Road trip in Iceland: Dandelions galore

Some random beautiful scene (they appear every 100 feet, it seems) in Iceland…dandelions grow profusely along the roadway and entire fields are covered with them. Unlimited dandelions = unlimited wishes!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

(Unidentified) beetle on Chicory bloom

I photographed this red headed fellow at one of the McKee-Beshers sunflower fields this morning, alongside my fellow avid photographers, Heather Callin, Michael Powell and Marisa Sarto.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Wildflowers, Hwy. 281 in San Antonio

Here’s a record shot of the median strip on Hwy. 281 in San Antonio….there were wildflowers everywhere last month!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Leaf-footed bug on Prickly pear cactus

Leaf-footed bug, order Hemiptera (thanks, Brian K. Loflin, oh bug man!) on a Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Prickly pear cactus bud (Opuntia)

I was in San Antonio last week to photograph interior remodeling projects for a client, but got a chance on Monday to photograph wildflowers in bloom as well. My dad was an excellent day trip companion—driving me to and fro, holding my tri-grip diffuser to soften the Texas sunshine on my subjects, keeping an eye out for dangerous vermin (I learned that if you hear a rattlesnake, freeze until you can locate where the sound is coming from—do not run or jump), stopping at a yard sale (homeowner was actually named Porter Wagoner), treating me to lunch at Texas 46 Bar & Grill in the Hill Country, and crooning classic country songs from a 25 cent CD he picked up at a yard sale (Sonny James, Freddy Fender, Bobby Bare, anyone?) en route home. More to come…

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Vermont Road Trip Part 1: Ice cream, shoes, cheese, and a most memorable picnic in the rain

The Lower Otter Creek Wildlife Management Area in Ferrisburgh, VT, near the entrance to Kingsland Bay State Park, encompasses 738 acres of wetland and floodplain forest habitat. Otter Creek reaches out to Lake Champlain and hosts a wide variety of wildlife: birds include state-endangered ospreys, bald eagles, ring-billed and great black-backed gulls, double-crested cormorants, great blue herons, mallards, hooded mergansers, and many types of ducks; mammals include mink, fox, white-tailed deer, cottontail rabbits and gray squirrels; reptiles include many species of salamanders, bullfrogs, spring peppers, tree frogs, turtles and snakes; fish include large and smallmouth bass, northern pike, walleye, chain pickerel and yellow perch.

After photographing the Hearing Loss Association of America’s Convention 2012 in Providence, R.I. (June 21-24), my sister Debbie and I hightailed it up to Vermont for a short road trip. We left Providence about noon on Sunday and officially kicked off the Vermont tour that evening with a visit to Ben & Jerry’s headquarters in Waterbury. I tried the Late Night Snack, which was inspired by Jimmy Fallon (vanilla ice cream, fudge covered potato chip clusters and a salty caramel swirl). I just read a few online reviews and although the reviewers rave about the flavor, I wouldn’t try it again. I should have stuck with my favorite standby: chocolate chip cookie dough. You can’t go wrong with that flavor, no matter which company makes it!

We stayed in Shelburne that night. On Monday morning we impulse shopped at the Vermont-based Danform Shoes (great bargain basement where I bought a pair of my craziest shoes to date—heretofore known as my Saturday-Day-Night-Fever-Don-Johnson-Miami-Vice-white-Mafia-don-Wendys-advertising-newsprint-tabletop mules; stay tuned for a shot of these wild things!), drove around part of Lake Champlain, visited Shelburne Farms (a beautiful 1400-acre working farm) where we bought picnic supplies (cheese, crackers and various spreads), stopped at the Vermont Wildflower Farm in Charlotte, then stopped at Dakin Farm in Ferrisburgh for more cheese, crackers and Vermont maple syrup. It rained off and on all day, so I wasn’t able to hunker down and get some macro shots at the wildflower farm, unfortunately. That was something I was really looking forward to. I did get some great deals on wildflowers seeds and perennial bulbs, though, so it was worth the trip. Plus, who cares about rain when you have cheese?

