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“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain. “ – Henry David Thoreau There is no shortage of insect life on the Queen Anne’s Lace this summer. It seems to be especially popular to various bugs and beetles. Here, a Japanese Beetle tours the outer flowerettes, I’m assuming looking for a meal of nectar…. Read More
“The blues of summer, flowers and bright skies. Days of warmth and laughter, and lakefront evening sighs.” – Ed Lehming This seems to be season of the hoverfly. They are everywhere I look. Not that’s a bad thing, by any means, they are an interesting insect and quite colourful too. Though, I have yet to photograph one in flight. I found this pair while photographing a chicory blossom a few days ago…. Read More
“Assuming what people want is about as controlled as using fireworks to start a fire.” ― Criss Jami With all the recent celebrations of Canada’s 150th year of Confederation and the 4th of July in America these past few days, fireworks have been a bit of a theme. Many people have posted images and written about their country’s celebrations. So, when I made this image of a small group of Yellow Hawkweed, with… Read More
“I must have flowers, always, and always.” ― Claude Monet I’ve seen these pretty clumps of pink flowers along the roadside before. Many times. I’ve just driven by, last year I saw some and turned the car around to make some photos, but they turned out to be quite disappointing, a bit out of focus, and not showing the characteristics of the flowers well. They are quite pretty and really stand out because… Read More
“I am so grateful to be here on this awesome planet with it’s diverse life – everything we need to not just survive but to thrive. I am excited to continually learn more about it, and always curious to see what is going to come up next.” ― Jay Woodman What better image to post for Canada’s 150th Birthday? I have several, but this Canada Thistle seemed quite appropriate. Despite its name,… Read More
“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.” ― Joseph Addison Yesterday morning, my son and I went for a hike to see how a patch of Showy Lady Slipper orchids were coming along. More on that in a future post. On the way into the forest, the wildflower lined path was abuzz… Read More
“I will be the gladdest thing under the sun! I will touch a hundred flowers and not pick one.” ― Edna St. Vincent Millay Before they fade with the heat, I thought I’d make a quick image of this anemone blossom. Which, like all the studio close-ups, reveals wonderful details and complex structures. This blossom, a bit ‘mature’ has dropped a lot of pollen on the petals already. I’m not sure what… Read More
“Humans do artificial things But nature always hits back naturally !!!” ― Akshay Shinde I decided to give this one the studio treatment, to show all the complex textures apart from the ‘clump’ growing in my front garden. The Wood Anemone is a native plant and through a natural process, ended up growing my gardens. I enjoyed watching it flower a few years ago, till it started taking over the entire flower… Read More
“Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.” ― Samuel Johnson I’m revisiting this interesting flower one more time. When I first discovered it, I was not sure what it was, so I took several photos, hoping to identify it when I got home from my hike. Sometimes, a surprise awaits, as in this image, which shows the Avens flower very nicely but also includes a guest, in the… Read More
“Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.” ― Gérard de Nerval I had to go back to this location again and get just one more image of the bunchberries, before they fade into summer and memories. There are certain plants that have a subconscious draw on me. Bunchberry is one of those. perhaps it’s my love of dogwoods, a family of plants to which these also belong. Miniature dogwoods! It’s the… Read More
“You may be the only person left who believes in you, but it’s enough. It takes just one star to pierce a universe of darkness. Never give up.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich This little flower is aptly named. As I returned from my photo hike last weekend, I thought I had come across some real rare, hard to find flower. When I found it, and saw the name, I smiled. I smiled… Read More
“A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing the [yet] unsolved ones.” ― Abraham Lincoln This one is a new plant for me. While hiking on Sunday, I caught a brief flash of burgundy a short distance… Read More
“It is easier to tell a person what life is not, rather than to tell them what it is. A child understands weeds that grow from lack of attention, in a garden. However, it is hard to explain the wildflowers that one gardener calls weeds, and another considers beautiful ground cover.” ― Shannon L. Alder As I mentioned yesterday, it’s been too long since I had the opportunity to go for a… Read More
Alliara petiolata What at first glance looks like a scraggly weed, growing in profusion along railway tracks, turns out to be a beautiful, interesting plant close up. I find myself guilty, of late, of not taking the time to look at some of the more mundane plants that grow in my area, north of Markham, Ontario. This is a prime example. I’ve seen vast patches of Garlic Mustard but never taken the… Read More
Tiarella condifolia The above is another of what I categorize as the ‘second’ wave of spring blossoms. This, like the others I’m posting are predominantly white. The foamflowers are quite abundant this year. I really had no idea how beautiful they were till I got in close. Nikon D800 Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 (272ENII)@90mm 1/80 sec, f/16.0 ISO 400 or more images like this, please visit my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EdLehming or… Read More
Cardamine piphylla With rainy days, busy workdays, as well as event filled weekends, I seem to have missed several days of spring blossoms. Despite this, the ‘next wave’ of blossoms is now starting to show. These tend to be primarily white flowers, starting with trilliums, which are well advanced as I write this. These Toothworts are plentiful, yet I seem to have overlooked them in previous years, unless this is an exceptional cycle… Read More
“It’s life that matters, nothing but life—the process of discovering, the everlasting and perpetual process, not the discovery itself, at all.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky Oddly enough, I’ve gone out looking for these and stepped over them, not making teh connection. Yet, this past weekend while photographing a group of Wake-Robins, I noticed this fuzzy broad leafed plant with a little ‘bud’ or nodule at the base. Curious, I took a closer look and… Read More
“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.” ― Anne Frank A few days a ago I went to a large grove of these early spring bloomers for a few more shots of the unusual tiny purple flowers. This particular grove contains thousands of these plants and the forest floor almost looks burnt with the density of Cohosh growing here, interspersed with freshly emerging trillium and wild leeks…. Read More
“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke One of the unique features about the area that I live is that it is surrounded by pockets of what is known as “Carolinian Forest”, that is, many of the plants and animals in the area can usually be found in the warmer climates of Carolina, Virginia, and Ohio. This means that I have access to plants and… Read More
“I am learning my way toward something that will make sense of my life, and I learn by going where I have to go, with whatever companions I am graced.” ― Dean Koontz At the base of a dead beech tree, these companions add brightness and life, among the dead and decomposing elements surrounding them. For some unknown reason, the large beech trees in this local forest all died a few years ago…. Read More
“The most fulfilling adventures happen when you start your journey without knowing where you’re going, because only then are you free to experience the unexpected detours you’re meant to take.” ― A.J. Darkholme Ah, yes, the unexpected, one of my greatest delights. I set out to make photos of fish spawning in a local creek and come across a large, beautiful cluster of spring flowers I have never encountered before. They looked a… Read More
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