Even Rhodyman will smile at me for such a scene.

Breathtaking!! It makes me ask, "Are these real?" I never knew such huge numbers of Rhodys existed. Thank you for posting them. It's encouraging me, as I am planting 4 new azaleas today.

Some rhododendron of temperate region are evolving to be epiphytic.

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Nice PhotoShop job!

Actually, it's not a great photoshop job, it's pretty mediocre. Snasxs, you've been had.
Renee

That is some sight!Rhodys are hard to beat in any catagory.

Although it is a bad photoshop job, if you look in various sources like Rix & Phillips "Shrubs" you see that some hillsides almost do look like this. Putting the Nepalese (I think) word for Rhododendron arboreum in google found this:

Here is a link that might be useful: Laligurans

david rt 28,

It is not a bad photoshop job. Perhaps, you can drop your colored glasses.

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The accusations of PS are truly groundless.

They verify the ugly truth of Sinophobia which is rooted in Christian bigotry.

Where did that statement come from?

Let's stick to azaleas and rhododendrons.

The accusations of PS are just sour grapes (envy). They are jealous of your pictures because they have never been to a place where rhododendrons grow wild in such profusion. Peter & Ken Cox have similar pictures they took in their book, Encyclopedia of Rhododendron Species.

Thank you rhodyman :handshakes:

They aren't evolving to be epiphytes, they've been epiphytic for a very long time. The one close-up shot shows R. moupinense or similar, this one is even epiphytic on conifers.

Large conspicuous populations of rhododendrons can also be seen in North America and elsewhere. What's less usual about China is the high numbers of species found in particular areas, resulting in scenes like those here where multiple different ones can be seen blooming together.

There's a high steppe area in Yunnan (if I remember the province correctly) where as far as the eye can see, during flowering time the landscape is a sea of bright pink Rhododendron racemosum dotted with pools of silvery blue R. hippophaeoides in lower lying, more moist areas. A spotted necktie that stretches for miles.

I suppose I should offer an apology; but really, the first two pictures have been so badly resized I stick by my assertion that most people familiar with digital imaging would assume them to be fake. Bluriness is or was commonly employed to mask clumsy digital editing. Assuming you are on Windows like most people...so download Irfanview and stop using whatever terrible program produced those images. (Funnily enough, some digital cameras now have a setting to make the images look like "make believe" or "toy landscape" - I can image that setting might have produced results like these!) Besides I pointed out that such scenes would actually be believable, just that those particular images weren't. BTW the remark about sinophobia leading to our (my?) conclusion was priceless...that's the best out-there internet tangent I've read in ages.

Can you post more like the last one?

David,
First your original statement:
"Although it is a bad photoshop job," is clearly an assertion that the photos were photoshoped and not real. You then say that you said that scenes like this may be "believable", your statement atually said that some Hillsides "almost do look like this"

When proof is offered and other members verify that these scenes are beleivable you offer that maybe you should apologize but continue to give reasons why in your "expert" opinion they most likely are fakes.

Your, at best, impolite assertions are uncalled for and have no place on these forums.

Sinophobia: fear of Chinese rhododendrons. After winter is over, and I count my losses, I might suffer from this.