We then drove to Kingsland Bay State Park and had a wonderful late afternoon lunch picnic on the porch of the historic Hawley House, c. 1790. This property dates back to the first settlers in Ferrisburgh and was home to Ecole Champlain, an exclusive girls camp, until the late 1960s. I’ll have photos and history to share on a future post about this lovely stone house with a wraparound porch on all four sides. We started our picnic at a picnic table by the bay, but the intermittent rainfall drove us to the wraparound porch. It was the most memorable picnic ever! Debbie and I concocted our own strange Chopped dishes with the various cheeses, crackers, chocolates and sweets we picked up along the way (photos and descriptions to come!). Aside from the two employees at the park entrance, a few seagulls and one very attentive chipmunk, we had the entire park to ourselves that afternoon.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

I shot this image with my iPhone using the app “645 Pro” in 6×17 panoramic format. It is one amazing app! It gives you lossless developed RAW tiff files and high quality jpgs, low-light performance, and live preview and real-time LCD readout. It offers seven professional color and b&w “film” options inspired by classic print and transparency film, and five switchable “backs”—645, 6×6, 6×7, 6×9, 6×17. Amazing! (I own a FUJI 6×17 panoramic film camera, so I’m very familiar with this format. It’s so fun to use this app to mimic the panoramic film format—it’s much lighter and easier than the real deal!)

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/40177690″>645 PRO for iPhone</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/jaggr”>Jag.gr</a&gt; on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

Yellow Trillium

Yellow Trillium (Trillium luteum)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Pressed plants as art

These individual one-of-a-kind pieces of art are actual Texas wildflowers collected from the wild and pressed, dried and preserved as two-dimensional ecological décor. My friend, Shirley Loflin, is the collector and artist responsible for preparation of these most interesting botanical specimens. She is a naturalist and author. She and her husband Brian (who just happens to be a former employer of mine as well as my photography mentor) have written several articles and books on the natural science of Texas.

The concept of this art series grew out of the requirement to preserve “voucher specimens” for the herbaria at Texas A&M University and the University of Texas. A voucher is a botanical specimen carefully mounted on archival materials of high quality, and completely identified with both common and scientific names. These vouchers are documentation of plants photographed in the wild for their books: Grasses of the Texas Hill Country, Texas Cacti and their latest, Texas Wildflower Vistas and Hidden Treasures.

Shirley and Brian have been writing about and photographing Texas as a team for more than 20 years. In addition, they lead natural science photography tours and workshops in a wide variety of locations in the Americas.

See their work at www.loflin-images.com, www.thenatureconnection.com and www.bkloflin.wordpress.com. Their books are published by Texas A&M University Press and may be found at most major booksellers.

Shirley’s botanical art is available for purchase in her etsy shop, www.etsy.com/shop/thenatureconnection.

Revisiting “How to grow your garden photography skills”

It’s (almost) that time again! Time to get out your camera (and your macro lens, if you’re fortunate to have one!) and get out in the garden to start capturing images of early spring flowers. (And if you don’t have a tripod, please get one. As much as you may not like toting one around, they are instrumental in capturing really sharp macro images; trust me on this!)

In my front yard garden, I already have Crocus and Tulips in bloom, and the Hellebores have been blooming since late January (hardy and eager plants, those Hellebores!).

This past fall I was interviewed and featured on the Nikonusa.com website about photographing gardens. Since the weather is getting warmer every day and early spring flowers are making their appearance in our part of the country, I thought I’d share the article and accompanying photos with you again! Click on the link below:

http://www.nikonusa.com/Learn-And-Explore/Photography-Techniques/gr35ffdt/all/How-To-Grow-Your-Garden-Photography-Skills.html

Garden Muse Show: Random Dozen

My photography exhibit, titled “Garden Muse: A Botanical Portfolio,” is up and ready for viewing at the Horticulture Center at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, Virginia. Green Spring Gardens is located at 4603 Green Spring Road in Alexandria, VA. All images are for sale and a portion of the proceeds will benefit Green Spring Gardens’ FROGS program (Friends of Green Spring Gardens).

