Scorching!

Another post! As it turns out, I took over 1,500 photographs over the Memorial Day long weekend. How I managed to do so, I am not completely sure since for two of those days, I was in the city hanging out with friends. This hot weather of late has really brought out a lot of flowers, which is good timing since I won't be around till next weekend.

Let's start today off with a couple of photos with hidden little critters. Both photos are of peonies, albeit different varieties. An unidentified cricket-like insect was crawling around in the first flower while an and was playing hide-and-go-seek in the second peony. 

The next three photos are also of peonies. It's prime-time for peonies right now and the front/backyards are full of them. Compositionally, the more petals a peony has, the closer the shot I like to take. I'm not sure why but that's the trend I've noticed. How do you guys feel about this? 

Next, we have a few shots of poppy flowers. In the last post, we had the orange Oriental poppy and today, we have a pink one. Last year, there was more of the pink variety and this year, it's the opposite. The pink ones open up pretty much all the way while the orange ones tend to remain like a ball.

Like with the other flowers, we have several different types of clematis in the gardens. The below is a close-up of a variety that has not been shown in the other posts. This variety is relatively larger than the others and has wide, flat petals. 

The next two photos are of a clematis variety presented in previous posts. This variety's intricate petals have a mesmerizing effect one me and I can't help but take more photos of them.

This last clematis photo is of the pink variety, which was the first of all the clematis to bloom. As a result, they're also the first to wilt. But fear not, all is not melancholic as even in its end, this flower still commands a certain beauty.

Finally, we have some roses. There's a variety of roses at home - some are rather large while others are tiny. It's hard to tell which is which size in these photos since I have a tendency to take close-up shots. It rained this morning out on the Island, so there was some water droplets on the rose petals.

Well, we've reached the conclusion of today's post. I'm happy to have captured these beautiful flowers in pixel form now and to not have missed them blooming. With any luck, there will be new flowers out for when I return later this week. Till, then!

Hot, Hot,...Hot!

Hello, all! I'm back again today even though we just had a post yesterday. Today's post was rather unplanned but I had the day off and was outside for a few hours enjoying the nice weather. Of course, I had my camera in-hand, giving us today's collection of photographs.

We'll start first with the Oriental poppy, which is a member of the same genus as the opium poppy. The orange-colored variety is the natural form of the flower and a range of other colors have been cultivated over the years. Last year, I saw the pink variety next to the orange ones but didn't see them this year. Perhaps they'll show up later in the season.

Papaver orientale

With the departure of the mudan peonies from the landscape, we have the arrival of other peonies. The most noticeable difference between these peonies is the petal arrangement. The first photo below shows a peony with a single layer of petals, which is a striking contrast to the multi-layered mudan peony.

The single layer of petals appear to be "frosted" along the edge which has quite a beautiful effect. In the immediate vicinity of this peony is one of another cultivar. This type has a couple of more layers of petals that curl in towards the center of the flower.

A little ways away we have yet another type of peony with even more layers of petals. While the previous two peonies have unobstructed centers, this variety has petals sticking straight out from its center. The flower itself is also larger than the previous two but is smaller than the mudan peony.

Remember the "attack of the clematis" from yesterday's post? Well, I couldn't resist and took more photos today. This multi-layered clematis can take over a week to fully open its petals and once it does, it can last for several days. This being said, I'll definitely be taking more photos of these elegant flowers!

Speaking of elegant flowers, here are some iris photos. For some reason, I find myself drawn in by their crests, which look like fingers.

Last but not least, we have some photos of a visitor who might actually be a long-term resident. Over the years, we've encountered a Eastern box turtle just like this one in the front/backyard. This little guy was hanging out under some hydrangea bushes presumable to hide in the shade from the blistering sun. I wouldn't have noticed it had it not been discovered by one of our dogs.

Are you looking at me?!

What struck me the most was the fiery red eyes and unexpected "speed" with which the turtle could move. While trying to take my photos, I had to readjust my position a couple of times since the little guy was trying to get away from me.

