The Cormorant, the Dragonfly, and the Bee: June 2021

Sunday, June 27, 2021

Restful Res

We are so fortunate to live near the "res." I find that the local reservoir provides welcome peace and tranquility when I walk there. Here are some cell phone photos I recently took during one such outing.

Walking can be quite meditative in a location like this. It just takes an awareness of the present to notice;)

Water Dimples

Rock Islands

Res at Rest

Echinacea Encore

Not to be outdone by the red echinacea, the nearby pink echinacea plant was getting jealous and decided to show off, and so I had to take a few more echinacea pictures. Up close:)

Echinacea 10

Echinacea 11

Friday, June 18, 2021

Eye-popping Echinacea

As promised in my earlier "Spring Collection" blog post, here I present several echinacea photos (plus one bird). This red echinacea variety is new to our garden this year.

These have bloomed out with striking red (and white) color. I had a hard time deciding which views to share, so I decided to share many.

Echinacea 1

Echinacea 2

While photographing the echinacea, this robin decided to visit. Since I had my macro lens rather than my telephoto lens on my camera, I couldn't get a close-up shot in-camera, because the robin wasn't particularly close to me. However, I managed to capture this from about 20 feet away, then cropped and enhanced with LightRoom's recently introduced AI-based "super resolution". The jury is still out about whether or not robin's care about echinacea, but I think not. It was the nearby cherry tree that held interest.

Visiting Robin

Echinacea 3

Echinacea 4

This is a different bloom than shown in the previous photo; note the thinner petals.

Echinacea 5

Echinacea 6

Echinacea 7

Echinacea 8

Echinacea 9

Solomon's Seal Selection

Below is a selection of Solomon's seal photos I recently took.

According to gardeningknowhow.com Solomon's seal gets its name from the scars that form where leaves have dropped. Apparently they look like the sixth seal of King Solomon. Who knew!?

For me, it's all about those graceful arches and the unique hanging blossoms.

And the leaves.

Okay, ... the whole plant:)

Here you go:

Solomon's Seal 1

Solomon's Seal 2

Solomon's Seal 3

Solomon's Seal 4

Solomon's Seal 5

Thursday, June 17, 2021

Vibrant Color in the Garden

I've got more spring blossom photos to share below. Some of these are roses, which don't bloom just in spring. According to the internet, the spring rose bloom is the first of the season and also the most spectacular. No argument here.

Enjoy!

Here's one of our returning favorites: a Joseph's Coat rose. Reminds me of an Orange Julius;)

Rose Tips

These next two are hardy geraniums. They love to be backlit, and have delicate details.

Golden Thread

Lit Geranium

One of our red poppies is next. There's so much going on near the center.

Poppy Complex

Our Fourth of July roses have bloomed in timely fashion before the 4th. They look like fireworks.

Exploding Fireworks

Deb and I have our wedding anniversary in early July, so we also call these our "anniversary" roses.

Celebration Rose

Red roses add additional vibrant color to our garden.

Resting Red Rose

This is Gaillardia, commonly called "blanket flower".

Sun Corona

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Spring Collection

Here's an assortment of photos, mostly taken during the colorful month of May.

This first photo is a cell phone "portrait mode" shot. This mode often works as well for flowers as for people!

These next two photos are of the arrangement Deb made that I mentioned in my prior post.

Arrangement Topside

Attack from the Space Pods

An earlier post, "Spring Happenings Continued", shows this same robin's nest with four eggs. Alas, three had since disappeared, leaving this solo egg. Sad to say, this egg didn't make it either. Evidently, it is sometimes a tough task for birds' eggs to survive "in the wild."