Gleanings of the Week Ending November 16, 2024

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Drought Expands Across the U.S. – We are finally getting some rain…but we are in the ‘extreme drought’ area of southwestern Missouri; it is going to take a lot to get back to ‘normal.’ On October 29, abnormal dryness and drought affected over 78 percent of the American population—the highest percentage in the U.S. Drought Monitor’s 25-year-long record.

Cholera, Zika and West Nile: The deadly diseases that sweep in after hurricanes – Damage to infrastructure has been the big focus of reporting in the US, but diseases are ramping up.

  • Florida health authorities released a warning in early October of a likely spike in Vibrio vulnificus infections, urging residents to avoid wading in floodwaters.  Vibrio vulnificus is a bacteria which can cause the breakdown of skin and soft tissue, sometimes leading to amputations.

  • West Nile cases rose in Louisiana and Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina.

  • Studies found that flooding in Louisiana following hurricanes Rita and Katrina led to an increase in the airborne fungi Penicillium and Aspergillus, which can cause allergies, respiratory infections and pneumonia.

  • Research into the aftermath of hurricanes Maria, Irma and Michael, shows that a significant number of people in Florida developed new chronic health conditions such as asthma and allergies in the six months following the disasters.

Satellite Imagery Shows Breadth of Flooding in Spain - Valencia saw a year’s worth of rainfall in just eight hours, with floods destroying buildings, disrupting trains, and leaving more than 100,000 homes without power.

What animal societies can teach us about aging - Humans are not the only animals to change our social behavior as we age. Red deer may become less sociable as they grow old to reduce the risk of picking up diseases, while older house sparrows seem to have fewer social interactions as their peers die off.

The world’s oldest tree? Genetic analysis traces evolution of iconic Pando forest - By sequencing hundreds of samples from the tree, researchers confirmed that Pando, a quaking aspen tree (Populus tremuloides) in Utah, is between 16,000 and 80,000 years old. Pando consists of some 47,000 stems that cover an area of 42.6 hectares in Utah’s Fishlake National Forest. Because of the way the plant reproduces, this collection of aspens is technically all one tree, supported by a single, vast root system. Pando is triploid, meaning that its cells contain three copies of each chromosome, rather than two. As a result, Pando cannot reproduce sexually and mix its DNA with that of other trees, and instead creates clones of itself.

Have we found all the major Maya cities? Not even close – Using lidar to survey 50 square miles revealed evidence of more than 6,500 pre-Hispanic structures, including a previously unknown large city complete with iconic stone pyramids.

Stunning Shortlisted Photos From the 2024 Close-Up Photographer of the Year Contest – My favorite was “Chicory” for the color…and that I knew what it was!

Low-level lead poisoning is still pervasive in the US and globally - Chronic, low-level lead poisoning is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease in adults and cognitive deficits in children. Factors such as menopause and hyperthyroidism release lead sequestered in the skeleton, which causes a spike in blood lead concentrations. The solution to protecting people from lead poisoning is to identify and eliminate environmental sources of lead: eliminating lead acid batteries, replacing lead service lines, banning leaded aviation fuel, reducing lead in foods, abating lead paint in older housing, and further reducing lead-contaminated soil and other legacy sources.

Ghost Forests Creep Into North Carolina - Large swaths of cypress and pine forests along the southeast Atlantic coast have died, shed their bark, and become pale, leafless snags that line the waterways like gravestones. In the period before winds topple the snags over and shrubs cover them up, researchers call the eerie ecosystems “ghost forests.” One place that is it happening is Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge…and I realized I have been there! We visited in April of 2015. It was the first place I saw river otters and two vultures (different species) sharing a meal. There probably were bald cypress dying in 2015, but it is even more evident now.

Trees cool better than reflective roofs in vulnerable Houston neighborhoods - Heat islands occur in cities where structures such as buildings and roads absorb the sun's heat more than natural landscapes such as trees and grass. The researchers considered three different heat island mitigation strategies: painting roofs white to increase solar reflectance; planting vegetation on roofs to increase evaporation through the plants; and planting more trees, which increases evaporation and provides shade.

