weekends ago we ended up in the Upper Gardens of the Dunedin Botanic Gardens. We’d been to a midday movie that was part of the film festival; called “Unrest” which is a first-person documentary made by and featuring a woman with severe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. ‘Powerful’ and ‘moving’ and ‘confronting’ and ‘direct’ are words that came to mind. The sort of movie you need to unwind from a bit. We went to the Gardens looking for daffodils.
We were either too early or too late for them, and when we wandered across to the azalea patch it was clear that they were still to bloom. But nearby were a couple of magnolia trees. The paler tree is huge, and it was like every single bloom on the whole tree had bloomed simultaneously, and perfectly. It was ‘shock and awe!’ in the best kind of way.
It was kind-of like a flock of magnolias, beating their petals ….
The magnolia flower is exquisite; a flower in a flower …
The trees are so accommodating; making some flowers accessible with long slender limbs bending right down so we don’t miss their beauty.
The magnolia tree bends some branches down to present flowers for smelling and admiring …
We felt lucky to have timed our visit perfectly. The flowers were at their best, and the lighting was flat and showed them off well. It was a good way to unwind from ‘Unrest’.
Magnolias are something else – partly due to their sheer size.
Great photos Ross
Thanks Ju. Are you thinking size of the flowers or size of the trees? Or both? They are darn big trees. I’ll always remember the magnolias in the forest in Nepal. When you and I were there it was late autumn, so no flowers. But the next time I was there was spring. Trekking through the flowering magnolia forests was extraordinary.
Beautiful pics and the magnolias are flowering all around this area too
Thanks Gay. Are they any better or not this year up your way? Does the wet affect them?
Yes, it does and with most flowers. Especially with the white camillas. Beautiful photo of the magnolia!
Thanks Suzanne. I like the surprise element of photography – like I didn’t see that image for a start – it just sort of got discovered 🙂