Not really ice, but the lighting on this pond made it look like a slick skating rink beneath the flowers and crushed ice around the edges.
Water Lilies in Ice
Category Archives: Flowers
Magnolia Blossom After The Rain
I find unopened Magnolia Blossoms to be very appealing. The water drops added to the allure of this one.
Bee Bling
The bees were very busy in the sunflower fields.
These flowers need little dressing up, but a bee adds a nice visual touch.
Facing the Crowd
Sunflower faces are supposed to follow the sun but on occasion one doesn’t get the message.
Above the Fray
One bloom stands above the rest in a field of sunny flower faces.
Tattered Moth and Bee
This moth looks a little worse for the wear but found a great spot to gather some sustenance. The bee was working his way around the sunflower’s perimeter.
Then zip, the bee made a bee line to the next flower with some of that hard gained pollen dropping behind him. The moth didn’t miss a beat and continued his methodical probing.
Click on images for larger view.
Daylily
A single bloom remained on this plant on a shady path near the swamp. The newer Daylily varieties are flashy but I still like the old fashioned traditional orange.
Into The Light
Insects on Irises
It was a dull day and my images of the Japanese Iris border at Swan Lake and Iris Gardens didn’t amount to much. The insect activity on the iris flowers was much more interesting.
Here a bee is backing out of the flower center after adding to his pollen cache.
He buzzed around the back of the flower and if you zoom in you can see one tiny leg sticking out from the right side of the stem under the petal stem. I didn’t see the second insect on the petal until I was developing the images.
A small spider crawled all over the petals of this delacately colored bloom.
Meanwhile a Skipper was touching all the parts of the next flower over.
This is a section of the Iris border that is on a pond. There is a dragonfly perched on a frond just left and below center–another one I spotted after I got home. I expect there was more insect activity that wasn’t as obvious.
Prickly Poppy
I spotted groups of these white flowers in several spots on a recent drive through Botany Bay Plantation Wildlife Management Area.
The spot I photographed these had a mowed path leading towards them so that I could get close, but the abundance of ant hills kept me from taking additional shots, including one of the full plant. I’ve avoided ant bites since moving to South Carolina, and I want to keep it that way.
The abundance of thorns on the stems and sharp leaves would prohibit picking a vaseful. My research to identify the flower also found that all parts of this plant are toxic in some way to humans, from the spines that contain skin irritating substances to the seeds which are poisonous.
