I stepped out into my own garden to create the leading image and was taken quite close up using a regular 70-105 lens that’s not macro specific but works really well nonetheless. I gave it a little treatment in Lightroom to darken the background and crop in on the best part of the photo. The rest of the frame just didn’t work, this corner did far better.
In 2019 we revelled in the delights of these flowers, that grew wild on the mountainsides of Madeira.
These last two photos were taken high up above Funchal in a small town called Monte, home of the islands Botanical gardens. Nowadays you see more of them here in the parks and gardens of England. They prefer to be grown a pot, preferably a tall one if you can get it with lots of gritty compost, a sunny spot outside and regular watering. They favour temperate sub-tropical climates in the wild after all, so it’s no surprise they do quite well in the milder south of the UK.
Yeah - these are stunning flowers. One of the key things I like to buy in garden centres. May need to go to Madeira now!