[Leica] My First Rhodo!

[Douglas Barry]

Nice Rhododenron Ponticum, Wayne, but over here, while they're 
passionately loved by gardeners, they're regarded with deep suspicion 
and distrust by walkers and fans of of our natural oak forests.

My wife comes from Killarney, Co. Kerry and the regrowth of magnificent 
oaks in the national park there are threatened by the choking swarm of 
invasive rhodos which, in only a hundred odd years have jumped from the 
formal gardens of Muckross House into the natural deciduous forests that 
abutt it.

Many walkers, including myself, used to brighten up their strolls in the 
forests by pulling up young rhodos by the roots to slow down the the 
creeping infestation that darkened and swallowed the forest floor. We 
were only helping the efforts of the park rangers who organised summer 
camps of students to attack and remove huge dense swathes of them from 
under the mature trees and give the young oak seedlings a chance to 
reach the light. Unfortunately, it's probably a battle that the rhodos 
will win.

Good shot though :-)

Douglas


On 06/05/2020 23:35, Wayne Torry via LUG wrote:
> I grabbed the Sony A7II and 28-70 lens and went out in a light drizzle in
> search of my first rhododendrons. In a few minutes I turned the corner by
> the house and ran into this lovely example.
> 2 overall photos of my First Rhodo bush.
> <
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/venchka/North+Carolina/WMT+May+6-Horiz+Group.jpg.html
> <
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/venchka/North+Carolina/WMT+May+6-Vert+Group.jpg.html
> And the finale:
> <
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/venchka/North+Carolina/WMT+May+6-Single+Close-Up.jpg.html
> Thanks for looking. Comments & critiques always appreciated.
> Wayne
>
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