Photo of the Week: Argusia on the Beach at Ikei Island Okinawa

It's about time I added some new tree, shrub and flower photos of Okinawa to the collection.

So, here's a photo of some Argusia blossoming on Ikei Island.

These are just babies and I can see where some folks would call them shrubs.

According to  ARKive, the people I consider Species Experts

Messerschmidia  argentea, the Argusia plants we have here, can become six meters tall.

Well, six meters is something like 18 feet, according to my calculations.

That's a tree.

These trees are found along the coasts of all the islands around here.

They are pretty tough characters and survive typhoons better than any other tree on the beach.

It's nice to take shelter under them on a hot sunny day because they provide lots of shade.

One of these days, I'll go shoot some tall Argusia trees while they are full of white flowers.

Just wait 'til we have some blue skies and I get my bones back into an office where I'm in fully

 operational mode. Right now I'm (groan) still in the process of moving.

Flower Photos: Azalea This Ain't No Shrub, It's A Bonsai Tree !

Look what I found yesterday.  This bright-colored bunch of flowers grows on a tree next to a red-tiled roof in Okinawa, Japan.  This beauty isn't a whole 20 seconds walk from my house.

So, when the rain stopped for a few seconds, I grabbed the wife and the camera.  She thinks she knows everything so, I asked her to tell me what that tree was growing all those flowers.  She says it's azaleas.

Well, I told her she must be crazy. Azaleas grow on little bushes. 

I shoot them at the Azalea Festival up in the mountains and Azalea Season was over a long time ago.

Look at the size of that freakin plant.  It's a tree. 

That's me, with the camera, across the street.  I'm not exactly a midget, ya know.


It turns out, the wife really isn't crazy. They have Bonsai Azalea Trees that bloom in the month of May, in Japan.  How did women get so smart about flowers, anyway?  It drives me crazy.

Now, mind you, this is rainy season and I plan on getting some high-quality photos of those azaleas, with a pretty blue sky background, first chance I get. That might take some time.

To really get a great shot I'll have to climb the wall and sneak into the garden where the Laughing Buddha statue sits.  I know the people who own the place but, they don't wake up early enough in the morning to let me in through the gate. 

So, I'll just have to pretend I'm a criminal and climb the fence the old-fashioned way.

Just in case you want to learn more about Azaleas, I found the AZALEA SOCIETY OF AMERICA
and, another place, I'll call the THE AZALEA BONSAI TREE CHANNEL because they're the first ones who agreed with me. That Azalea ain't no shrub, it's a Bonsai Tree!