The Queen's Flower

Like it does every year at the beginning of summer, this flowering tree next to my house is now putting quite a show. In the last few years I've noticed that the flowering always peaks right at the solstice. On 2023 and 2024 I posted similar images (#59492 and #68193) to EarthSky Community Photos that included the following description:

"The Queen's Flower or Pride of India (Lagerstroemia speciosa) is a beautiful deciduous tree with prolific purple flowers, used commonly as an ornamental plant. Its yearly flowering can be particularly impressive, peaking in the warm months of the northern hemisphere around June or July. It is native to India and has been chosen as the state flower in Maharashtra, but its habitat also includes South East Asia, China and the Philippines. Because of its beauty, its use has now extended to most tropical areas in the world including the Caribbean."

I should add that this year, at solstice, the flowering appeared a bit less plentiful than other years. I think this has to do with the annual trimming of the tree; we usually do this in February, but this year we held it until March, meaning that the tree has had less time to redevelop. I am confident that the flowering will continue to increase, achieving a peak probably in early July about two weeks post-solstice.

Smartphone camera on Motorola G-Pure.

GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) on GNU/Linux. (1) Scaling on the left image to 1,500 x 2,000 from the original at 3,120 x 4,160. (2) cropping on the right image to 2,000 x 2,000 from the original at 4,160 x 3,120. (3) Slight saturation adjustment on the left image, to match the saturation on the right image. (4) Slight color adjustment on the left image to make the image less warm, in order to better match the visual appearance of the scene.