Cherry Orchard Wild Flowers It's definitely spring in the Columbia Gorge, at least the far eastern part near The Dalles. On Sunday, I hiked the Cherry Orchard trail near Lyle on the Washington side of the river. It's a little early yet, but the bright sunflower-yellow balsamroots were already in full bloom.
Magnolia More flowers are breaking out in Washington park. This singular magnolia is one of my favorites, with its vivd magenta blooms. There's a whole section of magnolias a short distance away in Hoyt Arboretum, but I don't think it includes this spectacular specimen.
Trillium Like many in the Pacific Northwest, I keep a lookout along the trails for trillium. The little plants that sprout from the forest floor are widely viewed as a harbinger of spring. This dense patch of small plants was spotted in the Cloud Forest section of Washington Park.
Proteas I'm back in Madeira again and staying in Machico, a town I discovered last time and fell in love with. On Saturdays they have a small farmers market in the plaza near the beach. One stall had buckets full of these flowers that I later found out were proteas.
More Flowers Spending another day close to the apartment, so thought I'd just round up some more flower photos from around town. There are still a lot of things in bloom here, while back home everything is turning brown. Morning Glory No idea what these are but they're a little freaky Frangipani Cape Daisies(?
Flowers Today's highlight are these flowers on a big tree I passed walking into downtown Funchal. It must have been flowering for a while, since some of the flowers have turned into "fruit" the size of an olive. I believe these will grow to be about the size of a tennis ball, if I'm remembering correctly.
Flower & Bee It's been a rather emphatic end of summer this Labor Day with drizzle a good part of the day. I did take a short walk thorugh Washington Park and found these pretty trumpet shapped blossoms near the Rose Garden, along with one bee still working hard.
Ayuthaya Flower A throwback to my last visit to Ayuthaya, the old capital of Thailand, in 2010. I found this frangipani blossom just blooming, with an old pagoda in the background. Frangipani Blossom
Malta Morning Glories In late April and May, the countrysize of Malta is covered with numerous varieties of flowers such as poppies, morning glories and capers. The morning glories come in many bright shades from blue to purple. Brilliant purple morning glory flowers.
Lotus Lagoon Candidasa, on Bali, was one of my favorite places on the island. It's developed with several small-ish hotels and lots of restaurants, but not over-run with tourists. This lagoon (a former bay now cut off from the sea) is at the center of the northern area of the town.