Texture and Pattern

Its amazing that I can participate with  three memes to celebrate beautiful plants. I'm starting with Garden Bloom day,  Texture and pattern with Garden Walk Garden talk and foliage follow up.


I’m excited to present some beautiful flowers and plants that show those qualities including this beautiful collection below of red colored plants including crotons, ti, bromeliads and tillandsias. A beautiful combination of swirling patterned leaves of the croton, small pointed and feather like leave of the ti plant and the rounded and also sharp leaves of the smaller bromeliads below.





I went on a beautiful photo field trip with some other photo friends and visited the home of this inspiring landscape architect in Hawaii, it was really an exciting plant excursion and a great study of different patterns, textures and shapes, mostly foliaged plants with only a few flowers for highlights.





Above is a beautiful collection of bromeliads and tillandsias airplants, new purple blooms are coming out of the plant in the right side. I love the silver leaf brom on the far left called Aechmea fasciata




 



I love this collection of ti plants popping above a see of green, it creates a nice focal point amid this textured pattern of large leaf plants below.




Another collection of different patterned and red inspired bromeliads with one solitary white phalaenopsis growing out of a dead tree trunk.




These yellow colored bromeliads seem to glow amid the red tinged tillandsias and wild ferns
coming out of the lava rock container.








Here’s a beautiful collection of intricate leaf patterns from thick to thin leaved dendrobium orchids, tillandsias, bromeliads and other air plants.







Green and leafy patterns grow wild on this palm including various ferns and orchid plants
that love the mosture and water that collects on the bottom fronds of this solitary palm.










A closer detailed shot of the palm with the sword ferns or Nephrolepis exaltata,  and Philippine orchids called Spathoglottis plicata which typically grow wild in East Hawaii.







A beautiful panorama shot of one segment of this gorgeous garden, it was really a wonderful visit here, don't you agree?


Just in case you were wondering about the three meme themes that corresponds with my title, I’m submitting these to:
garden bloom day http://www.maydreamsgardens.com/
foliage follow up http://www.penick.net/digging/
and texture and pattern http://gardenwalkgardentalk.com/

Rain, Rain go Away...

No Really,  I don't mind....

 

The plants are Very happy today,

                                     can't you tell?

I finished editing some pictures of a beautiful garden,
      
     I visited the other day, it rained lightly most of the day.

                  The rain didn't matter - the garden was gorgeous and the light was beautiful that day. 



                  Sometimes rainy days are a perfect condition to  photograph landscapes when the light is filtered and even throughout the garden.


 

I made some hot rice chicken noodle soup and I might check out some foreign films or a few Classic films this afternoon or maybe a nice nap in the afternoon.

                 I love to lounge in bed all day long and work on some more beautiful photographs of this amazing garden in Hawaii (not mine unfortunately)...or maybe just read a good book, or even take another nap.


                     aaaaaaah bliss.....

A Moss and Zen Garden

 

 

 

 

Oh how I would love to come here often and just have some time to be

 

                         quiet, breath

 

                                    and  relax

 

 

maybe just take a moment to contemplate about my life

 

                      

 

 

                     and where I’m going

 

                                      but its too easy to get

 

               distracted in this space…

 

 

 

 

 

 

- its just too beautiful here …

 

 

 

          I love this tactile environment - I want to run my hands all through this beautiful

 

                       moss, then look at all the details

                                                                    up close

 

 

 

                          down

 

                               to

 

                                  every

 

                                     little micro-organism.

                          

 

 

                     Its very green and lush here, a perfect environment for this moss to grow

 

along with these ohia trees with their peeling bark and crevices filled with

 

green fungus

 

              mold

 

                  and bumpy looking bacteria

        

 

                     growing                     

 

                                        on their stong limbs and stems.

 

 

 

                  I look up and see the focal point atop a small mound of lava rocks and moss

 

lies a beautiful and simple buddah head

 

                                               – its sits there so peacefully and

 

                 

 

invites you in to come in and enjoy this welcoming environment.

 

                                  Aaaaaaaah – yes breath in this forest

 

                                              and enjoy the moss!

 

I wish that I could visit here more often…..

A Place for Quiet and Contemplation

Its been awhile since I’ve visited this grove in San Francisco’s Golden Gate park.