Missouri Master Naturalist Orientation

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I went to an orientation session about becoming a Missouri Master Naturalist last week. The meeting was held at the Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center (the building in the Botanical Gardens). I spent a few minutes photographing some flowers (one with a bumblebee) in the Master Gardeners area before I went into the building.

The session was an overview of the process to become a Missouri Master Naturalist and then an informal time to talk to people that were already Missouri Master Naturalists. It was a learning experience….confirmed my decision to start the training and participate as soon as I can in volunteer opportunities. I’ve already noticed some differences between the way Maryland and Missouri implemented their Master Naturalist program…but the idea at the core is same and there are a lot of commonalities in the types of training and volunteering – which is the motivation for me! I’m excited to get started in September. It is the same type feeling I had toward the end of summer during my school years.

Macro Photography – June 2024

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My yard is full of subjects for macro photography this time of year.

The wildflower garden is in its second season and is very lush after the spring rains…both flowers and insects abound.

The area in our front yard that once hosted a large tree (before we moved here) now has mushrooms after almost every rain. It is surprising how quickly they can develop and then degrade to black goo.

One of the daylilies I planted last under the red maple is blooming this year. Hopefully the plant will propagate to surround the trunk. There are enough buds to appreciate this year from a photographic standpoint.

I’ve let the Virginia Creeper that came up in the front flowerbed cascade over the castle rocks. Mowing the lawn contains it once it is in the grass. I like the foliage now and it will look great in the fall when it turns red.

I’ve found several eggs in the grass and always try a photograph. This one was white. The cracks in the shell around the edges and inside appealed to me. The grass offers a sense of scale.

I took pictures of two small branches blown off by an overnight storm – making a macro image of the part that interested me the most.

The plant by the mailbox is full of buds. Another plant of the same type is near the house, but its buds always get eaten and there are holes in the leaves!

The two ‘hens’ that I bought last year at a farmers’ market have more and more chicks. There were only 3 chicks at the beginning of the season. I count more than 30 chicks in this image when I look at it on a bigger monitor!

I enjoy ‘filling the frame’ with magnified images from my yard!

Zooming – May 2024

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After collecting the images I wanted to feature this month, there seemed to be more distinct reasons for why the amount of zoom was used.

One image – from the Anthony Chapel at Garvan Woodland Gardens – was composed to capture the pattern of glass in the ceiling.

5 images were composed to get a near macro view of flowers and water droplets without being very close to the subjects.

The zoom was used to fill the frame in 8 of the images. It works in almost every situation! Flowers and landscapes with structures outdoors as well as museums and nature center exhibits are seen below.

Probably the rationale for zooming I enjoy the most is when the camera allows me to ‘see’ better than I would with just my eyes. There are 7 images in this category this month: a close up of a peacock and some flamingo feathers at Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Missouri; tiling on a bathhouse dome and a magnolia flower in a large tree overhanging the street in Hot Springs, Arkansas; an ebony jewelwing on a fern, a fairy house and a Ouachita Map Turtle at Garvan Woodland Gardens.

Sometimes I remember the rules and zoom to position the subject along one of the lines…to the left or right of center in lieu of switching to a portrait orientation and filling the frame.

I am savoring my favorite zoomed images of May 2024.

Garvan Woodland Gardens (2)

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Our second afternoon at Garvan Woodland Gardens was after we hiked to the Hot Springs Mountain Tower. Our lunch had helped us recover somewhat, but I still took more bench breaks in the gardens! The model trains were running; the tracks were wet and the trains stored during our previous visit.

I took a few more pictures along the way to the Treehouse…we had only seen the outside on our Golf Cart Tour and seeing the inside and the area around the structure was our priority for our ‘on foot’ experience of the garden.

