Mountain Laurel Landscape on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Mountain Laurel Landscape, June 7, 2005
I found this image while heading north on the Blue Ridge Parkway as storm clouds were filling the sky above me. I could hear thunder in the distance, but knew I had enough time to pull over, jump out of the car with camera and tripod, and get a few shots before the storm arrived. I was hoping for more texture in the sky, but this is the best I got.
I like to include landscape images as well as closeup shots to give people the "feel" of the habitat in which these plants grow. However this shrub was somewhat unusual. Instead of growing in the woods like most others, this one grows out in the open, right along the edge of the Blue Ridge Parkway, near mile marker 165.