Giant Ammorillas

It's a shame these beauties appear only once a year. I  tried to get a shot of them before they were gone for another year.

Variegated Rose

This is another rose that David planted. It, too, has decreased in size since he is no longer here to care for it. 

David's Rose 2012

This is the first bloom of the season for David's rose. 

Giant Amaryllis

Maybe I should have titled this post "Heirloom Amaryllis" since these flowers were passed down to us from one of my aunt's  estate. They definitely are of the giant variety and are simply beautiful plants when blooming. It's a shame the bloom frequency is a mere once per year. I tried to capture a shot of them before they deteriorated too much (slugs love them at our house).


We have the giant white amaryllis, also, but nothing compares to this gorgeous shade of red.

March Buzzers

The perimeter of our property is hedged with azalea shrubs that both my father and my stepfather planted. Most of the year, they provide us with a nice green privacy fence, the presence of which we appreciate, but rarely consider beautiful. But every spring, our appreciation is replaced with marvel as we watch their branches come alive with color and activity. The branches become heavy laden with blooms in several beautiful shades of pink that attract a host of bumble bees as well as humming birds. So great will be the number drawn here to work the pollen that the sound is something similar to the hum of a high voltage power line.

Winter Camellia

This is about all I know of you can do with a camellia since they are such heavy flowers they drop from their stems too easily to be used for cut flower arrangements. They are valuable, however, as yard shrubs because they can get quite large and they remain green year round.

Mini Pink

Blooming Okra

White Orchid

Yellow Orchid

Yellow Rose

From Wild Flower to Digital Art

I have been interested in learning digital art techniques for some time and have browsed many digital art sites searching for ideas to use with my own photos. I saw something that gave me the idea to try this. I experimented with one of my shots of a backyard wild flower along with some brushes from www.brusheezy.com.

Shasta Daisies

 With no horticultural genius in my genes, a problem we're having with these flowers is really irritating me. As they multiply, the number of colors produced  varies inversely with the number of plants produced. For instance, we started out with almost every color available of these flowers. I'm remembering reds, yellows, oranges, pinks, and whites. But  when they reappear after the winter solstice every spring, we have white, almost white, pink, and ugly pink. 

Paperwhites

Shasta Daisies