The view from inside the treehouse is full of vegetation and structures – I loved the tree patio and the high bridge. Both my daughter and I tried the pinecone seat; it was reasonably comfortable. It could move from side to side and I wondered if there could be a home version if it that could be used like I use my Swopper chair at my computer table.

There are nooks and crannies in the rocks and vegetation around the treehouse. There was a path lined with young trees and boulders, an Ebony Jewelwing on a fern, quartz veins in rocks, and sculpture…a cave…so many things to hold the interest of children (and adults).

I took a few more pictures of fairy houses as we walked past.

It was the perfect time of year to see mayapples forming under their leaf umbrella.

At one of the paved path intersections there was a cluster of flowers in the pavement.

The Japanese Garden on foot is quite different than staying on the paved areas as the Golf Cart does. We went down stone steps and meandered over stones to cross some water features – saw a Ouachita Map Turtle, a bamboo fence (we learned the previous days that the fences are made from bamboo from the gardens!), and another perspective of the Full Moon bridge.

The oak leave hydrangea and Asian hydrangeas were blooming profusely.

I used my phone for some macro views of the Asian hydrangea flowers.

As we headed back to our car we stopped at the Anthony Chapel….another of the wonderful architectural features of the garden.

I am already thinking about going again to Garvan - earlier in the spring when they have a lot of tulips or in the fall when the leaves will be flying….or maybe in late November or December to see their holiday lights.

Photographic Experiments

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I was in the mood for some photographic experiments….from my office.

The rhododendron flower cluster and some fragile pink irises were in vases in the room….and became the main subjects for my experiments.

I took some ‘normal’ lighting pictures of the rhododendron –

Then some brighter pictures using exposure compensation (+). In the extreme case, the background becomes white and the flowers take on a very different look….often very artsy.

I also tried 2 special effects settings on my camera: like oil paintings and like watercolor paintings.

I started out the pink iris with some ‘normal’ lighting shots rotating the vase. Which one is your favorite? I like the middle (diagonal) one the best.

I did some macro shots; at this magnification the images feel more like an abstract than a flower.

Just as with the rhododendron, I brightened the iris images to different degrees via exposure compensation when the flower was backlit with the sun shining through the window.

The iris looked quite different with the special effect setting (like oil paintings).

I took a picture of a pokeweed growing outside one of my windows used exposure compensation…with the screen showing.

A few setting changes (closer to ‘normal’….and I photographed a leaf a little lower on the plant through the window with water droplets glistening in the sunlight. The autofocus did an excellent job.

I generally learn as I do these experiments in my office…and probably am more likely to successfully use the same techniques at other times! My goal is to maximize the use of my camera’s automation to capture the image I want.

Rhododendron

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Our rhododendron bloomed profusely this year – no frost damaged buds like last year. The whole bush was covered with blooms. It started in mid-April and all the buds had opened by the first few days of May.

I couldn’t resist a round of macro shots. It was good experience with my new iPhone 15 Pro Max. I like the individual flowers, the flower clusters, the new growth – it is full of photographic opportunities. The bush seems to be growing a lot better this year too; maybe it has recovered from the big drought the summer we moved to Missouri.

Do rhododendrons make good cut flowers? I did a search and discovered that yes…to cut a cluster with some unopened buds and slit the end of the stalk to allow easier water uptake. I put the cluster in a wine glass my parents got for their 50th wedding anniversary from a couple they had met in college and remained friends through the years….savored the flowers in my office.  All the buds eventually opened just as they would have outdoors.

I also learned that sometimes rhododendron need to be pruned but it won’t be this year…and maybe for years to come. My bush is in a place where it can expand in almost every direction. I will probably cut more flower clusters next spring now that I know how well they last indoors and, I guess, that will be the extent of the ‘pruning’ done!

