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Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Alice's Hibiscus
It has been a good summer for Hibiscus. So good in fact I could
not be sure where I took this. One day I shot some pink Hibiscus
at Alice Keck's garden
and a day or two later I shot some
very similar Hibiscus near Butterfly beach at the same time
of day. Good thing I was using my digital camera, I could check the date.
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Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Solar Pathway Lantern
One of the things we learned from the recent fire
is how truly dark it can be outside when the power goes
off. My dad who was far ahead of his time
taught me the virtues of solar energy when he
was able to power our whole house with solar panels twenty years ago.
Unfortunately there are less options for renters although we keep trying.
When we tried these small solar path lights a few years
ago they did not last very long. But these days they
have small LEDs in them so they last all night this time
of year. So we replaced all of our landscape lighting
with these and some nice spotlights on the plants.
Next time the power goes out we'll at least be able to
get around without falling over all our plants.
I'm sure it's wonderful for the environment too, but
personally I'm not convinced that buying a bunch of stuff
just to save energy is a terribly responsible thing to do
unless the things you are replacing have outlived their usefulness
and need to be replaced anyway.
I'd rater telecommute and keep my old jeep that I drive about
10 miles a month, than buy an overpriced hybrid that had to be
manufactured somewhere. Personally I think a large part of the current
save-the-world movement is an excuse to make you feel good about
buying things... eco-consumerism! Save the world with your credit card!
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Monday, August 25, 2008
Passion Tower
This was right down the aisle from my
bee friend from yesterday.
I took more pictures at the Nursery than anywhere
the rest of the trip. My wife says this one looks like
a cell phone tower, and I have to agree. Only a little
prettier.
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Sunday, August 24, 2008
Nursery Worker
Whenever we go to the Monterey area we like to stop
at the nurseries in Carmel Valley. We've found some
really different plants there.
And of course there are always plenty of bees and hummers to chase.
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Saturday, May 24, 2008
Evening Epi
It's a great time of year, time for our Epis to really start blooming.
This one lasts a little longer
than one evening so I'm pretty sure it is a hybrid of some sort.
In the wild they only bloom for a single night. The blossom
is about nine inches at the widest. The cup of petals in the middle
is about four across. It is quite an amazing sight and makes for
some nice night-time photography.
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Saturday, May 17, 2008
Mexican Tulip poppy
This is a new friend that followed us home from
a nice little nursury in Montecito. Nursuries
are a dangerous place really, we only have a small
backyard and it is getting pretty full.
Last week a similar thing happend with a Passion Flower
vine and a dwarf Fingered Citron tree. Both of which
will be featured on the Photo of the Day in the near future.
Just as soon as their blossoms get a little further along.
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Sunday, April 20, 2008
Sun Star Bloom
Well it's that time of year the Sun Stars are in bloom!
This is a beautiful Orange hybrid related to a Star-of-Bethlehem.
This particular flower was my first one. It took a rest last year, but
it is back strong.
If you landed here looking for care and feeding of your new plant
take a look at the Sun Star page. And my
earlier shot from the first time this one bloomed.
Most importantly, it's a perennial bulb, so No!... you did not kill it! It dies back every year
down to the bulb.
And pretty fast after it's done blooming!
If you're looking for one, they are available as live plants now. Or you can get bulbs in the fall.
I've had a few requests for sources of bulbs so I'll try to get some links online soon.
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Saturday, April 19, 2008
Tulip Feather
More plants followed us home from the grocery store
the other day. One of them was this beautiful Tulip.
The bellows was still out from the recent
Ladybug fest so this shot
was inevitable really.
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Saturday, April 12, 2008
Break time for the farmworker
Another lady bug fresh from work on our epi farm. They are doing a great job,
the aphids are virtually gone! So she (he?) deserves a break. This is a rose
from our first anniversary. Lasted well didn't it? Well, it helps to buy the
bush rather than the cut flowers. :-D
Unlike the Ladybug from yesterday
I shot this one with a macro lens attachment and no bellows. This was the closest I could get
as compared to yesterday when I was actually at the maximum focal distance of the bellows.
This way I can get a little bit of the beautiful surroundings.
Oh, and as you can probably tell it's dark outside. I was using
a hand-held light to get these shots. I'ts best to release the lady bugs
in the evening unless you just want them to fly away.
It was interesting though, they were much warmer and therefore much more active tonight.
It finally got to the point where I had to go inside because I was covered in ladybugs.
Fortunately these don't bite unlike the apparently carnivorous ladybugs in the
farm country where my parents live. When the farmers harvest the fields the ladybugs
run... and then they descend upon my parents' house in a swarm.
