The Flowers of Spring & Summer!

Two days ago I posted a picture of the lovely crocus that are growing in our front yard. However, they were not the first flowers to grow on our property! A couple of weeks ago I discovered itty bitty blossoms that were popping up where the moss and mushrooms grow in our granite valley. If you can believe it, this tiny flower measures about 1/16" in diameter! When their tiny little faces are closed up, you can hardly see them at all! Here then, is a promise to show that Spring is just around the corner!

Yesterday I posted my picture, "The First Flower of Spring," and today I'd like to show you the second flower! Like the first flower, this one grows in the moist, moss- and grass-covered moss down in our little granite valley. Not nearly as small as yesterday's 1/16" flower, these blossoms measure an enormous 1/4" across! :D :D :D I adore their pearlescent white petals and inverted bell shape. They are often found in little clusters and look like the setting for a tiny mouse wedding! :)

SPECIAL AWARD NOTICE!!! I am very proud to share First Place in Natural Jewelry's droplet contest! 24 incredible images, and this image tied for first place and is on the group's front page!! I'm so happy!!! :) :) :) www.flickr.com/groups/natural_jewellery/ This image is dedicated to my dear Flickr friend Nadia! www.flickr.com/photos/67040808@N03/ This amazing lady was so inspired by one of my pictures that she painted it, and this beautiful watercolor is displayed on her photostream right now! I am so touched by this gesture, I hardly know what to say, but I have been floating on air all day, and this picture makes me think of her! Thank you so much, Nadia!! We are really starting to see the signs of spring around here! It's so exciting to me!! I have my new camera, my 100mm macro lens, and I am ready to ROCK THIS PROPERTY! :D What a wonderful sight to see these beautiful crocuses popping up through the grass. In years past, I've missed seeing them until they'd come and gone and lay wilted in a sad pile. However, this year I had my eyes wide open every day, looking for them, and HERE THEY ARE!! YAY!!!

[best appreciated at full size against black] I have decided to have a counting of each kind of flower that I find on our property this spring! I have already shown a picture of the crocus patch, but I rudely showed it out of order, so here they are again, in proper order after the first and second! Yesterday when I took the dogs up to the ridge, I was very excited to find what I thought was the fourth flower, its bud preparing to open, but I was WRONG! Today, I went back with my camera and on the way I nearly stepped on the open face of a lovely yellow buttercup! Happy clicking ensued! I will now have three new flowers to show in the next few days, and this also means that I'll have to start really nosing around! Our property is the home of at least 20-30 flowers, and I'm determined to take pictures of them all! Last year I fell in love with my Canon SX130 and then my SX30 when I discovered how well it took macros, but I hope to retake every picture with my new camera, and with a year of experience to help me do a better job! Wish me luck! :) For now, I hope you like my "Sea of Crocus" shot to ring in Flower #3! :) I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ This image was taken in February, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Have you ever noticed that depending on the elevation, you will see some kinds of plants and not others? Our property sits on 26 acres: the bottom quarter is the lowest, and is pretty flat. The middle half is also fairly flat but has some gentle hilly areas. The top area is on a hill that goes up to a ridgeline and over the other side a little bit. The elevation gain is probably about 100 feet. The point is that 100 feet makes a difference!! I wouldn't believe it unless I saw it for myself! This flower is a buttercup, and I know they grow on all elevations of our property....but right now, the first place they are blooming are about 1/3 of the way up our hillside! They aren't in bloom anywhere else but there! And, all over our property, there are little areas where certain flowers grow only in one spot! Isn't that interesting? Of course, it could merely be that the seeds just haven't spread to different areas, I'm no expert! :) In any event, I would like you all to meet the fourth flower I've found this spring, the beautiful buttercup! :D