Irises and other Yard News – April 2024

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The irises, that were already growing in flower beds when we bought our house, are blooming profusely; the ones I transplanted last fall/winter will take another year to build up the energy to bloom. I was surprised that the most prolific bed this year grew very elongated stems that fell over as soon as they started to bloom; I didn’t remember them being so tall last year. The irised in another bed looks the same, but the stems are very short!

I ended up cutting the long stems to bring indoors and enjoyed photographing them: macro shots with my iPhone 15 Pro Max and

And Canon Powershot SX70 HX high key shots (almost white background) and

Some warm glow shots of a group.

Of course, there other plants active in the yard. Hostas are growing well – both the original clumps and the ones I started this year by dividing some older clumps.

There are lots of dandelions in various stages of development. I tend to let them alone since the bees like the flowers and the roots are deeper than the grass root which helps hold the soil – particularly on slopes.

There are more violets that ever spilling out of flower beds and into the yard. There are some places that I have stopped mowing because the violets are so thick!

The irises I transplanted into the area where the pine tree was cut down last summer are growing vigorously. Maybe one or two will bloom this year although it won’t be great until next year. The lambs ear is growing well and should fill in more around the irises over time. The beautyberry does not have leaves yet but we’re still having some cool days/nights; hopefully it will leaf out in May.

I took some ‘art’ pictures of an iris bud and new rose leaves early in the month.

A lot is growing in the wildflower garden from last year. Some might be weeds…hard to tell until the plants start blooming.

Pokeweed is coming up everywhere. I am going to cut down plants that get above a certain size. I also plan to rake pine cones that are around one of pines toward the fence so that I won’t mow over them (they are a little tough for the lawn mower to cut!).

Overall – a great month in our yard. The rhododendron is full of buds…but not blooming yet…a lot more beauty coming in May.

Road Trip to Dallas – April 2024

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Last week I made a 2-day road trip down to Dallas to visit with my dad. It’s about 7 hours of driving in each direction. When I left my house in Missouri on the first day it was dark. Just as the horizon was beginning to brighten behind me, I saw a large bird fly over the interstate – higher than my car but not that far in front of me. I wondered if it was a barn owl although I didn’t get a good enoug look other than to realize the bird had a lot of white.

After my first rest stop the sun was up and more birds were moving about. I saw a large one fly across the highway…a little lower than was safe and then just above my car there was another of the same kind. It was a turkey! I was close enough to see the eye glinting.

I saw a great blue heron flying along or over the road twice…and a murmuration of smaller birds that spilt in two over the highway.

The highlight of the drive down was the rest stop on US 75 just after crossing from Oklahoma to Texas. The berm between the highway and the rest stop parking was full of wildflowers!

Closer to the building there were beds of wildflowers…including the Texas state flower: bluebonnets.

I enjoyed trying my new iPhone 15 Pro Max phone to take some macro pictures of some of the flowers.

Heading home the next day, I left the hotel about 6 AM and got to Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge about 20 minutes after sunrise. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy and sprinkling so there was not a lot of bird activity, and the light was not great for photography.

The surprise of the morning came when I saw something on the road in my left peripheral vision as I moved slowly along Hagerman’s wildlife road…..as I turned to see it better I realized it was a hub cap. I got out of the car to see if it belonged to my car…and it did! It was the first time anything like that has happened to me in 55 years of driving! I put the hub cap in the car opting to not try to put it back on until I got home.

I saw two flocks of cattle egrets as I was driving back toward the highway from Hagerman.

As I drove through Oklahoma, I was driving thorough moving cloud shadows. They were moving in the same direction as I was, and I was moving faster than they were!

The drive was very routine until my route direction shifted from north to east. The wind buffeted the car and the big trucks on the interstate were even more impacted. The last 3 hours were exhausting – requiring both hands on the steering wheel and hyper awareness of the vehicles (particularly trucks) around me.

I made it home in a reasonable time but was very tired.

Macro Photography – March 2024

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Sometimes I get in the mood for macro photography. It has happened several times this month.