The exhibit runs February 28-April 29, 2012, so there’s plenty of time to come see it if you’re in the Virginia/D.C. area or are planning to visit this spring. The reception is Sunday, April 15 from 1-3 p.m. So set aside your taxes (if you’re not already done with them at that point!) and come join me at the reception for some mingling, delicious appetizers (catering by Barbara Kelley of Kelley Hospitality) and refreshments. There will be additional framed images, matted-only images and greeting cards for sale during the reception. And please don’t forget to sign my guest book!

Show website: http://www.gardenmuseshow.com/

Directions: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/greenspring/directions.htm

Below is collage of just a dozen of the images (out of a whopping total of 74!) featured in the show. All images are matted and framed and eight images are gallery wrapped canvases that range from 18″x24″ up to 20″x30″ in size. If you’ve never had your best photos transferred to canvas, don’t get started on it. It is highly addictive and quite pricey, but the results are so spectacular that you’ll have a hard time resisting the pull. And the larger you go, the higher the price (and the bigger the smile, too). Intervention, anyone?

____________________________________________________________________________________

I just found out that the Washington Post listed the exhibit in their online “Going Out Guide,” and I have six reviews online so far!

“Impressive—This is by far the best exhibit I have seen at Green Spring Gardens. This is a coup for them. Of course, Fairfax County Parks are the best. But this show tops everything. Nature captured!”

“This Will Make You Smile—This is macro photography at its best. Ms. Dyer manages to inspire smiles from her deeply colorful and sometimes playful images of nature. A burst of color fills the room. Green Spring Gardens must be very pleased to have this exhibit.”

“Incredible Color—This exhibit grabs you as you walk in the building. Don’t miss the images on canvas! Absolutely beautiful. I have so many favorites! The detail, color, composition of every one of these images is fantastic. This show is not to be missed!”

“Wow…I mean…wow.—I’m a photographer who had a show in the same space a couple of years back and seeing what Ms. Dyer did with her show blew my mind. It is a gorgeous display of nature photography. Just a joy to see.”

“A Feast for the Eyes and a Lift for the Soul—This photographic show is an exhibit of beautifully-composed macro-photography of plants and insects. The flowers are lovely and a riot of color and composition. Many of the photographs were taken in Green Spring Garden Park. I loved it and I am recommending it to my friends!”

“Excellent Photographer—I have been waiting to see this exhibit for weeks! Lovers of nature, botany and excellent photography will not be disappointed.”

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

The beauty of pollination

Thanks to my friend Jeff for sending this amazing video to me!

A meeting of creative minds

On Wednesday morning I drove from San Antonio to Austin to visit my friends Brian and Shirley Loflin. The next day I had the pleasure of lunch at P.F. Chang’s in Austin on Thursday with four fellow creatives.

BRIAN LOFLIN
Brian is my former boss, photography mentor and friend of more than 25 years. He is a freelance photographer and photography instructor in Austin and his career spans more than four decades in the advertising, aviation, bio-medical and publishing industries. Brian is past president of the Minnesota Nature Photographers and founder and current president of the Austin Shutterbug Club. He is a photography instructor in the Informal Classes program at the University of Texas at Austin.

Brian and his wife, Shirley, actively teach and conduct seminars and workshops in many areas of photography. They authored, produced and photographed Grasses of the Texas Hill Country and Texas Cacti, two photographic field guides for Texas A&M University Press and available at most booksellers. They have just completed text and photography for their next book, Texas Wildflower Vistas and Hidden Treasures, also by Texas A&M University Press.

Visit Brian’s natural science photography blog here. You’ll find his commercial work here. In his other business, The Nature Connection, he provides photography and digital imaging services to biologists, professionals, educators and others involved in the natural sciences. He is also available for workshops, seminars and presentations, as well as group and one-on-one training in nature photography, macro/close-up photography, beginning digital photography, field photography and composition and light.

STEVEN SCHWARTZMAN
Austin photographer Steven Schwartzman began his blog, Portraits of Wildflowers, just eight months ago. He commented on my blog many months ago and we formed a sort of mutual admiration society and have kept in touch ever since. His work is beautiful and many times I have said to myself, “I would have shot that one just like he did.” I think that his style, composition and capture of light is so similar to mine.

