MYSTERY PHOTO: White flower among azaleas

What in the world is this white flower doing among azaleas?  And just what in the heck is it? Send your best guess to editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.

Our last Mystery Photo, “Light and reflection,” was a snapshot offered by Alaska reader Thomas Jacobsen of the Muses pool during the Night of a Thousand Candles at Brookgreen Gardens.

Congratulations to alert sleuths who recognized the scene or figured it out using Internet tools:  George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Chris Brooks and Stephanie Paetsch, both of Mount Pleasant; Wendy Kulick of Kiawah Island; Hollie Anderson, Delia A. Smith, Kristina Wheeler and Chris LaForce, all of Charleston; Ross Lenhart of Pawleys Island; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; and Jay Altman of Columbia.

Peel provided lots of context: “Today’s mystery photo was taken during one of the annual ‘Nights of a Thousand Candles’  holiday season lighting events in Brookgreen Gardens, near Myrtle Beach, SC. The holiday lights are framing the ‘Fountain of Muses’ bronze sculpture group and fountain, originally created by Swedish sculptor Carl Milles.

“Each year, the ‘Nights of a Thousand Candles’ event transforms Brookgreen Gardens into a magical, wintry paradise. Each weekend at dusk in December, visitors can stroll amid the soft glow of more than 5,500 hand-lit candles, countless sparkling lights, and mesmerizing, lighted displays of gardens and fountains.

“Voted one of the top 10 ‘Best Public Gardens’ in the U.S. by TripAdvisor, Brookgreen Gardens is home to beautiful gardens, historical sites, world-renowned art collections, and native animals in their own, on-site zoo. A little known fact is that Brookgreen Gardens has largest outdoor display of American sculptures in the world.

“The group of bronze sculptures and fountains depicted in the mystery photo was originally created from clay moldings by Carl Milles (1875-1955) between 1949 and 1954. The sculptures were completed in 1955 and installed in the cafeteria of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City shortly after Milles death (click here for a 1955 photo of this installation at the Metropolitan Museum). It was then moved to its current home at Brookgreen Gardens in 1982.”

• Send us a mystery:  If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!)   Send it along to editor@charlestoncurrents.com.