The first was at my mother’s funeral. I was thinking about the bouquet of daffodils/narcissus that her neighbor cut from their old yard (with the new owner’s permission) and decided to take some macro views of the flowers while we were waiting for the service to begin. I thought about all the joy my mother experienced with her garden…with the flowers growing there and the ones she cut to bring inside. And that she transmitted that joy to her daughters.

The second round of macro photography was when I trimmed some low branches from one of my pine trees and decided to take a closer look at one of the branches.

Pine cones are so sturdy….they are hard on my lawn mower…but there is a fragile aspect to them too. At close range they are wrinkled and folded and etched.

The bark on a small stem shows where needles once grew and the expansion of the stem making brown islands in gray green.nce.

The bud at the end of stem looks reddish surrounded by green needles. Once again – I realize how much color there is that is unnoticed until we take a closer look.

The last macro photograph is one my daughter sent via text when she visited the Memphis Botanic Garden recently. She knows how much I enjoy finding fiddleheads….and evidently had caught the macro photography bug too. These were interesting because of the felt-like covering that must have protected them until they started to unfurl.

Snowflakes

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It has been a few years since I posted about my attempts to photograph snowflakes. My recent attempt was my first in Missouri…and not a great success…more a learning experience. It was a bitterly cold day (in the single digits). It was snowing at a good rate…small flakes. I used the same materials I had in years past: red glass plate, magnifying lens clipped onto my phone, external clicker to take the pictures. I hadn’t realized the low temperature and the deck/patio being on the north (versus southwest) of the house would have on how cold I felt! The images are tantalizing but I was too cold to spend more time to get the flakes more isolated.

The better location in our Missouri house for snowflake photography will be the garage which opens to the south. It would be a good place to have my set up and be out of the wind. I might even set up an LED light underneath my plate! It’s only January; surely there will be more opportunities for snowflake photography this winter.

My previous snowflake macro photography attempts:

Feb. 2021 (and a second post…third post)

March 2015

March 2014 (and a second post)

Feb. 2014

Jan. 2014

Zooming (and Macro) – December 2023

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There was not as much time for photography this past month; I am combining macro (getting close) and zoomed (optical magnification) images in this post.

The macro images go first. The yellow cosmos were part of a small bouquet I cut and put in mini-vase for the middle of my parents’ breakfast table. They enjoyed the enlarged view that I showed them just after I photographed them. The leaves are probably the last new ones of the season on a rose bush that has been blooming next to their garage for over 30 years!

The leaves on a millet plant (came up under the bird feeder!) are interesting as they begin their end-of-season decline.

The zoomed images for December included some birds and plants at Josey Ranch, fall foliage, and zoomed images of glass orbs in yard art…the last flowers in the garden.

In the coming months – the stainless steel iris will be the highlight of the garden!

In the coming months – the stainless steel iris will be the highlight of the garden!

Bringing Fall Foliage Indoors

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I found a small oak and a maple growing in my flowerbed…cut them since they can’t grow large there. They were colorful so I put them in a kombucha jar on one of my office tables and have been enjoying them for the past week or so.

The oak was the largest of the two small trees and the leaves were a variety of colors. It is probably a child of the oak in our neighbor’s yard – maybe planted in our flower bed by a squirrel.

The oaks in our neighborhood retain their leaves longer than many other trees nearby…so maybe this young one will last longer indoors too.

The red maple seedling made an interesting macro image from above! It is smaller and more delicate than the oak…but the topmost leaves continued to grow after I cut it!

The maples in our yard have already lost their leaves but the small one indoors is still photogenic!

Fall Foliage in our Yard

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The change in foliage started back in early October with the leaves of our red maple showing patches of red.

When I mowed our yard in late October, I noticed one of the bushes had red leaves, the red maple was beginning to shed its leaves, and the Virginia creeper in the flower bed had turned red. One side of our back yard had a dusting of river birch leaves from a neighbor’s tree.

The pokeweed berries were ripe – being eaten by birds!