[best appreciated at full size against black] (Thanks to Donald Tedrow for identifying this flower!) There is a steep path that goes up to the top of our ridge and a few days ago I climbed up there with the dogs to go on a walk along the ridge line. As I made my way up, I took a look at the progress of the plants that were popping out of the ground. To my delight, I saw that some were sending up flower stalks! And then I found one which was developed enough to see its color...PURPLE!!! As it was late in the day, I decided to wait until the next morning to see about taking pictures. The next day I was on my way up the hill again when I nearly stepped on a buttercup, which I showed yesterday! How exciting to see such an explosion of growth everywhere, and it's only just begun! Here, then, is the fifth flower of spring, and I don't even know what it will look like when it's open! It's like Christmas in March, only I have to wait for my present to open itself! :D This image was taken in Mzrch, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] A week or so ago, I posted a picture of some pretty purple flower buds, which I found growing on our hillside. I didn't know what they were, but happily, one of my Flickr friends did! Donald Tedrow was absolutely right, and here is one of the buds, open and showing exactly why it has its name! If you can believe it, our hillside is positively COVERED with hundreds of these! It's actually difficult to put my feet down where there ISN'T a Shooting Star plant! They are only now beginning to bloom and I hope to get some group shots if I'm lucky! This image was taken in March, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Back in March, our hillside exploded into blossom as Henderson's Shooting Stars burst into bloom. Hundreds upon hundreds of flowers covered our property wherever there were trees to protect them from direct sunlight. These flowers are almost always a deep purple, but once in a rare while I would discover a very pale lavender one. Of course I needed to take pictures!! I think both color variations are beautiful! This image was taken in March, 2012.

In case you didn't read this in an earlier posting, I decided to have a counting of each kind of flower that I find on our property this spring! I saw the first flower about three weeks ago, and it's the smallest flower too! Next I found a little white flower that looks ready for a mouse's wedding bouquet! Number three is the crocus flowers that have popped out in one big clump of loveliness! Then I discovered the Henderson Shooting Star, but on the way to photograph it, I found a glowing Buttercup smiling up at me with its beautiful yellow face, and because it was open, and the Shooting Star is still a bud, I decided that the Buttercup gets to be #4 and the Shooting Star is #5! Because this Jonquil is still a bud, it would lead a person to wonder how I can tell it's a jonquil and not a daffodil. :D Well, to be honest, I'm going on my memory here and the jonquils grow in this patch, with the daffodils one patch over! :D I may be wrong though, so we'll just have to wait and see as these forming buds finally pop open to expose the gorgeous flower inside! UPDATE: this bud opened up to expose a DAFFODIL inside!! Now where are those Jonquils?! :D :D Can you tell that I'm a little bit excited about my Spring Flower Count?! :D :D :D I have to tell you...I've been nosing around the meadow and there are four more kinds of flowers now!!! WOOT!! I think I'll need to keep posting one flower every day or I won't be able to keep up...I see signs of many more on their way!! YAY!!! This image was taken in March, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] ...and ladies and gentlemen, I am WRONG!!! I posted a picture of these as closed buds a few days ago ( www.flickr.com/photos/sfhipchick/6968627361/in/photostream/ ) and guessed they were jonquils because I thought that's where they were growing last year. However, as you can see here, we are not looking at multiple little jonquil blossoms but instead, one beautiful big daffodil with its frilly cup clearly visible inside! I took a picture as soon as I could see inside! :D I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ This image was taken in March, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Here's the picture I kept forgetting to post! From bud to peeking open, to almost all the way open, this lovely daffodil has certainly gotten a lot of attention! :D Daffodils are in the same family as Amaryllis flowers, which makes me go, "OHH!!! YES!!" They have a similarity, don't they?! There are about 50-100 wild species and wild hybrids, and seemingly countless varieties cultivated by enthusiasts! Daffodils contain poison in both their bulbs and leaves and can cause dermatitus problems if handled too much. How about this!! Did you know that daffodils produce Galantamine, a drug that's used to treat Alzheimer's Disease?!!! WOW! These flowers have been used for various medicinal purposes in the past but were eventually found to be unaffective, but they ARE helpful in the treatment of Alzheimer's, which is wonderful! If you would like to know more about these popular beauties, Wiki has a very complete source of information here: Narcissus (plant) If you'd like to see pictures of many kinds of daffodils, I found this company with gorgeous pictures of a dizzying variety here: Daffodil Depot This image was taken in March, 2012.

