Nature is Hurting My Eyes

I do love a flamboyant flower.  It's probably a "Leo" thing.  I like a flower that calls to me when I walk past.  Sometimes a flower can just grab my attention through shocking bright color, sheer weirdness, fragrance or masses of flowers.

Right now the Camellias are starting to bloom and several of them are in the shocking bright color category.

Camellia japonica 'Scented Treasure'

Camellia japonica 'April Remembered'

Camellia japonica 'Nuccio’s Pearl'

Camellia japonica 'Monke' - Always gets ready to bloom, then it rains for a week and all the flowers turn ugly and brown.  When hermetically sealed in a rain-free environment, the flowers are a beautiful pure white.

Yvee and Madeline in front of the Iberis sempervirens (Candytuft) - they can never look at the camera.  

Osmarea burkwoodii (Burkwood Osmanthus) (Osmanthus × burkwoodii) - Just beginning to bloom - the flowers have a lovely baby powder scent.

And for sheer weirdness - I give you one of my favorite orchids. When this blooms in the summer, we can smell it in the yard through the greenhouse walls.  The flowers only last for a good 2 days and then wither fairly quickly.  The smell is a strange mix of root beer and musk.

Stanhopea tigrina var. nigroviolacea