looking back 3

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Continuing with my ten favorite photos of 2009, the azalea's were especially robust last spring.

Here's a photograph I posted in early May.


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tugyonju crazy

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This is my second azalea posting of the year (see April 17) but the varicolored shrubs have been particularly intense this season; I just cannot help myself. You might say that I’ve almost become intoxicated on their flamboyance; call it “tugyonju crazy.”

In Korea, there is a traditional alcoholic beverage made from azalea blossoms, called Tugyonju, which literally means “azalea wine.” I understand its appeal, but I wonder: What color it is? Purple? Red? Orange? Pink? White?



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azalea red

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From the Greek “azaléos” meaning dry, azaleas are generally found in dry soil. A shrub often linked to the Old South, North America actually has 16 species of native azaleas found coast-to-coast. Often they are divided into three groups: the whites, the pinks and the reds-to-orange.

But azaleas are also found, even revered around the world. In China, the azalea is known as "thinking of home bush" (xiangsi shu), while the flowering shrubs are often immortalized in Chinese, Japanese and Korean poetry.

I took the above photo at Island Home Park on the Tennessee River.

And now a bit of homespun haiku:

“Azalea flower
explode the red in my heart.
Springtime's passion.”

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