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.

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

Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Diffuse Hibiscus

This Hibiscus was in the garden of a mission by San Diego. It was an overcast day which made for some nice soft light. I particularly liked this flower since most of the others were tightly closed or all the way open.

Sunday, April 29, 2007
Pink Rose

We have been looking for a nice rose. Because we don't have enough plants yet. (we can still get through our back yard.) This was one of the candidates at La Sumida Nursery. It's a tough decision, they have so many to choose from.

Sunday, October 15, 2006
Shady Hibiscus

The angle of the light really brings out the texture of this beautiful flower. I had some fun with the little fuzzy things on the top and a macro lens too. I'll take a close look at the results and see if there is anything interesting to put up here tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Thinking of You

I was looking through some of my images and this one was just crying out to be a greeting card. That is how many of my cards are created.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Pink Grape

Our tomatoes are doing great! This is a Pink Grape Tomato and they are delicious.

We had a 'bout with tomato worms and other things trying to eat them. We are trying to keep them organic and in doing this we are getting a real appreciation for how hard organic farmers must have to work. Fortunately, we found crawling rosemary to deter the snails, cut pantyhose around the pots and tied up around the plant to keep other creepy crawlies out and something special for the tomato worms! Check back tomorrow and I'll show you how we handle them.

Monday, June 19, 2006
Misty Mandevilla

It was hot here today. REALLY HOT! Fortunately we got this little mister thing from the hardware store. We hooked it up to our hose and made our little back yard a little cooler. After it was on for a while I noticed a nice effect on some of the plants near it.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Chinese Toon Trees

This is a beautiful pink tree at Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens, in Santa Barbara. There was no name on it like most of the plants in the gardens, and every time we go lately we see people trying to figure out what it is. Thanks to the Internet we were able to track it down.

Apparently the bright pink foliage is a springtime thing. If you look closely at the plants you can see them starting to fade to green at places.

This plant is actually used as a vegetable and in traditional Chinese medicine. 'Course that would not be the woody parts. They use them as young shoots, or even smaller, like bean sprouts.

Sunday, April 16, 2006
Honey Bee Hovering

This was actually from a Hound walk from a couple of weeks ago. I try not to chase too many bees while she is with me, but this guy was really showing off right beside the sidewalk.

Monday, April 10, 2006
Pink Breath of Heaven

It's spring time! We have been watching for new flowers. This was from a nice walk to OSH the other day. We did not bring this on home, but there were a couple of really interesting dwarf citrus trees that found a new home in our back yard. I'm sure you'll see some photos of them here soon.

Thursday, March 16, 2006
Variegated Mandevilla

There's more rainy weather comin'! I like the rain. :-D

This was taken last week during a rainstorm. This is another vine we got to attract butterflies along with our Passion Flower. Incidentally, the tendrils in that passion flower photo are actually wrapped around this Mandevilla plant. My botanist (my lovely wife) tells me that some plants bloom like crazy when they feel threatened. Makes sense, the kids can carry on the species. And that explains all the beautiful blossoms on this plant!

The other interesting thing is this plant had solid pink flowers last year. I like the stripes!

Monday, February 20, 2006
Pink Bells

Not sure exactly what kind of flower it is. (This is one of the rare times that the Internet has let me down!) But I like it... the flower that is... not the Internet... well I like that too, but you know what I mean! :-D

Yes, as a matter of fact I am posting very late at night and I am past ready for sleep!

Monday, February 6, 2006
Monterey Passion Flower

This is a beautiful hedge along a street in Monterey. I have taken pictures of it on more than one occasion. There are a wide variety of Passion Flowers, most of them are like something from another world! We have a quite different variety growing in our back yard.

Saturday, February 4, 2006
Bakery Cyclamen

There is a nice little bakery in Carmel called "Buon Giorno Bakery & Cafe" We like to stop in there for coffee or lunch. It is always really beautiful and best of all they are very dog friendly!

This was the centerpiece, in a nice little pot, on our table while were were waiting for our food. I had Lasagna and it was amazing, I even took a picture of that!

Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Monterey Rose

Could be an "American Pillar" rose, but it has more separation of the colors along the veins. Could be "Laughter Lines", the color matches, but it has less petals than the photos we found of them.

Either way, it is another in a line of amazing roses from the Monterey area.

Friday, January 20, 2006
Pink Orchids

This is one of the (many) times I was taking pictures when I was supposed to be doing something else. :-D I was at a Pastels class in a nursery. I got some great humming bird shots too!

Saturday, January 14, 2006
The Neighbor's Garden

I have been fortunate enough to have some really nice neighbors most everywhere I have lived. Our current neighborhood is no exception.

The guy who lives next door has a great rose garden. Interspersed in the rose garden are other flowering plants, which is a good thing this time of year since the roses just got their yearly trimming.

This is one of those lovely plants. As is the Bird of Paradise in this photo.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Pink Roses

December 31st... ahh it was a beautiful day!

These are some of the roses we had at our wedding. The others were Dolce Vita, a nice combination but they pale in comparison to my beautiful wife.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Wedding Roses

I was still getting used to this camera (Canon 20D) so these are a little brighter than I had intended. Still, I like the effect. And, these are special for another reason. On Saturday I will experience the indescribable pleasure of marrying my best friend, and these are the roses we picked to celebrate the occasion!

(I think it's particularly fitting that the name of these roses means "Sweet Life" in Italian.)

Thursday, December 22, 2005
Backlit Buds

This is another flower from my backyard. We got this one and a Passion Flower vine to attract butterflies. I think they liked the Passion Flowers better. The caterpillars almost them out wiped out.

Thursday, November 10, 2005
Hawthorne Bush

I have a combination of little filters that, when put together in a certain way, gives me this nice fuzzy feel. My best friend and I have dubbed them the "fuzzy flower filters". If it's a nice day Saturday I may spend some time at the mission rose gardens tinkering with them. If I get anything interesting you'll see it here.

Saturday, October 15, 2005
Anemone

Looks delicate doesn't it? One of the sites I was looking at while trying to identify this specific type of Anemone said that once they are established, they are difficult to "eradicate." It goes on to tell that the plant even survives being run over by delivery trucks on the side of the driveway.

I was impressed.

Wednesday, October 5, 2005
Abstract Pink Fuzzy

Not entirely sure what kind of flower this is, but I really like the abstract look of the shot.