Eventually, it did move further and further away from me. Above is the parting shot I snapped. For now, I must do the same since I will be traveling for work next week. Since I won't be home, the next post will likely be in a week or so unless I take more photos in the next couple of days. Until then, happy shooting!

Summer Weather Is Here!

As the title of this post suggests, summer weather has finally arrived! Temperatures have been kissing 80*F (27*C) and my AC has been turned on for maximum effect. I love summer but unfortunately, don't have much heat tolerance; however, that doesn't hold me back from going outside and snapping away!

We'll start off where we left off last time, with the mudan peonies. A side effect of the spring-summer transition is rain...lots of it. This year, the timing seems particularly bad as the warm weather brought about a lot of blooms, only to be followed by rain. This has the undesirable effect of withering the flowers prematurely, which ironically, presents a photographic opportunity in and of itself. Here, we have the fallen petals of a mudan peony:

Near the mudan peony is a clematis bush. I hadn't intended to take pictures of this particular flower but did since there was a bee on its petals. Last year I got some nice shots of bees gathering pollen from a sunflower, which was pretty cool to watch.

All of the photos is this batch were taken with the DMW-LC55 close-up lens installed on my DMC-FZ35. This lens works great in capturing the fine details as seen below. I was also quite pleased to see that the white clematis was not overexposed.

Okay, let's take a break from the clematis flowers. We actually have several varieties of them in the front/backyards but we'll take a look at them later on and give other flowers a turn. I'm not sure what the purple flower in the first photograph below is so if anyone does, then please let me know! The latter two are a rosebud and and iris, which is a spectacularly elegant flower with beautiful colors.

Guess what? It's back to clematis flowers! These flowers are from a clematis bush in the front yard and I just couldn't resist the perfect lighting the sun provided at the moment. The DMC-FZ35 really shines when there is adequate lighting.

The variety of clematis below is different from the magenta and white-petaled ones above in that it has blue-purplish petals arranged in a much more intricate pattern. Personally, I like this type of clematis the most because of its beautiful colors and multitude of layers of petals.

All around the front/backyards, I am seeing peony buds preparing to bloom. There are actually a couple that have already bloomed but the majority have not. I will be traveling for work next week so hopefully they will hold on until after I return home to bloom. Stay tuned!

Florilegia! Part Deux...

Welcome to the second part of Florilegia!

It's way too early in the morning for Saturday considering I was on the road for 10+ hours yesterday and breaking my back moving my sister's stuff back home from school. Anyway, I'd like to finish up the round-up of my last month's activity with the photos below.

We'll start off with a pair lilac images. There are two lilac trees in my backyard - one produces purple flowers and the other, white flowers. I never really paid attention to these flowers until this year after they blossomed from unassuming and rather plain buds. Once bloomed, there was a strong fragrance in the air around the trees.

Below, we have blueberry flowers, some of which will eventually become plump blueberries. I love everything blueberry - muffin, scone, pie, yogurt, juice. I'm not sure why but foods with blueberries are just tasty!

Above, we have a full-view of a clematis flower; below, we have a close-up view. I had several photos of clematis flowers last year but what the heck.

Here we have the purple flowers of some type of green onion/leek/scallion plant from the front yard. These flowers are oddly similar to those of Chinese chives albeit purple rather than white.

The last seven photos here were taken with my DCM-FZ35 with the DMW-LC55 close-up lens attached. This is a nice add-on lens as it gives a 2-3x boost in magnification and a nicer bokeh! 

The two photos above are of lilacs and roses. Below, we have a hoverfly taking a break from erm...hovering. =P This little guy stood still long enough for me to snap some shots of it and boy are they quick when flying around.

Now, for the last round we have a few photos of the mudan species of peony. This flower has beautifully full petals and is quite large.

It seems like we've been getting rain more often than not lately, which puts a damper on my photographic activities but once it stops, a whole other opportunity is presented. Here we have some close-up shots of raindrops gathered on the mudan petals.

Well, that does it for now. We're fully caught up with my latest photographs and I suppose once I have another batch, we'll have my next post!