For Cee’s Flower of the Day and Wordless Wednesday
The times they are a changin’
Category Archives: Flowers
Arty-choke
Last Saturday we went to an art show featuring some watercolor painting by my husband’s very talented uncle. Beside the library where the show was held there was a pea patch garden. I love pea patches.
Even though it was a rather grey, drippy day I wandered about a bit. This patch of artichokes, past the harvest stage, caught my eye. From different angles the flowers* brought to mind roses and waterlilies.
These were processed using various effects in Topaz Studio 2.
*The artichoke we eat is the bud of a large, thistle-like flower. This post shows the artichoke flower we found when we came home from a vacation last year.
Even weeds can be pretty
A good tulip time
Priorhouse blog has an interesting post about tulip time, now it is time to plant them in the northern hemisphere for spring color.
In Washington they grow bulbs in Skagit Valley. Occasionally we go up to enjoy the spring color. We took Grandma twice the first year she lived up here, both for the daffodils and tulips.
A different kind of fall color: Hardy cyclamen
I adore hardy cyclamen, more known for its wonderful variegated leaves than its flowers. In early fall they bloom naked, then the leaves come out. Because the small flowers grow close to the ground it is hard to see and appreciate the delicate beauty of the blossoms on their curlicue tendrils without crawling on the ground. Here is a slug’s eye view:
Hello, September
September seems like it really should be the beginning of the year. I never feel like January’s New Year’s has any thing to it. Things aren’t changing in the weather or natural world, the holidays are emotionally exhausting and I don’t feel ready to look at the past or energy to move into the future with purpose.
September is a month of change and transition. I tend to have time reflecting about the year at my annual trip to Mt Rainier in August and when September comes with the cooler weather I feel ready for new endeavors.
All of these photos were taken within four blocks of my home.
This week I decided to try and take photos that show the transition between summer and fall. The days are shorter and the little bit of rain we’ve had is bringing some things back into the green while others head toward seed formation.
Putting together a gallery seemed like a natural when I saw City Sonnet’s prompt: Welcome September.
A rosy (and fluffy) outlook
I’m still working on all of the pictures I took at Paradise earlier this month. This is a rosy spirea. This year they were just a bit past their prime. Here is one from last year. Its not quite as close-up, but the details are pretty good.
Mountain asters
This year while at Mount Rainier we saw a great deal of the mountain aster in some of the meadows. Like the white flowers I mentioned in Scintillating Meadows, the pale purple can also catch and reflect light, causing the meadows to look like they are full of sparks of light.
Lewis’s Monkeyflower
Strange name, but beautiful flowers. The alpine version is smaller than the description on this US Forest Service site. They seem to like little streams. These photos were taken above the treeline along the Skyline trail near Paradise on Mount Rainier.
Electric blue Gentians
It seems like every year that we go to Paradise a different type of flower steals the show. In the past I’ve seen very few gentians, but this year they seemed to be almost everywhere. Apparently this is because of the early warm spring that we had.
