Slight different view of the Topsy Turvy,  a better photo of the base of the columns that support the whatever-it-is.

Teeny-tiny mushrooms along the road in the Bent Creek hiking area ... lotsa mushrooms and i'll post more later.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Also from the Bent Creek hike a couple weeks ago ... it was a huge butterfly and while the blooms it continued to land on looked mostly dead, i suppose they were lively enough to supply the butterfly with the energy it needed.

I continue being fascinated with the night moon.

 August full moon, peeking

Earlier in the summer there was both a full moon and full eclipse

just before the full eclipse

full eclipse

The moon images came out rather well and we were lucky that it was both a relatively clear sky (it clouded over 20 mins later) and in an area where city lights were not effecting the photograph.

Returning Fall 2022

 I have returned to photographing the Topsy Turvy bloom which blooms each year at this time. Looking at the post from last year I con't see that I improved the images very much but did end up with a final that I very much like.

Topsy Turvy

And at the end of last year I bought a Christmas cactus which is called that as it tends to bloom at Christmas time - the colors are wonderful.

Christmas Cactus

And then there is the Gladiola that I found along the road and  just love the pinks and gradations into the soft white

I know that giving feedback is not so easily done on this blog but give it a try, it'll help me-thanks.

October moon

 The October full moon occurred on October 1st and looked something like this:

then the following night I was able to see that the moon had a companion that was visible: Mars

It's there, in the upper left and slightly red, which, as many of you know, is why it is often called the Red Planet.

Topsy Turvey

 Such a strange name for a flower and I have been having fun playing with it.

And as I work towards the center of one of the blossoms, it looks like this:

 

Then when look down into it, we see this:

 

And that center bulb looking part is the pistil and the yellow (seeming to float)

 parts are the stamen.

A closer view of the pistil; photographed about 3x actual size

I don't know how much larger it is when seen like this.

Google has recently updated this blog software and while it seems to offer more, all I'm finding is that it is more complex to use. However, I understand it is easier to comment - so it this looks o.k. or not, would you add a comment so I can learn if its true about being easier to comment? Thanks. 

Oxalis, many

As some of my four or five readers know i'm a big fan of the plant Oxalis. There are many, many oxalises, one of the most common being the small, very small, yellow flowers that bloom all over many lawns and are considered a nuisance. And i love 'em! Here are a few photographs from what i've been growing, (four species):

Oxalis Inops, pink bloom

Oxalis Deppei, Ironcross, coral bloom

Oxalis Triangularis, lucky, purple bloom

Oxalis Regnelli, white bloom

and all together now:

Happy oxaling to you.

Spotted Wintergreen or

Striped Prince's Pine

Learned about this small forest floor plant on a guided walk at the NC Arboretum and then while walking around in a small piece of wooded land next door, i found this plant growing among the leaves.

When they start growing, they look like this:

and then they begin to grow tall, looking like those below:

and close up they become pretty cute and complex.

Where they are growing, a small wooded area about a hundred yards from my house, will be bulldozed by a contractor who is building homes on the land. He's fine with any plants there being removed so i've dug a few up and potted them with the idea of putting them around the house.

Up close, they look like this:

and this:

This photograph show all three stages of the bloom: the bulb before opening on the right, the open bulb on the left and the seed pod beginning to form on the top which is what the green pod-looking ball will turn into.

The seed pod looks like this:

If you live anywhere west of Mississippi, they grow in the spring along forest floors among the leaves.