More exotic flowers...

Birds of paradise
and calla lilies.
Sigh of happiness.
California spring is amazing!

Trumpet Tree

This tree is absolutely incredible.
I called it the 'trumpet tree' by default,
but I looked it up online
and I actually found it under this name...
and the Latin name of Brugmansia candida.

Wisteria!

I love wisteria.
And I was fortunate enough to be visiting a very lovely mission church
in Santa Clara, California,
with a gorgeous garden full of wisteria in full bloom!

Learning New Photoshop Tricks

I'm taking a free mini class on campus on photoshop,
and learning to manipulate layers and masks.
I have always avoided this before
(it seemed too headache-inducing)
but I think I am going to want to learn to play with this.
Observe my rose, for example.
(The original photo is not mine,
though I've photographed similar settings.)
This was an exercise in mask making and selecting,
so that we could make a black and white background
but with selected color bits.
I expect this could be quite fun to twiddle with.
I have a HUGE stock of flower photos...

October rose

This was blooming in the warm shade this early October afternoon...

New Look at an Old Favorite

These pretty flowers are common mallow.
I have been familiar with mallows since my childhood,
although it was only recently that I learned the name 'mallow':
to me they were always "cheesies"
because the flower bud looked like a small round cheese
and could be eaten.
(In fact in my neighborhood they were widely eaten.)
Perhaps that's why I rarely saw them flower...
Ha, actually I saw lots of mallow flowers,
but in Utah, the flowers are tiny.
Now in Rome, under that hot mediterranean sun,
the mallow flowers are ginormous.
And growing everywhere at Ostia!

New Wildflowers: Mentzelia Species

These top two photos are of flowers growing
at Capulin Volcano, New Mexico.
They are some form of Mentzelia (blazing star)-
possibly Mentzelia multiflora,
but I have had a hard time finding a good match
in my flower books.

The bottom two are also a Mentzelia species,
Mentzelia nuda, or sand lily.
There was a great website on Kansas flowers
that showed me a good match.
These particular flowers were photographed in Nebraska,
near Chimney Rock,
but I saw them growing in Kansas as well.

Both types were totally new to me.
And gorgeous!

English Wildflowers

The third day I was here, I found a book on English wildflowers
in a gift shop, for 5 pounds.
Hooray!
So now I can tell you that the top flower is
Lotus corniculatus (common birds-foot trefoil-
which I learned in the US as 'butter and eggs');
the second is calystegia sepium (hedge bindweed-
I would have called this a morning glory,
but apparently that's a totally different species);
the third is
chamerion angustifolium (rosebay willowherb-
which I know as fireweed)
and the last is probably a heliamanthum,
or rock rose.

Thank heavens for Latin names and the internet.
I keep seeing the chamerion angustifolium on the roadsides,
and I was 95% sure it was fireweed,
but the common name from the British book really threw me off.

Flowers at Zion 5: Utah Specials

Utah fleabane
(Erigeron Utahensis)--
looks like nearly every other fleabane to me,
but the nice Zion brochure was pretty clear about the species.

Then there's this one.
I *know* it's a sego lily and the state flower,
but is it Calochortus gunsonii or Calochortus nutallii?

And of course Juniperus osteosperma-
Utah juniper.
Not really a flower, but it's everywhere.

Flowers at Zion 4: Golden Columbines

I am very fond of columbines in all colors.
These golden ones grow profusely by Zion's lower Emerald Pool,
and I was fortunate enough to get terrific light and setup for the bottom picture.
I have a hard time identifying some flowers, but
Aquilegia chrysantha is an easy one to spot.

Flowers at Zion 3: The Little Yellow Flower

Little Yellow Flowers are like Little Gray Birds.
There are a lot of them,
and without my book in hand I simply cannot recall which is which.
Fortunately I remembered to take multiple views--
not just details of the blooms,
but of the leaves, and whole plant,
and scale views with my fingertip.
So, these specimens are (top to bottom):

Baileya multiradiata (desert marigold),
Chrysopsis villosa (hairy goldenaster),
Melilotus officinalis (yellow sweet clover)
-- and this stuff was everywhere--
and finally, in only one spot,
Cylindropuntia (species?- a cholla.)
I think the cholla got planted as an ornamental, on purpose,
because it was near a building structure.

Flowers at Zion 2: Penstemons

I saw at least three different kinds of penstemon,
but I only could photograph two.
The top two appear to be Penstemon utahensis,
which was on its way out of blooming in the park.
The bottom photo is Penstemon palmeri,
also called balloon flower,
and this was blooming vigorously throughout the park.
The third kind I saw was purple and on the east side
(different terrain)-
I only saw one stand of it and I was driving, and not at a place I could pull over....

Flowers at Zion: Optuntiae (Prickly Pears)

First off, the opuntiae.
I had thought I had missed the cactus blooms this year,
but apparently not--
there were still quite a few blooming at Zion in mid June.
I think that most of these are probably opuntia polyacantha.
(I confess I am not terribly good at telling subspecies apart.)
The larger bush cluster (photo 3), however,
looks more like my books' descriptions of opuntia engelmanii.

Riverwalk flowers

There are a lot of things planted along the riverwalk,
but right now the irises are at peak
(with more on the way).
It's gorgeous!

Bright Spot on a Gray Day

I bought these at Costco Just Because.
And I'm glad I did.
It's been rainy and overcast all week,
but these yellow/ orange roses have been very cheery.

Most pop(u)lar spring tree

Not being from the south,
for years I thought these were magnolia blossoms.
I believe they are actually tulip poplars.
They aren't terribly common around here,
but I sure like them.

A few more tulips

Hooray for tulips!