Favorite Memories of Summer 2014

Today - the traditional ‘last day of summer’ - I am savoring the memories of the past 3 months. It has been cooler than usual in my area (Maryland, near Baltimore) so the outdoor activities have been especially pleasant. Here are my top 5 memories from this summer:

The Deck Garden. The plants on the deck are a daily draw to go outdoors. There is always something changing - new flowers blooming, a tiny tomato forming, sweet potato vines spilling over the edge of the pot then the deck…and blooming, and all the associated insects and birds enjoying the plants (sometimes causing some damage) and the water in the birdbath and the pot saucers. I may change some of the plants next year - but using every available pot for something is definitely something to continue from now on.

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. The place made my list because it was a new experience. I still enjoyed places I have been many times this summer (Brookside Gardens and the National Arboretum and the Howard County Conservancy Mt. Pleasant Farm) but the lotuses at the aquatic garden with the dragonflies that abounded were a high point of the garden visits this season.

Josey Ranch Lake. What a pleasant surprise it was to walk around the small lake near the library in Carrollton TX! It hosts such a variety of resident birds (although I did wish the nutria were not there).  It became the high point of ‘sights’ for the two weeks I spent in Texas this summer.

CSA Veggies. This was my first participation in a Community Supported Agriculture farm and I’ve enjoyed the enhanced flavor of fresh-from-the-field vegetables. I will do it again next summer!

Classes. I become more aware all the time of just how much I enjoy being a student. Whether the classes are online (Coursera and Creative Live) or ‘live’ at the Howard County Conservancy…classes have the effect of broadening my horizons and tweaking what I do. It may not be healthy to grow larger physically but growing mentally is always a good thing.

Happy end-of-summer 2014!

Zooming - July 2014

We are in the full swing of summer - lotus and water lilies - summer wild flowers and fireworks. Those are major themes for the zoom collages this month. 

The first collage is of lotus at the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens.

The water lilies are also from Kenilworth.

The squiggles from botched firework pictures actually turned out to be worth a collage too.

Last, but not least, a zooming collage from my walk around the Howard County Conservancy Honor Garden.

Water Lilies at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

I’ve posed previously about the lotuses, dragonflies, and a Great Blue Heron at the Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens. Today’s post is focused on water lilies.

There are far fewer varieties that when the gardens were a commercial concern in the early decades of the 1900s, but the ones that remain are still beautiful. The storm had caused some damage to the lily pads but not as much as the lotuses experienced; there is an advantage for not being as far out of the water.

I found myself trying to capture images of dragonflies and bees on the flowers…..and trying to capture all the different colors. I picked the best images I captured for the slideshow below.

And I can’t resist included this golden dragonfly. It seemed different than any of the others.

Heron in the Lotus Pond

Yesterday we made another trip to the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC. There were still a lot of lotuses in bloom but the storm mid-week had snapped some of the leaves, buds and flowers. I enjoyed taking pictures of lotuses and dragonflies again then focused on water lilies (the topic of post to come) but the high point of the outing was a Great Blue Heron. The water level in one of the ponds was low and the bird was taking advantage of the easy pickings. There were people taking pictures of the heron all around the pond; the heron was too focused on food to notice.

As we walked up - the heron caught a fish. My husband captured the image below with the catch before the heron flipped the fish and swallowed!

Enjoy the best of the rest in the slideshow below!

Lotuses at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

As promised (in the dragonfly post earlier this week) - here is the post about the lotuses blooming profusely at the Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC. Lotuses are quite a draw for the gardens. Most people had arrived with their cameras. There is something about the flower colors - the dark pink…to light pink…to creamy white - against the green of the large leaves and the curves of the foliage and flowers in the ponds that captures our attention now just as effectively as they did in ancient Egypt. So as you enjoy the flurry of the 4th of July --- here’s a slide show of lotuses to provide a calm interlude!

As promised (in the dragonfly post earlier this week) - here is the post about the lotuses blooming profusely at the Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC. Lotuses are quite a draw for the gardens. Most people had arrived with their cameras. There is something about the flower colors - the dark pink…to light pink…to creamy white - against the green of the large leaves and the curves of the foliage and flowers in the ponds that captures our attention now just as effectively as they did in ancient Egypt. So as you enjoy the flurry of the 4th of July --- here’s a slide show of lotuses to provide a calm interlude!

Dragonflies at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

The lotuses are blooming profusely at the Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC; I’ll post about them later this week. The dragonflies are the focus for today. There were so many of them when we were walking around the ponds yesterday that I managed to capture quite a few images. They like to perch on dried seed pods,

Folded lotus leaves and

The tips of lotus buds.

The sun reflects off their wings giving them a metallic gleam.

Sometimes their color is jewel like: powder blue, deep green, black veined gossamer.

Sometimes their thorax looks muscle bound

And sometimes it looks it has sub-segments.

This one has droopy wings.

This last picture is my favorite - the color of the uncurling lotus and the dragonfly perching for a few seconds before flying out again over the water.