I e-mailed him when I left Virginia and asked if he would like to get together for lunch when I came up to Austin. It was then that I discovered that he also knew Brian through the Austin Shutterbug Camera Club and the Native Plant Society. He said he was surprised to learn, via my blog posts last March after I visited Brian in Austin for a Joe McNally / Dave Hobby workshop on the Flash Bus Tour, that I had known Brian for more than 20 years!

Steven’s photography has been published numerous times in Texas Highways magazine. In 2007, his photograph of a basket-flower was one of a hundred finalists in Parade magazine’s photo contest on the theme “Celebrate America’s Beauty.” In 2009 and 2010, he was commissioned to provide all the photographs and text for three laminated wildflower guides for Quick Reference Publishing. He has contributed more than 200 photographs to the native plant database of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. His other interests include natural foods and language. I particularly enjoy his fascination with words in his other blog, Spanish-English Word Connections. He has written an excellent tutorial about his photography techniques on his blog here.

From Steven’s blog:
I grew up on Long Island and went to college at Columbia University, where I majored in French. Upon graduation I spent 1968 and 1969 as a Peace Corps math teacher in Honduras; I learned that I was good not only at math (which I knew) but also at teaching it (which I’d had no reason to suspect). It was also in Honduras that I learned the rudiments of photography and got my first “real” camera, a Pentax Spotmatic. In the late 1970s and early 1980s I did a fair amount of art photography and eventually published three books of 3-D infrared photographs. The combination of 3-D and black-and-white infrared was an unusual one but I was fond of it, at least in part because it was unique. My book Bodies of Light won an award from the Printing Industries of America in 1981.

I moved to Austin on July 6, 1976, two days after my birthday and the 200th anniversary of American independence. In my early years in Texas I did some landscape photography, still primarily in black and white infrared. I was an early adopter of digital photography: in 1999 I launched into a project to produce a photographic CD documenting the Austin area. In the process, I grew increasingly aware of and captivated by the many species of native plants that grow here; they became and remain my primary photographic subject.

It was such a treat being able to meet Steven in person. He is the first fellow blogger I’ve officially met in person and likewise for him! I’m hoping to be able to do a mini photo field trip with Steven in Austin before I head back to Virginia later this month.

SONYA MENDEKE
Sonya Mendeke, a freelance print and web designer living in Austin, is my former college classmate, one-time roommate and lifelong friend. You can see her design work on her newly-redesigned website here. Her hobbies include painting, sculpting and photography. You can see her graphic design work here. She also created whimsical and colorful paper clay “Bugs with Attitude” as well as birdhouses and plant pots.

During our lunch, I shared one of my favorite memories of Sonya. When we were both in college, I lived with her in a large two-bedroom apartment not far from the university. Both of us made extra spending money by doing odd freelance illustration jobs. At some point Sonya connected with a cattleman who wanted her to do drawings of his prize sire bulls for a catalog he was publishing. She showed him her portfolio and one of her illustrations was done in an illustration method called stippling. Wikipedia identifies stippling as “the creation of a pattern simulating varying degrees of solidity or shading by using small dots. … the dots are made of a pigment of a single colour, applied with a pen or brush; the denser the dots, the darker the apparent shade—or lighter, if the pigment is lighter than the surface.” Folks, we’re talking thousands upon thousands of dots to create one illustration. Thousands.

The cattleman loved the stippling style and asked her to replicate it on at least a dozen or more illustrations. She recalls being offered something like $300 for the project. Since we’re talking early 80s, I’m quite certain it wasn’t $300 per illustration. It was most likely that much for the entire portfolio of drawings. With dollars signs in her twinkling brown eyes, Sonya jumped into the project immediately.

It wasn’t long before I heard sailor-worthy words muttered from her bedroom studio, occasionally drowned out only by the never-ending tap-tap-tap of her trusty India-ink-filled Rapidograph pen. Night after night I would find her, mechanical pen in one hand, cigarette in the other, endless cups of coffee nearby, stippling into the wee hours of the morning—exhausted, hopped up on caffeine and almost losing her (creative) mind. The illustrations were wonderful and she did get paid. Afterward, check in hand, she vowed she would never stipple again, no matter what the compensation. I’m sure that, to this day, she still hears the tap-tap-tap sounds deep in her subconscious. In addition to the stippling method, I doubt that she is so fond of things bovine either.

