Friday, April 13, 2012

this is probably better than going to church.

But I wouldn’t know, since I don’t go to church. All I know is that looking around sets me right: this a most excellent planet. So here, partake of the goodies, and enjoy:

A couple of days ago, I went out twice – twice! – with the camera, but, as the hip people say, life was pain. DSC_0401 (3)

Hepatica are my undoing. There is something about light violet flowers that my camera and I have not been able to figure out.

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I have equally bad luck photographing spring beauties, so today I headed up into the woods at home where I knew I’d find whole carpets of them. I was determined to get a good portrait.

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Naturally, a little one insisted on stealing the spotlight.

I will say, I do love being able to focus on different places. For instance, let’s hone in on the texture of the petals…

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…and now, let’s have a look at those stamens.

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Yum. There were carpets of trout lilies as well – just the initial leaves, no flowers. And Canada mayflower.

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But the show-stoppers today are the blue cohosh. The first ones to come up, which last I checked were two or three inches tall, have grown maybe eight or nine inches in the past five days.

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And more flowers are opening up.

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You can see the space alien hands are turning green.

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On the other side of the driveway, another whole bunch are coming up.

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Poignant, I think.

The Trillium Report

Trillium come in for a lot of abuse.

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Chomp.

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Is it safe to come out?

Others are faring better. At this stage, we get to see just how messy pollination gets.

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It’s all tidy at first.

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Then it gets sneezalicious.

Holy Crap Category

Today, we have what I will tentatively identify as some sort of blue-eyed grass, only the stamens look totally different from the rest of them. Let’s review.

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Your typical blue-eyed grass naughty bits.

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And, bonus, these guys look like they are going to be giving birth to tiny little watermelons.

Magnolia Newsflash

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Susannah over at Wanderin’ Weeta has many interesting things to say about magnolia.

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