May 31, 2021

Zooming – May 2020

May 31, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

I was in Texas for more than a month; all the zoomed pictures for May 2020 are from Carrollton TX (either at my parents’ house or nearby). The usual subjects – plants and birds dominate but there is an occasional squirrel or insect….and the big claw picking up branches after the trees were trimmed. It was good to finally be able to see my family again after more than year – be in place other than my house. Wherever I am, there always seems to be something to observe and photograph. Enjoy the slideshow!

May 25, 2021

Carrolton TX Yard – Amaryllis

May 25, 2021/ Gwen Morrison

There is an amaryllis that blooms in a tiny patch of soil near the garage of my parents’ house. It blooms in late April/early May. I got to see it this year. It is a plant with more than a decade of history since it was purchased for my grandmother in the year or so before she died in 2010. It bloomed inside the first year then in the same place by the garage every year after that. This year there were three blooms in the first round for blooms….

And then a solitary one after the first 3 had faded. It looks so lonely facing the chain link fence into the back yard. I took it from the back…thinking about a child looking out a window on a rainy day….wishing to be on the other side of the pane.

A plant with an even longer history is on the other side of the garage – a rose bush given to my grandmother when she was 80. She lived to be 98 and enjoyed the roses every year….and my parents continue the tradition. The plant is close to 30 years old at this point!

March 20, 2020

Brookside Gardens South Conservatory in February

March 20, 2020/ Gwen Morrison

Update: This blog post is about a visit to Brookside Gardens early in March. Like all Montgomery County Parks facilities the conservatories are closed today as part of the strategy to slow the spread of COVID-19. Check the garden web site for more information.

Continuing about my walk around Brookside Gardens into the South Conservatory…

This is where the butterfly exhibit will be housed by the later part of April. For now, it is full of blooms. The snapdragons are dominant. The day I went was sunny and I enjoyed trying to get positioned so that the throats of the flowers were fired by the sun – making them look more like dragons.

The sun coming through the Amaryllis blooms make the edges pop.

But my favorite Amaryllis shot was one in the shade.

All kinds of flowers take on a different look depending on whether the light is behind or above or in front of the flower.

I took a last look back at the conservatory and used the zoom to get two more flowers…

Then went outdoors to find out how far along the spring bulbs in the garden were.

April 24, 2018

Carrollton Texas Yard

April 24, 2018/ Gwen Morrison

It’s a good time of year for gardens in Texas --- the weather has not gotten too hot. I like plantings around base of trees. They’ll go into the summer too.