Flower thread August 2025

New month - new thread




Hydrangea macrophylla 'Miss Saori'




Lilium lancifolium

We have a nice stand of lilies in the bed in front of our east facing living room. That means of course there's not any direct sun on that bed much past 1PM and a fair number of the tiger lilies in the bed want to capture as much direct light as possible, so, they lean forward.





Snapdragons are one of my favourite volunteers in the garden...

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Shoot it again....pixels are cheap!
Pieter

Hydrangea paniculata 'Kyushu'

Saturday afternoon, August 2. The flower was as small as a fingertip.

Double petal Hibiscus with Katydid - Bush Cricket (Scudderia mexicana)

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Mainly taken with OM-1 + 60mm macro, a couple of shots are from a wild flower area we keep at the bottom of our garden to give the wee beasties a home. We also have a patch of lavender which is normally a magnet for bees but we have seen a lot less of them this year :-(



View attachment ceb3a72438514355b93e7e1e8b2282cf.jpg





--
Jim Stirling:
"To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason, is like administering medicine to the dead." - Thomas Paine
Feel free to tinker with any photos I post

The polinators are having a hay day!




Hosta 'Tickle me Pink'




Fuchsia magellanica



--
Shoot it again....pixels are cheap!
Pieter

African Iris, Dietes iridioides. From a distance, the markings on the petals resemble water color drawings.

sunflower a little past prime.
















15 frames stacked in camera.



--
Art P
"I am a creature of contrast,
of light and shadow.
I live where the two play together,
I thrive on the conflict"

Hosta / Plantain Lily

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Photography after all is interplay of light alongside perspective.

Cacti in Bloom... not every year, and then only for a few days when they do bloom, but such a treat when they do.




45mm f1.8 with C-210



--
Photography is poetry made visible; it is the art of painting with light!

Rosebay willowherb







Mark H
"Life is worth photographing"

Hemerocallis – Daylily ‘Baltimore Oriole’

richj20 said:

Double petal Hibiscus with Katydid - Bush Cricket (Scudderia mexicana)

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Nice capture. Sometimes it pays to look carefully.

I've always found a plant's seed pods intriguing - they come in many sizes, shapes, colors. All have the same function: to provide for the birth of new plants.

Of interest to me this time of year is the Red Yucca plant, Hesperaloe parviflora because the seed pods attract one of my favorite bugs, the Leaf-footed Bug, Leptoglossus zonatus.

This is the plant - a grass like succulent with long strong stems to support the flowers and seed pods



The flower, partially opened.



A new seed pod forming.



A stem with unopened flowers, and new seed pods.



The leaffooted bug on a seed pod. The pods attract the bugs as a place to eat, sleep, and mate. Note the leaf like structures (called expansions) on the hind legs.



A side view.



A close look at the "leafs" from the rear of the bug



The large yellow areas with brown spots are not the eyes. They are tiny globe-like structures farther down towards the front.



The bug has a narrow feeding snout (proboscis) between the antennae, which penetrates into the shell of the pod to suck juice.


The darker green spots around the proboscis are traces of juice. It is common to see these green spots on the pods where bugs have previously fed

Leaf-footed bug nymphs. The pods provide a place for them to hang out.



As the seed pod matures, it hardens and splits open to reveal the seeds. The shell of the pod turns into attractive colors and shapes.





The seeds fall to the ground to be picked up by birds and distributed elsewhere.

A most interesting plant.

-richard

Bird-of-Paradise closeup




Lotus flower pod.




Lotus flower.

One of my favorite flowers. Interesting perspective.

MyReality said:

Bird-of-Paradise closeup

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MyReality said:

richj20 said:

Double petal Hibiscus with Katydid - Bush Cricket (Scudderia mexicana)

Click to expand...

Nice capture. Sometimes it pays to look carefully.

Click to expand...

It certainly does. Thanks,

-richard

richj20 said:

One of my favorite flowers. Interesting perspective.

richj20 said:

Bird-of-Paradise closeup

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Click to expand...

Thank you! I sold one of these prints a number of years ago when I was selling prints.