While I was away in Texas, our Missouri neighborhood experienced a hard freeze.  I took a panorama image from my backyard toward the tennis courts and pond. The trees were very colorful.

The next day I walked around the yard for a closer look. The dogwood leaves looked brown….although they looked interesting enough backlit. The forsythia (in the foreground looking toward the tennis court) looked like the frost had surprised it – the leaves curled and limp.

Tender plants like pokeweed (lower right corner of the first image and the taller pants in the second) and hostas had wilted/collapsed with the cold. I’ve cut down the pokeweed in the most visible areas of the yard but left it in out-of-the-way places…will see if the birds continue to eat the berries.

At this point, the river birches have lost all their leaves. The maples are thinning fast; the ones in my front yard have lost more than half their leaves. The oaks are just beginning to shed their leaves. I think the early frost got all my crepe myrtles…hopefully not killing them back to the roots – which is what happened last winter. One of my pines shed old needles (already brown) after the cold snap and enlarged the circle of needles around it (must mean the tree is getting bigger).

I am enjoying my fall yard!

Macro Maple

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The sucker growing at the base of one of our red maples is now in a small vase in my office….and became an opportunity for some macro photography! The leaves had a lot of red pigment along with the green. The new leaves are red…the newer stems are red…and sometimes injured areas are red as well. The new leaves are the most obvious. In reality – even the green leaves have the red pigment; it is just overwhelmed by the green of the chlorophyll – until fall when the chlorophyll dies and leaves the whole tree full of red leaves!

As I moved around the sucker, I found a tiny spider….too small for my macro set up to capture. I lost track of it…so now the tiny spider could be roaming my office!

Beautyberry

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I always stop at the Texas Welcome Center on US 75 just after crossing the Red River from Oklahoma to Texas. There is always something to see in the extensive plantings in front of the building. I enjoy a quick round of macro photography.

The Beautyberry was the highpoint of my stop in July. The plants are in all stages of blooming and then berry formation. It seems like there are more plants than last year….these are hardy native bushes!

Soon the berries will start to turn purple. Here is a picture from last September. I will check the plants again when I pass through in August…maybe find a few berries turning purple.

Macro in the Garden

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My garden plot has done reasonably well for its 1st season. I am letting all the wildflowers bloom and make seeds. The bulbs will hopefully be more robust next year too. The plot has been a joy to see at every stage – a reward for my efforts to plant and keep watered.

The added benefit is the variety of plants for macro photography (using Samsung Galaxy S10e phone). My goal is to make the rounds at least once a month since the plants change throughout the season. The highlights this month are the poppies making seeds and the sunflower just beginning the process. The red leaves are a rosebush next to the patch of wildflowers and bulbs.

Next to the wildflower garden, I have a vine of miniature pumpkins. There are three that are getting  bigger every day.

I noticed that the petals of the showy flowers have spikes at the tip that shortens as the petals unfurl. When I first started looking at the flower, I noticed some small insects were there. I wondered if they were pollinators; then a black carpenter bee came, and I switched to video mode. Clearly the carpenter bee was the pollinator!

In the front yard – there were three types of mushrooms growing where the large tree was cut down well before we saw our house; I know it was there because of the depression and general bumpiness caused by the decaying roots. The most numerous mushrooms this time were white blobs pushing up out of the grass.

In closer looks – they remind me of toasted marshmallows!

The second type was darker and still had rolled edges. They had previously been the most numerous kind I’d seen in the area…but not this time. I wondered if there is a fungi succession when it came to tree stumps/roots.

The third type was a single specimen….more delicate looking than the others. I see it elsewhere in the yard.

 The macro world….easier to observe with my phone in hand!