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Friday, April 11, 2008
Lady in the Epi
The ladybugs seem to really love our epis.
Probably because when they start to bloom (the epis, not the bugs :-D) there's a lot of nectar
around the buds. The nectar seems to attract aphids. This time
we tried to get the jump on them. We bought a small bag of
ladybugs from the hardware store. Of course I was not going to let
them go until the camera was ready!
I used a bellows to get close enough for this shot. The whole background of the shot
is the same flower that the ladybug is sitting on.
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Monday, February 11, 2008
Ranuculus Close Up
It may not seem like it, but I have finally
got off the sofa to start to take some pictures
again. This was during a nice walk through a local
nursery the other day.
I appreciate all your kind notes and thoughts over the last
few weeks. Zoe's still a great inspiration. I think
of her often when we are out and see something beautiful like this,
or the amazing flowering pear trees that are covered in white blossoms right now.
The kind of things that she would have got me out of the
house to take pictures of. Now it's all up to Tweetums
to get us out of the house once in a while! I wonder
if he would like to go out for a walk? ...hmmm
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Fluttering Monarch
This was from a trip to a local nursury
just before Christmas. Santa Barbara is
a popular place for them to hang out in the
Winter. We actually have a grove of Eucalyptus
trees they congregate in. I'd love to
go take more shots of them, but the way
it's raining right now I don't think I could
make it through the mud.
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Thursday, January 17, 2008
Iridescent Epi Blossom
One of our Orchid Cacti, blooming like crazy. It may
look like a close macro shot, but it is actually THAT BIG!
'Bout 9" across. I have kind of gone wild with Orchid Cacti.
We actually have about a hundred epis now.
Most started from small cuttings.
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Saturday, December 1, 2007
Painted Orchids
This is another one of my low depth of field
experiments. I really like the way it helps you
focus on one flower, but you can still see the
others fading into the background. The lighting
was something special on this one too. It was
in a nursuy in Carpenteria, CA. The roof of the
building we were in was translucent. It let
the sun through, but the light was filtered
and beautiful.
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Monday, November 26, 2007
Low Aperture Poppy
I've always liked playing with low aperture shots.
I like the way the stem of this poppy goes out of focus
fast. For comparison, the apple from Thanksgiving was
about as tight (high) aperture as this lens gets.
Which kept the nice texture of the skin in focus
over the whole surface.
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Sunday, November 25, 2007
Orange Gerbera Closeup
More beauty courtesy the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market.
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Saturday, November 24, 2007
Echinacea Honey
So I wonder how Echinacea Honey would taste?
It still amazes me how fuzzy honey bees are if you look close.
I guess that's why I like chasing them around with my camera
so much. It is nearly impossible to see at this size but there are
actually furs between the segments of her eyes.
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Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Paradise at the Farmers' Market
This is another shot from last night at the Farmers' Market.
I actually spent less time taking pictures than driving
the few miles to get there, but I had a good time once I did.
Maybe next time I'll get there a little earlier.
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Thursday, August 30, 2007
Glowing Succulent Blossom
This was a surprising find at a local nursery.
I saw the flower as we were coming up to it
and I was surprised when I saw that it was
growing on a cool little succulent plant.
We didn't bring it home with us yet, but
I'll probably be going back to get it.
Usually when the photos come out like this
I regret not going back to get the plant.
Too bad they don't sell bigger back yards to go with it.
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Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Purple Nightshade
It's a common flower around here, but I never knew it had so many names.
This one was in a nursery in Carmel Valley.
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Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Pink Petals
When I took the photo a couple of weeks ago I knew what the
flower was. But today I'm drawing a blank.
Sure is pretty though. When my memory starts working
I'll add a note. Of course that could take a while. :-D
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Monday, August 20, 2007
Lily of the Rain
The yard is a completely different place in the rain.
Unfortunately for my camera I love the look of the flowers
when it's raining. It's not just the drops of water.
If it was I could just spray them. The soft lighting from the clouds
changes the feel of the photo completely.
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Thursday, August 16, 2007
Peach Lantern
This is one of my favorite flowers. I don't usually
see them in peach though. It took a very low angle
to get this shot, as the name suggests
they kind of hang down like lanterns or bells.
I was almost sitting on the ground.
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Saturday, August 11, 2007
Backlit Lantana
We took a walk around one of our favorite nurseries today.
The late afternoon light combined with the smoke in the air
from the Zaca fire near us made for some beautiful lighting.
Well, if we are going to put up with the fire danger we might
as well get something out of it!
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Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Mimosa Hummer
Last week we had the pleasure of exploring some beautiful
nurseries in Carmel Valley near Monterey. It was a
great place to chase hummers.
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