Redbud!

Another spring shot from my recent visits to Virginia. Last week there many flowering trees, mainly ornamentals, were in bloom in our industrial park. This week, as soon as I hit the highway south of Richmond, I saw these amazing purple shruby trees along the roadside, generally tucked back in behind, in the shade of the larger trees. Purple blossoms massing all along slender limbs, and no leaves in sight yet. Magical.

I went out on Thursday afternoon in a moment of free time specifically to see if I could find one where I could safely photography it. Beautiful or not, I was not about to pull off on the margin of I295 for a picture. 🙂

There were several on the grounds of Henricus Citie Park, near the visitor center, and out under the really big trees that shade the reconstructed colonial village itself. Close up they are more pink than purple. A little research on the web this morning pined the tree down as Eastern Redbud, Cercis canadensis. While authorities say it is common from Florida to Canada, the ones in Virginia were the first to catch my eye.

Canon SX20IS. 1) 560mm macro @ F5.7 @ 1/400 @ ISO 80, 2) 28mm super-macro  @ F3.2 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 125, cropped from the left for composition, 3) 560mm macro @ F5.7 @ 1/320th @ ISO 200. Programmed auto.

All processed in Lightroom using Recovery, Fill Light, Blackpoint, Clarity and Vibrance, and the Sharpen landscape preset.

From First Canon VA.