The Steer's Head, a fumitory (the bleeding heart family) tucked under winter litter on sunny ridge tops; you wouldn't notice unless you were looking for it -- look for the foliage first. Here shot under the shadow of my cap. When you bow down and look closely, amazing! Rolling, rolling, rolling; keep them dogies rolling ---
The Oregon anemone, on the forest floor, in the company of Vanilla Leaf, another wildflower you won't see often (the anemone, not the Vanilla Leaf, which is all over the place and welcomed). Vanilla Leaf is also called Sweetly When Dying, because its aromatic qualities become so strong when the leaves are dry. It used to be added to frontier tobacco or sprinkled among folded bedsheets for the scent.
A fritillary, the chocolate lilly or checkered lilly, found nodding in a blazing field of balsam root (native sunflower), modest and quiet, until you look closely and notice the rather feral pattern on the petals, which hang bell like, hiding an astounding interior from all but qualified pollinators.
Not my best shots, the little point and shoot appears to be on her last legs; she'll get one more chance and that's it -- I've lost shots of some really wonderful flowers, scarlet gillia, Calypso orchid, to name a few, all too blued, gray, or off focus to rescue. Have you ever noticed how a flower growing on a shady forest floor is so reflective of the light it comes out over exposed and colorless, even when the rest of the shot is too dark? Handy for the bees, I guess -- like, "here it is girls, come and get it"!
No comments:
Post a Comment