Thursday, July 7, 2011

Just Messing Around...

I spotted sunflowers coming on out the back door and had to get my camera. I wanted to share the stages that I saw with you all. You know I'm stupid about growing things and that each stage is fascinating to me. You also know I haven't been inspired to do much of anything lately so I took this urge as a good sign...


Aleta, I know they are hard to see so I managed to get a close up on one of those shy little cucumbers so maybe if you see what you are looking for it will make it easier to find...

The little ones spring from the base of the flower and as they get bigger the flower part gets smaller and falls off, kinda like a baby's umbilical cord except no blood or labor pains for the flower, at least as far as we know.

I'm practicing with my focusing thanks to a friend in England that is encouraging me.



This is a sunflower bud... I was so excited, Caroline, to get those tiny hairs on the leaves covering the bud and peeling back to begin the reveal.














This bud is further along and you can start to see the swirls that are unfolding. Again, I was so happy to get the little hairs and the veins in the parts that are peeling back to free the sunflower inside. I don't think they are called leaves but I don't know what to call them so leaves it is until someone enlightens me.


And speaking of enlightenment...













This sunflower is seeking the light! Kind of like some of us trying to turn our face to the sun. I caught this flower coming out of it's shell in a manner of speaking.















This is a little more of a 'face on' photo. It is fascinating to me how the petals are peeling back a little at a time, kind of like peeking out at the world to check and make sure that it wants to come on out and share it's beauty with us mere mortals...

Caroline thank you for encouraging me over my focusing frustrations. Dar, thank you for posting your beautiful flower photos and making me want to share also.

God I love being alive to see these wonders... even with all the problems and fears I'm slogging through now I would not have wanted to miss this little series, tiny little moments of beauty that remind me to cherish life.

6 comments:

Aleta said...

Hi Helen! Thank you SO MUCH for taking that picture. I never would have known, but once you wrote about how it grew, I saw it right away - How Cool is that!!!

And I LOVE sunflowers - love how you did the pictures of the sunflower opening up :)

Lonicera said...

Helen you're far too kind - it's just that I'm enthusiastic about photography, yet fear of straying into being bossy or know-all.

John was looking over my shoulder as I was examining your pictures and he got all excited about the last one, said it looked like a dragon, and described it's teeth and wings and ... crikey, I didn't know what he was talking about - he's apt to see Winston Churchill in cloud formations so what more can I say.

I can see the 'hairs' on all the plants, which is lovely, but the last one is the cracker. It's lovely and sharp all round. Does your camera have a flash switch that you can turn on? Strange as it sounds because there was plenty of sunlight, if you had told it to flash it would have adjusted for the sunlight and given a bit of light to the centre of the sunflower. Have a go sometime.

Your tutor is signing off and wishes you a peaceful night's sleep!

Caroline

And thank you for coming over to my blog and heroically attempting to understand the most confusing game on the planet which takes the British DAYS to complete, and where there's never much more than polite clapping (in the real thing I mean).

darsden said...

Happy too and thank you, I wish I could grow sunflowers!!! I have never had any luck with them. The squrriels and birds get them before anything. Can't wait to see yours all blooming.

BB said...

Wonderful series... you know I believe in the healing power of Mother Nature. Not saying it will wipe away your problems, but it can sure help kick in some much-needed 'happy hormones' sometimes.

BB

Sara said...

You take amazing garden photos! How tall do you think the sunflower will get?

IISAFETY said...

Wow! I do really love sunflowers. So happy to see the photos of it's transformation. I'm so grateful to come across with your blog. Thank you so much!