Rhododendron

Most of this afternoon was spent gardening, so I thought a shot of one of the garden flowers would be appropriate. It's now raining again!

[Simply Amanda]

Beautifully done. An azalea? Love your edit.

[Margaret Brown]

Lovely comp fav

[Issi Bannerman]

@amandal Thanks Amanda - your comment make me wonder if it was an azalea or a rhododendron, so I had a quick google to make sure! Here's what I found: All Azaleas are actually Rhododendrons BUT not all Rhododendrons are Azaleas. Rhododendron is a genus and Azaleas are a group within that genus, rather than forming a genus of their own.
An Azalea has 5 stamens while other Rhododendrons have 10 or more
Azaleas are small to medium shrubs but other Rhododendrons range from prostrate shrubs to trees. This one is definitely a Rhododendron. Isn't google great?!

[April]

Either or ... I Love these flowers. Beautiful!

[Stephanie Swift]

Lovely rhododendron, beautiful focus and bokeh. The rhododendrons here were over quite a while ago, how nice that you still have them.

[Islandgirl]

Stunning comp and love your bokeh!

[Kathy]

Lovely shot. I didn't know the difference between these shrubs.

[Taffy]

It's stunning. This is one of my favorite flowering bushes -- reminds me of being much younger and hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the southeaster part of the US. The bushes were gigantic and filled with different colors of flowers.

[Milanie]

Beautiful color - love the dof - thanks for the lesson on identification of the two bushes.

[PhotoCrazy]

Lovely color, pic!

[Lisa]

State flower of Washington, typically bloom in May. Love them.