A Flash Of Orange Amid The Concrete

Hi Lilium, Hi Lilium, Hi-Lo

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Sometimes you spot a gem of a sight when you're busy looking for something else entirely. A couple of weeks ago, I took my camera out at lunchtime and I walked under the Princes Bridge to take some shots by the river. Then I took the spiral walkway from under the Victorian Arts Centre leading up to street level on St Kilda Road.

I was looking up towards the brightness of the street above when something caught my attention over my left shoulder. In a narrow alcove bordered by a triangle of concrete, in typical Melbourne style, was a steep garden slope. Even a little wedge is fair game for garden cultivation here in Victoria, which prides itself on its parkland, its greenery and its gardens.

These liliums were in full bloom and I have to say the flaming orange hues were a perfect foil for the mortar and bluestone that is such a hallmark of the city's early architecture.

Finally, I have to ask the question - you did notice the sharply-defined shadow on the bottom leaf, didn't you?

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