Two years ago, Sonya was interviewed in a video by Roy Gatling and Austin-Artists.com. You can view that video, Saving the earth, one piece of art at a time, here. Roy Gatling is Senior Manager, Project Management at Dell and the husband of another of my college classmates, Maria Gatling, also an Austin artist. Roy and Maria are the co-founders of Austin-Artists.com and Austin-Architecture.com. Check out Maria’s self-published notebook and workshop titled, Be Inspired—Creative Something Every Day, here and her creativity blog here.

PHIL CHARLTON
Phil is a friend of Brian’s and a professional photographer in Austin. He specializes in architectural interiors, but shoots beautiful landscapes and fine art images as well. I especially love his images of Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas (at left). The chapel looks very much like Garvan Woodland Gardens’ Anthony Chapel in Hot Springs, Arkansas, which I photographed a few years ago on a road trip with my friend Sue.

From Phil’s zenfolio site
(www.philcharlton.zenfolio.com):
I am a native Oklahoman with a Cherokee heritage. After graduating from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1966 with a double major in math and physics, I moved to Texas where I entered the space industry at NASA. During my 17 years at NASA I worked in the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs designing and testing many systems essential to space exploration.

I left NASA for a second career in the computer business. I held positions at Compaq and Dell before taking early retirement. It was during my NASA years that a friend influenced me to buy a professional quality camera and that led to my current interest as a professional photographer.

My wife Amanda and I have lived in the Austin area for the past 18 years. We enjoy traveling the world and have visited many exotic locales such as Belize, South and Eastern Africa, United Kingdom, Peru, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, and Canada. The beautiful sites of these distant lands are inspirational to my photography.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

The Painting Years: Texas Bluebonnets

This tiny painting measures just 4×6″ and is an original oil painting that I did when I was about 17 years old.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Eye candy, batch #4

Sigh…culling through my archives, in preparation for my March/April 2012 exhibit, is making me want to photograph blooms and bugs right now.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Eye candy, batch #2

Pulled from the archives of my personal refrigerator magnet poetry, I give to you my handcrafted attempt #1:

January snow blanket melts
cold February moon gone
March winds a memory
a luscious light envelopes
tiny crocus petals whisper spring
most delicate green grass emerges
rain sweetens the earth
bird song filters down
from the impossibly blue blue sky
warm breezes weave through
a gorgeous tapestry of color

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Published: Fall—The Garden’s Grand Finale

I just had an article published, accompanied by my photos, on the “Bloomin’ Blog” at http://www.theflowershopnetwork.com. I’ll be writing a monthly column for them on all things gardening and flower-related. Read my October entry in the link below:

http://www.flowershopnetwork.com/blog/fall-garden-flowers/

Blooming in my garden: Nippon Daisy

Green Bottle Fly (Phaenicia sericata) on Nippon Daisy or Montauk Daisy (Nipponanthemum nipponicum)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. See more of my garden photography here.

Re-post: Wildflowers in Damariscotta, Maine

Originally posted 8.26.2010

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Hide ’n seek

Photographed at the Monarch Butterfly Habitat in Shell Lake, Wisconsin

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Minong Flowage (Nancy Lake), Washburn County, Wisconsin

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

A Vibrant Morning Wake by Daniel Scott, Jr.

A few months ago, Daniel (who is a graphic designer in Ft. Worth) contacted me and asked for permission to use a photo I shot of a cluster of Spiderworts blooming at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in March. My college roommate, graphic designer/artist/Austinite and dear friend Sonya who creates whimsical paper clay sculptures and “Bugs with Attitude.” Check out her website here. She took me there for an afternoon of shooting (it was my first visit there).

Daniel gave me a link to his mosaic work and I was duly impressed, so I gave him permission and anxiously awaited the final result. It is nothing short of gorgeous! I’ll be interviewing Daniel for this blog in the not-too-distant future, but wanted to share his inspirational piece now.