I wanted to take a moment today to say thank you to all of you who come to visit my photo stream, look at my pictures, leave comments and favorites. You have made me smile from ear to ear, you have made me glow, you have made me laugh out loud! You have encouraged me to try as hard as I can to always try to take better pictures, to learn new techniques, to think about taking pictures in different ways I never thought of. You guys make my day, every single day, and I cannot possibly thank you all enough for your support, enthusiasm, and good cheer! As much fun as I have reading your comments, visiting your photostreams means just as much to me! Every day I get to see the world through all of your eyes, and it's an amazing experience! You guys live ALL OVER THE WORLD!! I have friends everywhere it seems, and if I started listing locations, you'd be reading countries for the next hour! :D I LOVE IT!!!! I get to see so many incredible sights that I may never see in my lifetime. I get to see special moments captured by your talented skills which amaze and delight me and literally cause me to exclaim out loud, "WOW!!!!!!" I have seen images that make me cry and others that make me squeal with laughter! You show me awe-inspiring pictures that take my breath away. And, your pictures fill me with inspiration with countless ways to think about photography in a new way and to help me be better too. I have made so many friends here! It's funny, because in person, I can be quite shy until I get to know people. I don't like parties and my idea of the perfect get-together is only a couple of other people so I can really pay attention to each person. But here on ipernity, I can be outgoing and I love crowds! I enjoy getting to know everyone that comes by, and as each month passes by, I'm getting to know so many of you to the point that I truly consider you good friends! Amazing for a person who's always kept to herself, a loner. Thanks to all of you, I finally know what it's like to have lots of great friends, and I always have room for more! :) So, this bright and cheery picture of the daffodils and jonquils in our garden made me think of all of you, and how incredibly happy and fortunate I am to know each and every one of you. Thank you so much for everything. You make my day every day, and I will always do my best to do the same for all of you. I would love to give you all a big hug because you make me so happy! THANK YOU ALL!!!

A couple of days ago I decided to creep around the meadow next to our house to see if I could find new flowers for my Spring Flower Count and I found FOUR! I was moving along slowly when I first spotted a hyacinth-like stalk and bud cluster...but before I started setting up, I saw a quick movement and stopped to watch a hunting spider race across the ground, over grass, sticks, leaves, and right past...THIS! Holy cow, would you just LOOK at that fancy hair?! :D This tiny beauty is only about 1/2" tall! I would now like all of you to kick me in the shins because I didn't mark the spot where I found this flower, and I've been trying for the past two days to find it again so I can photograph it as it opens! *cries a river of tears* It will be dried up and brown by the time I find out where it was! Let that be a lesson to me, and OW, quit kicking! :D

[best appreciated at full size against black] Here's another tiny beauty that I discovered while nosing around in the meadow, looking for new flowers. This one was hiding under some grass, so I carefully exposed it so I could take its portrait for all of you to enjoy! :) Do you remember the picture I posted of the spiral topped seed on the moss? I found out that it's a Redstem Storksbill seed!!! Isn't that cool?! :) I never expect to find that out...I have a hard enough time trying to figure out what kind of flowers I've photographed!! :D If you would like to know more about this flower, there's a nice page here: www.fireflyforest.com/flowers/1077/erodium-cicutarium-red... This image was taken in March, 2012.

Ok, I lied! This isn't a rose! It's a budding Redstem Storksbill , and just 1/4" in diameter! If you've stopped by in the past day, you may have noticed that I changed my screen name for a while to mention that I've been having computer problems. Actually, my husband's computer threw a gigantic fit and he needed to use mine to get a project done while he repaired his computer. Finally all is well, but unfortunately, that has put me behind in my commenting and image uploads. I hope you'll understand if I'm late to comment! It's been a very rough 24 hours around here, let me tell you!! I'll be doing my best to catch up and thank you for your patience! :D Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) This image was taken in March, 2012. Explored on April 5th, 2012.

Our property is simply covered with these flowers! Everywhere I go, pretty Redstem Stork's Bill blossoms are smiling up at me! Here is a close-up of a pair of flower's pistils. They were close enough together that I was able to get just their pistils in focus with the rest of the blossoms beginning to fade to blur. Controlling my focus is always an interesting challenge to me and it was really fun trying to get this picture! I hope you like it! :) Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

[best appreciated at full size against black] The flowers are popping out of the ground at an alarming rate! How ever shall I keep up?! I discovered another this morning and yesterday I found three more! The Henderson's Shooting Star is almost open now, a dainty beauty. The explosion of life all around me is so exciting! I hope you like this flower, they are all over our meadow now, standing 1-2" off the ground on their strong, hairy stalks, topped with little white-grape buds! This image was taken in March, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Do you ever have trouble taking a decent picture of something that seems like it shouldn't be a problem? This flower was hard to photograph for me! First off, I couldn't find a flower like this that was "pretty" enough. You may not know this, but there are LOTS of flowers that are kind of ratty looking or just plain boring. After I found this one, I had focusing issues. Then I had problems with the background being too busy. But in the end, with many images tossed in the trash, I've arrived at this one, and I hope you like this presentation: the ninth flower of Spring!!! YAY!! This image was taken in Mzrch, 2012.