 

When I visited recently in October – it was a crisp sunny morning – a great time to visit the park and take a nice long walk by myself.

 

 

This special grove is called the aids memorial which I haven’t walked through in ages – I wanted to see how the garden looked at this time of the year. Just outside the grove, I spotted these beautiful variegated hydrangeas blooming in mass, it was nice to be greeted with these beautiful flowers….

 

 

I love seeing late blooming flowers at this time of the year, a mass of these hot pink japanese anemones were striking in a very shady part of this grove filled with redwood trees.

 

I do love spending some alone time and discovering something new, or really rediscovering something  or someplace I haven’t been to in along time…. I forgot how special this place was.

 

 

 

    a simple flower boquet offering is placed at this center plaque.

It puts you in a mood to stop, think and contemplate while in the beauty of all this surroundings.

                  ….the circle stone bench is a welcome detail that can accommodate a large gathering.

 

  

 

-more pink flowers of oenothera cover the bottom of this beautiful acer lit up by the late afternoon light, it was a pretty vignette.

 

 

 

another detail shot of this pink anemone – they are beautiful at this time of the year.

 

 

This is a sweet place, I’m glad I stopped by for a visit and see some of the fall flowers blooming here….I’m glad they made this a very tranquil and quiet spot in the park – a perfect setting to think about love ones.

Our Fall Colors in East Hawaii

(click on image for full view and the slideshow)

Hilo is in full bloom again with the rainbow shower trees or Cassia x nealiea lining most of the major roads coming in and out of town. These beautiful trees are showy with their long cascades of red, yellow and orange flowers in large clumps dripping down their many branches. We don't get fall color, but we do get fall colored flowers at this time of the year!



Beautiful blooms next to huge monkey pod trees and the large bandstand.



It’s a beautiful time to see this in town and even just to enjoy a brief moment to really see them in their full glory, wouldn’t you agree?

Stow Lake, A Slow Stroll in a Lovely Park

When I come back to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, I always rediscover treasures that I haven’t been to in quite awhile.





Late in the season visiting the park, I decided to take a stroll around Stow lake since it was a sunny and crisp morning, perfect for a walk around this beautiful lake. A large shrub/tree filled with the gold yellow flowers of the Hypericum greeted me on my walk – they were just stunning to see and lit up like little ornaments.





I can just sit here for a long time and watch the grasses blow ever so softly with the wind…the views of the stone bridge behind fits in perfectly with the tall pines in the background don’t you agree? I am a little puzzled by the strange emerald green colors of the lake – I always imagine that someone in the park is dyeing the water this strange color late at night just for fun.







Beautiful nasturtiums flowers are backlit like little orange jewels and the stone bridge behind is a distant back drop, its really a great day to enjoy the park and just enjoy this view.







I love to bump into artists here since I also do art and its easy for me to approach fellow
artists and start a conversation – it usually leads into interesting topics and shared interests.








I’m guessing this is a species of the California lilac or Ceanothus in which certain shrubs can bloom consistently for a good part of the year. This macro shot doesn’t show the large scale of this shrub which is more like a small tree filled with these blue flowers.









This is Golden Gate Park’s version of fall in the city, just a little color and hint of the change of season – although it felt like a perfect 75 degrees that morning.


Well, I enjoyed my walk around the lake this morning, thanks for joining me on this fun tour of the park, wasn’t it a great day to be out here?

Dahlia Dell…the Last Blooms.

                            Masses of Dahlias draw me into this dell.

                                            Their vivid colors, stripes

                                                     and patterns
                   



      are full of whimsy
                   and
                       interesting designs




                                 Aren’t they just dazzling to behold?






I want to touch
              every flower, but please don’t tell anyone.
                     Its my private joy to be in the presence
                              of all this beauty…


   
                          This one reminds me of fireworks.




                         
                    while this reminds me of taffy
                                    and
                             summertime





You see, I can’t help but to

          touch you and see compare how

               large your
                                flower is to

                                       my hand

                      its just amazing!





                      True bliss……





Dear care takers – thank you for giving us
        so much joy today!

This is my contribution to garden bloom day to see other blooms go visit http://www.maydreamsgardens.com/