Very few orange flowers exist. Very few. There are lots and lots of red and yellow ones, but when it comes to orange. Zip. For some reason nature avoids it. (I do not look that good in the color myself.)
Even fewer orange-flowered shrubs are out there. In fact, I can only think of one in my part of the world. But, it's spectacular. Flame azalea is now in bloom in the Smokies.
During his travels through the southeast in 1773, early American naturalist William Bartram wrote about flame azalea. He scribed, “The fiery Azalea, flaming on the ascending hills or wavy surface of the gliding brooks...The appearance of it in flower, which are in general of the colour of the finest red lead, orange and bright gold, as well as yellow and cream colour; these various splendid colours are not only in separate plants, but frequently all the varieties and shades are seen in separate branches on the same plant, and the clusters of the blossoms cover the shrubs in such incredible profusion on the hill sides, that suddenly opening to view from dark shades, we are alarmed with the apprehension of the hills being set on fire.”
This photo of the fiery shrub was taken near Twin Creeks in the LeConte Creek watershed just south of Gatlinburg early last Sunday morning.
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