iPhoneography: Live oak tree with Tillandsia air plants

Photographed at Mission San José in San Antonio, Texas

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

 

Ginkgo leaves

Ginkgo leaves at Blandy Experimental Farm in Boyce, VA (I was trying out my new toy–a Nikon Coolpix P1000 with a 24mm-3000mm zoom!)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

iPhoneography: Bradford pear blooms

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. iPhone 7Plus / Snapseed app borders

iPhoneography: Saucer magnolia blooms

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. iPhone 7Plus / Snapseed app borders

 

 

 

 

Capillaries

I shot this image at a rest stop in Arkansas en route home to Virginia this week. My friend Greg purchased the new Nikon D850 (which I have been dreaming about) and let me play with it on this trip. I knew I’d love it! Now to just find some spare change in the couch ($3,300 to be exact).

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

 

My spirits soar…

All through the long winter, I dream of my garden.
On the first day of spring, I dig my fingers deep into the soft earth.
I can feel its energy, and my spirits soar.

—Helen Hayes

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. (Shot with my iPhone 6, processed with Snapseed2)

Origami cranes?

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Oh, Ginkgo tree, oh, Ginkgo tree…

…how lovely are thy branches!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Tree Tones

Through Pinterest, I learned about Sherwin-Williams color-palette-generator at http://www.letschipit.com. Here’s my latest palette using a photo I shot at Brookside Gardens a few weeks ago. Qué fun!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Calder-esque

I photographed this beautiful (unidentified) tree outside the visitors center at Brookside Gardens yesterday morning. I thought it looked like an Alexander Calder mobile.

UPDATE: Thanks to a fellow gardener/blogger, Les (of www.atidewatergardener.blogspot.com), I think we may have an identification—Euphorbia cotinifolia.

© 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.

Golden blooms

Photographed at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, Virginia (tree identification unknown)

Check out my newly-updated Zenfolio botanical gallery here.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Tibouchina ‘Grandiflora’

I am drawn to the beautiful velvety leaves of the Tibouchina ‘Grandiflora’ shrub. Tibouchina is a neotropical plant that is native to the rainforests of Mexico, the West Indies, South America and Brazil. The plant is also known as Large-leaf Princess Flower or Glory Flower and is hardy in Zones 8-12.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Canna and Japanese Maple

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Amazing tree in downtown Key West

I’m fairly certain that a Ficus aurea, or strangler fig, has taken over this tree (or group of trees) in downtown Key West. I did some research online and learned that they are common throughout the Caribbean and tropical Americas. You’ll find excellent and very detailed information about strangler figs with illustrative photos on this site: http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ploct99.htm

Michael serves as my scale reference in the first photo. Doesn’t the second photo look like a backdrop from a Harry Potter movie? If I have misidentified this unusual tree, enlighten me!

THIS JUST IN…Artist Val Webb posted a comment on my garden-only site, http://www.gardenmuse.wordpress.com. Here is her comment:

“It has been many years since I visited Key West, but I seem to recall that the tree in question is a banyan tree. There is a large one on the Thomas Edison property there.”

I looked up “banyan tree” and learned that a banyan is a fig tree that starts its life as an epiphyte when its seeds germinate in the cracks and crevices on a host tree. The seeds germinate and send down roots toward the ground, and may envelope part of the host tree…giving them the name of “strangler fig.” So apparently banyan is another name for it. Thanks for the input, Val!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Ruffles have ridges

The leaves on this tree reminded me of Lay’s potato chips because of the pronounced veins. I photographed this not-yet-identified tree this past week at Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Afternoon glow

I shot these beautiful red leaves on one of the 60 types of Japanese Maple trees at Garvan Woodland Gardens on Lake Hamilton, surrounded by the Ouachita Mountains, in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.