WINTER may be fast approaching, but it is an image of “springtime vibrancy” from a Spanish garden that has won the Royal Horticultural Society’s major photography prize.
The picture of an olive tree surrounded by tulips taken by Josie Elias, from Dorset, was chosen for the main £1,000 prize from a record number of entries. The society’s photography competition runs each year and is open to both amateur and professional photographers, with categories including plant portraits, people in the garden, and abstracts and details.
Ms Elias admitted to stumbling on the award-winning picture after wandering into the Iris Garden at Plantas Distintas in Marnes, Spain.
She said: “I was particularly intrigued by the contrast of the gnarled old olive tree and colourful spring flowers.
“I felt I had to capture the scene and was very encouraged by the nursery owners to enter the photograph in the RHS competition.”
The Iris Garden only opens to the public for two months each year.
Judge Chris Young described the winning shot as a beautifully composed photograph that captured “warm weather and springtime vibrancy”.
He said: “She has captured so well the spirit of a garden.”
The image was chosen ahead of striking photographs of a leaping mouse, a dead tree shot at twilight against a snowy landscape, and a close-up of a grasshopper clinging to a plant stalk.