For Cee’s Flower of the Day and Wordless Wednesday
The times they are a changin’
Tag Archives: FOTD
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.
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:
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.
Just a little bit magic…or maybe a lot
I find blue alpine lupines to be a bit of magic. The true blue color makes me feel like the sky and earth come together in them…and the smell of a meadow full of them is truly divine.
This year we saw a fairy ring of them!
Rock roses
Yesterday morning there was mist and a few raindrops. The pearly drops gathered on these rock roses in my neighbor’s parking strip.
Sunshine in shadows
I got out a little late on our dog walk this morning and the light was really too bright for exceptionally good pictures. But these daisies in a shaded area with a few sunbeams hitting them were kind of pretty.
