A Yucca Study

The Yucca can be quite ordinary in appearance. Frankly, most people probably pay little attention to them, except perhaps when they bloom. 

There are two schools of thought on whether you should allow them to bloom as they usually die afterwards, unless a secondary plant is generated in the process. 

After two years, our plant sent up a bloom and we decided to let it proceed. This photo collage documents its development, not to mention recording the presence of a snail moving along the razor-sharp leaves of the plant…

I decided to risk the points and edges of the leaves—what the heck, if the snail can make it, so can I–and attempt to get a closer look at the individual blooms that make up the stalk cluster.

As the blooms faced the ground, I had to navigate the leaves and maneuver the camera into position to get a few shots into the early morning sky…

 

 

Love In The Mist Seedpods

A few weeks ago, I posted photos of Love in the Mist blooms. The next stage has already started as the blooms fade, leaving behind the seed pods.

These photos were taken in the early morning light as the colors tend to be obscured as the morning advances.

 

 

The Old Patio…

…obviously, not in its original form.  After 30 years, the old concrete patio had to be rebuilt.

I found a certain artistry or symmetry in the way the concrete slabs were stacked up as the contractor worked to remove the old concrete.

However, the slabs will not be going very far as they will be cut, shaped, and set to make a new patio.

 

Icelandic Poppy (Up Close & Personal)

One of the consequences of my recent photography class with Frederic Larson was to “focus” (Sorry for the bad joke!) on the small stuff–the  things you see every day but perhaps don’t really take in. 

So, I present two close-ups of Icelandic Poppies, as seen, perhaps, by a bug.  For that certain person in Peoria, Illinois, who has a new “relationship” with ants, I will attempt to capture a poppy with an ant.  For now, these will have to suffice…

 

Snail Face

Gardeners in Sonoma County are all too familiar with the ubiquitous snail.  Yesterday, I happened to capture a “facial profile” of one of our little friends working its way along a branch of a tree.  The lighting wasn’t the best. However, one has to work with what is…