Orchid
I’m not sure I posted about this. I’m too lazy to research it. So, you get it now or maybe again? No matter, I bought an orchid about two years ago. I read/was told they bloom about once a year. It doesn’t require much care. I almost ignored the plant and remembered to water it occasionally, as in less than once every few weeks. The plant lived. It did not bloom… until about 2++ years later. Really! Suddenly one day… one bloom… and another about a week later. Now, for the past few weeks… really! I suppose I will await the next blooming in a few years. They really tolerated near complete neglect. Ok!
Out of the box
I have lots of great flower pictures… too numerous to count. And, I like to post images straight from the camera… no manipulation (Photoshop). That is not to say that I don’t. I have added or moved people around in group shots. I have added open eyes – someone always has their eyes closed in a group shot. Part of the reason is that I’m lazy. I don’t want to spend time in Photoshop. So, I visualize my shots and try to get things right in the camera before I press the shutter. It works… often. Sometimes, I touch up. There are purists among us who disapprove. Back in the day – Ansel Adams – the negative was just the starting point for the print process. Photoshop makes it easier to massage the pixels. There are masters; I am strictly amateur.
Sunflower
I know we probably were on someone’s property to get these shots. Thank you. Gorgeous! They don’t plant every year. I got shots a couple years back and then not again till now. It was fun! I’m glad the flowers were out for us to see.
Asian lily
Short lived. Just a couple weeks in June. Darn! Then I have a green plant for the rest of the summer. Spectacular when it blooms, the green plant is hardly much to see when all the company arrives in July. I can’t bring myself to retire the plant. Rabbits would love it. They ate them in a few seconds in the yard. But no, this spectacular bloom is mine. So I enjoyed it to the fullest extent possible.
Weed
It’s clover. Clover’s good. It adds nitrogen. I don’t pay much attention and consider it a weed. Then it flowered in my pot unbidden. It was pretty until the bloom faded. When I went to pull it the root system was extensive and everything else in the container faded soon after. I had to do a new planting and fertilize like crazy. Go figure. I’m still an amateur with plants.
Garden proud
I am very pleased at how the spring planting turned out. And with my good images piling up, you would have a good flower photo every day for a good long time. Instead, I summarize. I may sneak some more shots but… In the front the wisteria is coming along nicely. They are beginning to grow across and obscure the balcony rail. Roses, the bane of my garden, occasionally reward me with some color. I have mostly sickly looking roses. Nope, I am not a rose person. Otherwise the back deck is predicated on summer long color. It has no organization. There is a mix of perennial and annual flowers. Sometimes the perennials show up again and sometimes not. Herbs grow. And for the first time I am cooking with fresh herbs. The cats eat fresh catnip. But mostly, they enjoy grass. Imagine? My cats eat grass like cows.
Superbloom again
It’s been a good spring. We caught another superbloom. This time it was a field of yellow. It was not advertised so the only one to be there with me was Colleen and the veterinary tech at the vet office. The twins were in for shots.
Ray has been shaking his head. “Can you check his ears?” The vet took a swab. No ear mites. But there is bacteria and yeast. Treatment? Ok. I don’t know what it cost – plausible deniability. I was a surgeon. We wore gloves for surgery. There is bacteria on your skin. That would be a fact. And mold forms on food left in the fridge too long. So let me ask. Do you think there might be bacteria and yeast in a cat’s ear? I feel like a pediatrician who appeases the parent by prescribing an antibiotic for a viral cold. Not me. It was Colleen who asked the question.
Bugs
I’m working a container garden on a deck about 20 up. We have a planter with green onions/chives that bloom in the spring. How’d I get these bugs? They flew on up? Or crawled? It’s a long way. How’d they find them? It was about the last thing I expected when I edited the images. I was looking for stamens and other flower parts. Bugs! We got bugs.
…at least three.
Closeup
It’s spring. I just completed the annual planting ritual. This year I avoided (mostly) Home Depot and Lowes. Their plants are less costly? But the quality is inferior. I got much nicer stuff and for comparable price at the local nurseries. Well, they were a bit of a hike. We traveled greater than 20 miles to get there. Different stores carry different things. I won’t belabor. I got carnations at Walmart. They were spectacular last year. As always, after planting, a series of flower shots follow. This year I report that the pics taken with the Sony RX100M6 are inferior to the Canon G7X. The Canon just has better close focus capability. I can get a good shot with the Sony but it is much harder to get close focus on the flower parts. Realizing this fact I utilized the strength of the Canon at close range. As a result my results were way better and much easier to achieve.
Tumbleweed
“Oh, bury me not, on the lone prairie…” lyrics cowboy ballad. Tumbleweed. It’s a Russian thistle that is invasive across the western US. It’s a weed! $65 online. Yup, someone started to collect and sell them. Me? I did not and do not want one. Our grandkid wanted one for his dad. ??? yup, Xmas. Ok! I found one in CO. We were speeding down the road and I screeched to a stop, hopped out the car, and caught one against the fence. …saved myself $65. Yeah, we looked online. I thought I could do the deed without searching the prairie. We got that sucker home and promptly it was lost. They left it on top of the car as they loaded the luggage to go home. We rescued it again about a block away as it lodged against a fire hydrant. I’ve no clue as to its fate. All I know is that I caught a weed.