From Daniel’s blog, Recycled Consumer Mosaics:
I create artwork entirely from candy wrappers, drink labels, gum wrappers, sugar packets, tea packaging, etc. to utilize marketing brand awareness and color recognition from the marketplace. My swatch palette takes shape as marketing strategies change their client’s image. As each mosaic is made, more layers and techniques are worked through for the best results. That’s what makes this process fresh and unique with each blank slate, ready to be transformed into a work of art.

Below is Daniel’s beautiful mosaic along with the photo that inspired him. Stay tuned for my interview with him!

Love only the sunflower

Ancient Aztec Flower Song (anonymous)

Be indomitable, Oh my heart!
Love only the sunflower;
It is the flower of the Giver-of-Life!
What can my heart do?
Have we come, have we sojourned here on earth in vain?
As the flowers wither, I shall go.
Will there be nothing of my glory ever?
Will there be nothing of my fame on earth?
At most songs, at most flowers,
What can my heart do?
Have we come, have we sojourned on earth in vain?

Photos © Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Blue Chicory

Blue Chicory
It has made its way, on wind
far into the city, and it nods there,
on street corners, in what July wind
it slips garner. Since childhood
I have loved it, it is so violet-blue,
its root, its marrow, so interred,
prepared to suffer, impossible to move.
Weed, wildflower, grown waist-high
where it is no one’s responsibility
to mow, its blue-white
center frankly open
as an eye, it flaunts
its tender, living lingerie,
the purple hairs of its interior.
Women are weeds and weeds are women
I once heard a woman say.
Bloom where you are planted, said my mother.

— Catherine Rankovic (reprinted with permission)

Learn more about Catherine here: http://www.catherinerankovic.com/

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Buttonbush

I photographed this Buttonbush cluster (Cephalanthus occidentalis), also known as Button willow and Honey balls, this morning at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Washington, D.C. A native wetland tree, it can grow 10-15 feet tall and spread 15-30 feet. The mid-summer blooms are rich in nectar that attracts butterflies and other insects.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Blooming in my garden: Liatris spicata

Liatris spicata, also known as Blazing Star, Gayfeather and Button snakeroot

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

‘Queen Fabiola’

Queen Fabiola (Triteleia laxa); common name—Ithuriel’s Spear; photographed at Green Spring Gardens. Perennial in zones 7-10, prefers full sun for most prolific blooming, drought tolerant, 10-20 elongated Agapanthus-like flowers per stem, blooms in late spring to early summer, grown from bulbs.

It has such a long name for such a tiny and delicate flower. The real Queen Fabiola is Dona Fabiola María de las Victorias Antonia Adelaida de Mora y Aragón (now that is a long name!), a member of the Belgian Royal Family. She is called Her Majesty Queen Fabiola of the Belgians.

Learn more about this flower here.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Knautia macedonica

I think this might be the ‘Egyptian Rose’ cultivar, although the label at Green Spring Gardens didn’t identify it as such. Because it is closely related to the Scabiosa, it has been called Macedonian Scabious or Scarlet Pincushion Flower. This herbaceous perennial wildflower begins blooming in late spring and if deadheaded regularly, it can bloom until frost. Knautia prefers full sun but will bloom in light shade and may self-seed and naturalize.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Spiderwort

Spiderwort (Tradescantia)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Re-post: An apology to the wood anemone…

After posting that shot of a Wood Anemone, I remembered writing about one I was growing in my garden last year. This was originally posted April 5, 2010.

Lovely eight petal wood anemone
please accept my apology
More plants, I surely did not need any
but your price was reduced to a hundred pennies
Relegated to your preferred shady spot
remembering to plant you, I most certainly did not
Lost in the shuffle of spring and summer
as the King of Texas says, “what a bummer!”
you braved well over two feet of snow
yet still come spring, you put on a show
Please accept my apology
lovely eight petal wood anemone

Poem and photo © Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

White Spiderwort

I think this is the Tradescantia x andersoniana ‘Innocence’ cultivar.

Photographed at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, Virginia

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.