Indoor Flowers

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My office windows have a limited view to the outside even though there are 4 of them:

  • Irises and violets (long past their blooming) in a flower bed and lawn

  • Hosta and crape myrtle in a flowerbed, pine and lawn

  • Hostas and a bush in a flowerbed, chiminea fire pit, holly trees, bird feeders

  • Patio

The hostas are blooming but not anything else. I appreciate whatever is blooming around the yard and periodically bring them indoors to enjoy in vases that easily fit on a windowsill – out of the way and where I can see them when I am at my 2-monitor computer table. In July the indoor flowers are primarily roses and gladiola.

Periodically I get into the mood to do something with my cameras…and the indoor flowers are obvious subjects – particularly on rainy or ‘too hot’ days. Macro photography (Samsung Galaxy S10e) is easier indoors – no breeze to move things around.

High key photography is also easy enough since the flowers are already in a window that has sun shining in for a short time in the morning.

Most of the time I can adjust enough to eliminate the screen outside the window (I left one image with the screen showing a little in the slideshow below). I had taken the screen off last year but discovered that birds crashed into the window too frequently without it! I have an office chair well back from the window…using the zoom on my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HS) to compose the image I want…probably the most ‘artsy’ type of photography I do. I like the gentle curves that combine to form the flowers…the softer focus.

June Yard Work

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There has been a lot of yard work beyond the usual mowing and weed eating in June. The wildflower seeds I planted are up and I water them almost daily to help them get established. There always seems to be something that needs doing in the yard and I try to spend an hour each morning working on the highest priority ones!

The above ground portion of our two rose bushes died over the winter so there were a lot of dead stems to cut away. I think the same thing had happened during winters in the past since there were obviously some parts that had been dead a lot longer than others. I am still trying to decide whether to dig out the bushes entirely.

I did get sidetracked while I was working…when I noticed a small slug on one of the older stems that had some fungus growing on it. I couldn’t resist the photo op!

The 4 crape myrtles in the flower beds also died back to the soil line over the winter. The part that was older broke off easily. The part that was last year’s growth had to be cut with pruners, but it wasn’t very large. There was one plant that had obviously been more vigorous in the past and had stems that were large enough that I had to use a saw to get lengths that would fit in my chimenea.

I’d decided that the easiest thing to do with the dead rose and crape myrtle stems was to burn them. I don’t have anywhere for a brush pile in my Missouri yard and the idea of taking rose stems (with lots of thorns) anywhere very far was not appealing.

It was a good task for the cool mornings of June! I would start gathering the dead stems about 7…burned what I collected in about an hour and was back indoors before 9!

My husband noticed that the store where he buys our bird seed was having a native plant sale; we went to shop. I’ve wanted to start adding native plants to our landscaping. Our first is fragrant sumac. I planted it a flowerbed where it had room to expand (they can grow new plants via suckers). It will be a great addition for wildlife and fall color! It’s close enough to the wildflower seedlings that I can water it when I water them.

Two Plants in Macro

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I took some macro photos of two plants in my parents’ yard in Carrollton: dusty miller and red yucca.

Dusty Miller is known for it’s white, felt-like leaves but this time of year it might be blooming…and the flowers are yellow!

We cut a few flower stalks to bring indoors and that is where I took macro pictures of the developing flowers with my phone (Samsung Galaxy S10e) using my Bluetooth remote shutter release. The unopened buds reminded me of powder-sugared donuts!

The red-yucca seed pods are frequent subjects for my photography in my parents’ front yard. When they are mature, they pop open to reveal and release papery black seeds. This time of year, there are pods from last year and new pods are that are still green/developing while the plant continues to bloom.

Some of the red yucca stalks were hanging over the walkway…had to be removed. I kept one of the green seed pods to take a closer look. The tip of the seed pod begins to dry first. I cut the pod in half. The seeds are not fully formed; they are white and very moist. The 6 compartments are well defined. The outer skin of the pod separates easily from the developing seeds. I separated one of the seeds; The tissue did not appear differentiated at all. I’ll try to take a closer look at one of the fully developed black seeds next time I am in Carrollton.

Overall – two very different plants that made for interesting mini-photoshoots!