Photo of the Day - Pink Bouganvillea

Having flowers all year around is a joy, but I was surprised to discovered a difference in the seasons even in southern Florida. This year brought a profusion of blooms in the spring which has continued all summer.

Photo of the Day - Red Double Hibiscus

Flowers seem to have endless variety and beauty, and light from behind adds more nuances.

Photo of the Day - White Peony

What lush, glorious flowers peonies are. When they grew in our garden in Kansas, the blooms were so large the stocks could barely hold them. The air was fragrant with their scent. Ants love them, so they aren't the best flowers to bring inside, despite their beauty and perfume, but they are gorgeous to photograph.

Photo of the Day - Palm Flowers

Until I lived in tropical environments, I never thought about palm trees and plants flowering, yet they have interesting blooms. They are usually long feathery-looking tassles, and they can make quite a mess when they fall. Some are very long and sweeping. I've seen some three feet long. This is a smaller variety. I've also learned there are many species of palm, and I have no idea what they all are. They do produce seeds (fruit), and I've lived with coconut palms. More on those another time. None of the palms I have now has edible fruit, that I know of.

Photo of the Day - Bottlebrush Flowers

The variety of forms of flowers is astounding. Some don't even look like what I grew up with thinking of as flowers. The bottlebrush tree has brilliant red flowers that truly do look like a bottle brush.

Photo of the Day - Cactus Flower

When photographing flowers it's an added bonus to find an insect on them, especially on the unusually shaped cactus flowers.

Photo of the Day - Orchid

You never know when a photo opportunity will present itself. I was having lunch at Little Harbor and the tasty sandwich came with an orchid. I prompty put it on the table (eating outside in the "winter" is wonderful here) and photographed it.

Photo of the Day - Pink Peony

Roses may be the traditional flowers of love for Valentine's Day, but this lush pink peony seems to fit just as well to me. Our yard in Kansas had a profusion of white and pink peonies. The flowers were so large and heavy that the stems could barely hold them, and if there was any rain, they couldn't manage. Peonies smell wonderful, but I've never seen a peony perfume fragrance.

Photo of the Day - Dandelion

This was an extraordinarily large dandelion that had gone to seed. When I've tried to photograph them up close, I've found it hard to get the whole thing in focus because of the short depth of field at that close distance, but this one turned out nicely.

Photo of the Day - Red Tulips

This clump of tulips was growing beside a driveway. It's amazing it survived. I don't know why anyone would plant bulbs so close to where people drive and trample, but here they are in all their glory.

Photo of the Day - Flowers on the Prairie

Here's another example of the beautiful wildflowers that bloom on the prairie. If you read pioneer accounts of travel through or life on the prairie, among the details of wild weather, harsh conditions, animals, and more, you will find descriptions of the beautiful wildflowers that carpet the prairie from spring to fall. The colors are vivid and intense. (And the grasshoppers are huge!)

Photo of the Day - Hibiscus

This beautiful bloom was one of many unusual varieties of hibiscus I photographed at Busch Gardens in Tampa.

Photo of the Day - Yellow Flower and Insect

Here's another one I can't identify without help. This bright yellow flower grows on the prairie. I managed to catch an insect on it.

Photo of the Day - Primrose

This primrose was glowing on the Kansas prairie.

Photo of the Day - Flowers - Morning Glories?

Oddly enough, though I especially enjoy photographing flowers, I don't know the names of the varieties or much of anything about growing them. Although these look like "morning glories" to me, I don't know if they actually are, and I photographed them late in the afternoon. Do they bloom then? These were growing in the wonderful garden at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia, last May.

Photo of the Day

Flowers are one of my favorite subjects to photograph, with their endless variety and color. This one was captured at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello near Charlottesville, Virginia at the end of May. The gardens there were ablaze with color.