The Azaleas Are Stealing The Show

We visit Temple Newsam on a regular basis and we always try and make sure we take a walk there when the rhododendrons are blooming. Unfortunately, we were a little early when we visited earlier this week as they seem to be only just coming into flower. I've posted many times about the rhododendrons at Temple Newsam and if you click the link to my Temple Newsam Rhododendrons post you'll see why we love visiting at this time of year.

As you can see, there's only a few shrubs starting to flower at the start of the rhododendron walk.

The flowers themselves are stunning but don't have the same impact as when you see them flowering en masse, cheek by jowl, colours clashing.

In a couple more weeks these shrubs will be walls of colour, as you can see in my earlier post.

Where the rhododendrons are a bit lacking at the moment the azaleas are stealing the show.

It can be hard to tell the difference between rhododendrons and azaleas, they're closely related and azaleas are part of the rhododendron genus, but they tend to be smaller. Many are deciduous whereas rhododendrons tend to be evergreen and azalea flowers are usually more spread out on the stems, rhododendron flowers grow in groups.

There seems to have been a bit of a population explosion at Temple Newsam Farm, as well as lots of newborn lambs there's quite a few kids too. This goat must have had twins. Isn't that the picture of contentment.