Monday, May 12, 2008

A few more flowers....can't help myself.

And if someone can tell me what the blue flowers are in the third photo, I'd appreciate it. Neither I, nor the gardener, nor the gardener's helper know what they are. Oh, and the colour hasn't been enhanced. They really are that blue.

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23 comments:

helgor said...

These are all so stunning.

Love it.

Anonymous said...

that is one vibrant blue flower!

Arlene,
Puyallup flowers

Anonymous said...

Dang it! I was about to type Stunning but saw someone beat me to it. Regardless, these are each a piece of art. Gorgeous!

Laura Bradbury said...

Dear Pam,

These are SO beautiful! I just love tulips and your gorgeous photos are such a lovely break from the stomach flu which is still making it's roudns at our house.

I'm in the market for a new camera - what kind did you use?

Just really, really stunning ( I know other people have typed this, but that's what they are!) - you have a photographer's eye.

Bisous

Laura

dykewife said...

i love the little blue cups in the third flower! any idea what they are?

A Novel Woman said...

Thanks everyone for indulging me in my new hobby. I am In Love with my new camera. (happy sigh)

Arlene, it is a vibrant blue, and the buds are this lovely intense purple, but I didn't change the colour at all. That's what they look like in the shade. I'm hoping someone can tell me what they are.

Laura, I'm sorry about your flu. I read about it on your blog, and I had to laugh - the flu and lice on the same weekend!? Mothers deserve a special place in Heaven, I'm telling you.... Oh, and I've been there, done that, picked the nits.

I have a Nikon D200 and I highly recommend it although I think you can easily get away with the D80. I was going to buy the D80 actually, but the salesman gave me such a good deal on the D200 that I couldn't say no. Now, Doug uses a Canon EOS Rebel in his office and loves it. Karen, and my sister, also use a Canon. It's a personal thing, how it feels in your hands, etc.

But take your time, talk to different people, research it online like I did for months, and it will find you. (Now I sound like Yoda.)

A Novel Woman said...

Oh, and I use a Nikkor lens 18-200mm almost exclusively.

However, I've got a hankering for a 105mm macro Nikkor lens so I can get sharper images on those close-ups I'm addicted to.

Merrymags said...

Pamela:

My hubby, the landscape architect, has been enjoying your photos tremendously. I, too, must say they are lovely. Please keep them coming..... a touch of beauty is always appreciated and a sweet reminder to celebrate our humanity.

Midge

A Novel Woman said...

Thanks, MerryMags! I have the easy job - taking the photos. My neighbour and daughter do all the hard physical work in the garden.

You should see the landscaping and stone work at their country house, situated on the side of a mountain. Oh, that's a work of art in and of itself....

Merrymags said...

Pamela:

Tom thinks the blue flowers are a variety of pulmonaria, which is in the borage family.....

Midge

A Novel Woman said...

Midge, I think your hubby is right. It looks like lungwort, and it's situated in shade, one of the first to come up this spring, etc. Fits the profile. I'm going to send it along to the gardener and see if that jogs her memory.

THANKS!

Pam

Unknown said...

Gorgeous piccies, especially the second rose, can't help on the stunning blue one tho'

Trudy said...

Just Beautiful! They belong on cards or in a gardening magazine.

A Novel Woman said...

Sarah, the second one isn't a rose, but a type of tulip. Amazing, no? I haven't retouched the colour. They're this rich ruby red with almost purple highlights.

Anonymous said...

Hi Pamela,

Lovely photos! See, one does not have to travel all the way to Ottawa to get beautiful tulip shots :-)
I really like the monochrome one, very elegant. Do I see a hint of rose hue in the highlights? Nice.
Keep up the good work.

Metod

Merrymags said...

Pamela:

I was visiting, again, to look at ALL your lovely photos and I had to wonder at the variety of tulips.... are these all from the same neighbor's garden? Does she leave her bulbs in the soil or does she round them up and refrigerate them? Now that I think about it, probably not -- that's something we have to do here in Southern California.

MIdge

Donna Boucher said...

Your flowers are spectacular!!!

And I honestly think that is one of the most beautiful black and white flowers I have seen since Weston and AdamS!

Well done!

A Novel Woman said...

Oh wow, Donna, you made my day! What a compliment especially as it comes from someone I really respect and admire. I still haven't finished reading the darn manual that came with my camera so I don't know a tenth of what the thing can do. And I have PS3 coming next week, so I better get cracking.

Thanks again.

Pam, of the happy glow!

A Novel Woman said...

Metod, there isn't any rose that I know of. I sharpened, went to black and white, created a bit more shadow then increased the hue slightly on the warm side so I think it added a bit of yellow. To tell you the truth, I forget exactly what I did. Maybe I'll post the original so you can see the true colours, a lovely creamy white with green highlights.

Pam

A Novel Woman said...

Midge, they ALL came from one garden and I have a lot more photos of different varieties, I just didn't want to bore you. My friend and neighbour Kathy planted about 500 bulbs last fall and my daughter works for her every summer. But Kathy is an artist, and they always make the best gardeners because they have an innate sense of what looks good. And yes, she leaves the bulbs in the ground but works hard to keep the squirrels away from them.

Pam

Jerusha said...

Your unknown blue flowers are Virginia bluebells -- Mertensia virginica -- lungwort has spotted leaves.And the photos are gorgeous. Google Reader (my blogspot feed) recommended you. :-D

A Novel Woman said...

Hi Jerusha!

Thanks for that flower identification. I love that little plant, and the colour photographs so well, not like that violent red poppy.

Google Reader, eh? Awesome.

Jerusha said...

I live on LiveJournal (FlorentineScot) -- and it has the Friends Page. Google reader is a way to have feeds from blogspot (and other pages) come into one place.

One of the cool things is that they go dormant so soon after flowering, that other stuff now has a place to live. :-)