backyard

I decided to give my camera a small workout today and spent an hour or so shooting in the backyard. we've had a very warm winter so there are still many flowers blooming and a lot of insect activity, making for good subjects. A quick count of different blooming plant varieties totaled about 26, but I'd imagine I forgot a couple.

Parry's Penstemon Flower


The bud of the Parry's gets deposits of minerals, making it look like little ice crystals have collected:




Our ice plants had numerous bee species today:



Pineleaf Milkweed Buds


I really like the symmetry of the Parry's Agave. I was playing around with my macro ring flash in this photo. It had been awhile and I couldn't remember some of the tricks with it, but I got a composition I liked. I'll have to work on the execution and present an improved version in a later post.



Blanket Flower


Part of the mid/late winter routine is to cut back roses. We saved a few blooms to put in a vase. Here is a quick snapshot - they aren't in perfect shape due to a few cold mornings, but the size of these were incredible - the largest one measured 6.5 inches across.