Carol's Garden and Akela

During a recent visit to my sister-in-law Carol's house, I snapped some photos of her amazing garden, and of her Seppala Husky dog as well. The garden is the result of an intensive project begun during Covid to revamp the front yard from mostly grass to mostly gardens. The gardens are filled with intense color blooms which make it a joy to observe and walk through. Below are some of my favorite photos taken during the visit.

Her garden contains magnificent dahlias.

Delightful Dahlia

... and some other purple blooms, much loved by several insects.

Small Yellow Flyers

Bee on Task

While not as colorful as many of the plants, this blue spruce tree has plenty of camera appeal as well.

Bristling Blue Spruce

Here we take a brief intermission and introduce you to Akela, a Seppala Husky (also called a Seppala Siberian Sleddog). Check out the movie "Togo" (2019) to learn about Seppala Huskies. They're an intelligent and amazing sled dog, now considered a different breed from other Siberian Huskies.

Seppala Smile

Akela is one of, if not *the*, most alert dog I've ever met. He is always paying attention.

Eye on the Prize

Now back to more garden photos of a much smaller animal: a praying mantis.

Natural Pest Control

Special Garden Visitor

New Dahlia

Dancing Joyous Petals 1

Dancing Joyous Petals 2

Outreach

Bee Bliss

I enjoyed the textures displayed in the large petals of this hibiscus.

Sails Up

Once again, back to the glorious dahlias.

Basking Petals

Dahlia Derriere

 All photos © 2021, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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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

 All photos © 2021, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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Spring Happenings

Spring is a great time to be taking pictures. The bright colors of blooming flowers are hard to resist, both for me with my camera, and for bees as well. Bees see color somewhat differently than humans, preferring blues and yellows and not so much reds, as red looks black to bees.

Nature has a way of showing off this time of year. I try to capture that in the images below.

Enjoy!

This is a Lenten rose (a type of hellebore). It is not a rose; it is in the buttercup family.

Green with Envy

A hyacinth:

Purple Wave 1

Purple Wave 2

Here's a daffodil (also called Narcissus, the formal name of the genus). This was taken indoors in low light.

Mood Setter

A backyard azalea, that I find particularly captivating, at least in this pose:

Seeking Truth

This bee likes it too.

Pollen Hunter

Here the bee goes "all in":

Nose First

These next two photos are flowering pear tree blossoms:

Upward Bound

Blue Sky Watchers

This next photo is of our purple leaf sand cherry (also called plum leaf sand cherry). It *is* a member of the rose family. I've been experimenting with photos on my Pixel 4a, a recent cell phone upgrade. Despite its single lens and small size, this cell phone can be encouraged to take remarkably good photos with a bit of care.

This was taken in "Portrait" mode, and enhanced using Remini, which is a cell phone app I recently discovered that makes some pictures sharper (especially out of focus ones) using artificial intelligence. While Remini works particularly well for faces, I find it does a surprisingly nice job with many flower photos as well.

Purple No-Rain

(back to my regular Olympus camera on a different day) Here's the same plant in bright backlit sun:

Setting Sail

Another hyacinth:

Curls Aside

This is a primrose, which is not a rose:

Color Pop

This tulip was one of the earlier spring flowers on display in our garden:

Pink Rules

Pink Petals

This next photo is an indoor Pixel 4a picture of a daffodil in a vase, using natural light.

Splash of Yellow

Here's another Pixel 4a photo of one of our cherry trees, also taken in "Portrait" mode, and enhanced using Remini (and Lightroom).

Blossom Out

 All photos © 2021, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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Drenched in Light

Deb's indoor plant arrangements just inside our kitchen window were glowing in the morning sunlight. In these photos I had some fun capturing the strong morning light as it passed through the glasses and water. While the flowers themselves are lovely, these photos highlight other aspects of the arrangement.

These are all taken with my macro lens.

Water Plant

Bubbles

Floating

Petals Up

Refraction

All photos © 2020, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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More Crocosmia

Here are several more crocosmia photos. What an alive colorful plant this is!

When lit up in the sun, I'm drawn to photograph it.

All photos taken handheld with my macro lens using natural light.

Enjoy!

Alternating

Against the Green

Three Skis to the Wind

Hot Hues

Singing in the Red

Backbone

Vantage Point

All photos © 2019, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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