Flowers
Plum Rose
Serendipity
Technicolor Throne
This skipper moth was overlooking the splendor of his kingdom from the comfort of his technicolor throne, a purple cone flower.
This is a photo taken on our recent vacation. This image came from a flowerbed just outside the gift shop of the Topeka Zoo. While the rest of our party went to look through the shop, I stayed outside to snap more photos.
To view a larger version of the king on his throne, click on the image.
Wild Roses of Kansas
These are wild roses found on a hiking trail at Perry State Park, Ozawkie, Kansas. (About 20 miles northeast of Topeka.)
This was our first visit to this park. We were visiting our son, Aaron, and his family in Topeka and decided to venture out for something new. We found an area of trails through the woods, grabbed a map, paid the park fee of $5 and started our hike. The party included four adults and an 8-month old in his stroller.
These flowers greeted us at the very beginning of the trail. We made it about another minute before everyone started noticing ticks – lots of ticks – from the tiniest specs to the normal sized rascals. An occasional tick is tolerable, but a couple of minutes into our walk they were crawling all over us. We high-tailed it out of the woods and spent 15 minutes in the parking lot trying to remove the beasts. We got most of them, but did find a couple when we got back home. Can’t imagine the ordeal we would have had is we hiked an hour or so.
It was too bad because all of us were looking forward to a little outdoor activity and I wonder what other beauties we might have missed.
If you look closely, you can see a spider’s legs on the flower on the right. Click the image to see a larger version.
Spring Streaming By
Graceful End
The delicate dandelion blossom in its last stages. The dandelion, like other members of the Asteraceae family, has very small flowers collected together in a composite flower head. Each single flower in a head is called a floret.
It seems every photographer has a dandelion photo…and this is mine. They do make interesting subjects.
To see more of the delicate details, click on the image.
Star of Bethlehem
Spring of Glory
Simple Spring
While walking through a swampy area of woods, I stumbled upon this simple, single flower. The bright area behind the flower is daylight reflecting off a wet area. I don’t know what kind of flower it was, but it was small. This bloom was only about the size of a thumbnail.
If you have a large monitor, you can view a larger version of this image by clicking on it.
Spring Classic
These white-accented, yellow tulips were part of the amazing spring display at West of the Lake Gardens in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
I got a lot of great photos on this visit – a couple I’ve already posted (Glorious Spring and Garden Torches) – and will be posting more in the near future.
I’m looking forward to another visit, later in the season, to see what other beauties they have blooming. There is not charge to visit the gardens.
You can see a larger version of this image by clicking on it.