Pink Hyacinthoides Flower

I usually see these in purple or light blue but this one is pink. It came out to greet another spring season.

Orange-White Daffodil - Narcissus x tazetta

Here is a different variety of daffodil (Narcissus x tazetta) I found that white petals and dark orange center.

Grape Hyacinth

This flower is normally used as a complementary flower probably because of its small size. I found this one planted with miniature daffodils (Narcissus cyclamenius). The grape hyacinth (Muscari hotryoides) has blue to purple upside down urn shaped flowers in a cluster that looks like a bunch of grapes. The plants seem small at maybe 10-15 cm in height. These flowers tend to be grown with daffodils, tulips, and Dutch hyacinths.

Purple Crocus - A Spring Beauty

This is a great flower for the garden to complement the daffodils and hyacinthoides in early spring. This one appears to be a snow crocus (Crocus chrysanthus).

Bradford Pear Blooms

The Bradford Pear trees are still blooming. The flowers are very nice but the smell leaves something to be desired. I am not sure what insects pollinate these flowers but I do not see many flying around yet.

Night Flower of Cactus

I am not sure what the name of this cactus is but I have had it for decades. It was maybe 15 cm (4 inches) tall when I bought it now it is over 210 cm (6 feet). The flower only opens at night and I think it only opens one night. I will take time interval pictures again tonight. Last night, I took these pictures and then thought I had set the camera to take a picture every 15 minutes for 10 hours. Unfortunately, I did not set up the Canon intervalometer correctly. I should have taken the first picture to start the process going but did not.

The pictures shown at this Photo Camel site taken by Matrix Imagery seem to match what I have. If they do match, then my cactus is a Cereus peruvianus or Cereus uruguayanus. It is also has some other names like Night Blooming Cereus or Peruvian Apple according to this Plant-Care website.

Variegated Vinca Vine Flower

Here is the only flower in full bloom in the planting bed from a variegated vinca vine (Vinca major). The top photo was shot super macro in JPEG mode while the bottom was shot in RAW will full sunlight setting in the highest resolution. I have some sort color processing issue since one flower looks blue and the other looks purple. Need to check these pictures versus the actual flower and see which is more color accurate. Yikes!

Hyacinthoides hispanica - First flowers of spring

Here is a flower that comes up early every spring with the daffodils (Narcissus). I believe it is called Hyacinthoides hispanica.

Used the swivel display to get a ground level macro shot.

Purple Wild Violet

Here is a wild flower that is classified as a weed. I like it though. It is called the wild violet (Viola sp.) and grows in grassy yards. I found these growing by the sidewalk. The flower is small (maybe 2-3 cm across).

See this University of Kentucky website for more information.

Foerstephyllum Colonial Coral

Here is an extinct colonial coral from the Ordovician period (approximate 440-500 million years ago). It is probably of the genus Foerstephyllum sp. and was found in the Liberty formation. Geographically that is eastern Jefferson County, Kentucky.

It reminds me of a wasp nest or bee honeycomb. I read that the vertical lines showing the stacked cells sort of work like tree rings. The wider the gap between the next wall the more plentiful food was and the narrower meant lean times.

You can see more images of this type of coral here and here.

Snow Crocus - Another Spring Flower

Here are some pictures of a beautiful purple flower called the snow crocus (Crocus chrysanthus). This flower has such vibrant color and produces quite a lot of blooms for such cool weather this time of year.

I encountered it while picking up trash around the neighborhood. Definitely need to get some for the flower bed.

Amaryllis Getting Ready To Bloom

A bloom pod as formed on my largest Amaryllis plant. I yet to figure out what triggers these plants to bloom but it is a real treat when they do. The plant produces four huge flowers with each one about 90 degrees a part. This plant has already produced two other bulbs and one of those as matured enough to bloom.

I found this entry on the web about how to care for the Amaryllis. I keep the plants in the sunroom so they do seem to go dormant in the winter by losing all their leaves.

The Uninvited Guest - Dandelion

Another flower of spring and seems like all growing season long is the dandelion (Taraxacum). The dictionary says the word literally means 'tooth of the lion'. Not sure how a lion is associated with this flower?

Let the camera get into the grass for a side macro shot that I like.

Daffadils in Bloom

Here is a picture of some more daffadils in bloom.

This is my 500th post so if any one is reading this blog, thanks for stopping by.

Next picture is a view from the top of this flower.

Peach Blossom Pictures

Purple Flowers - Hyacinthoides

These flowers appear to be Hyacinthoides hispanica and they are growing in mostly shade. They come out in very early spring and die off my mid spring.

Baby Daffodil - Macro View

The pivot display on the Canon Powershot camera really helps take a picture like this. This is a small daffodil variety and I was trying to get some of the detail of the anther, stamen, pistil, and stigma flower parts.

Blooming Forsythia

The yellow forsythia bushes are now blooming. See this Wikipedia entry for more info.

Flowers of Bradford Pear

The Bradford Pear trees are flowering and here is a picture of some of these white flowers with a small amount of pink and green in the center.

While these trees are susceptible to splitting in high winds they have a very nice, compact round shape and these beautiful white flowers.

Woodpecker Holes in Fallen Bradford Pear Tree

I was cleaning up some storm damaged trees in my neighborhood over the last couple weeks and noticed this. I found a series of small holes in a Bradford Pear tree trunk made by a woodpecker. I am guessing the tree had about 10 holes in it.

Of course, the picture would have been much nicer if I would have actually gotten a picture of the bird making the holes!

Another Forsythia Bush

Here is another forsythia bush that is in bloom.

Removing Power Line Structure

Here are some cranes that are removing the power line structure that is between the Ohio River and the Louisville Science Center. It should be a great Thunder of Louisville this year with this viewing obstacle out of the way. So it is a great time to get tickets to the Louisville Science Center Thunderblast event because eventually the enormous (by Louisville standards) Museum Plaza building and its parking deck will block the view of the river from the Louisville Science Center building.

Remnant of a Season Past

The remains of a flower from last season that I found while searching for daffadils in my mother's garden to photograph. It might have been a Black Eyed Susan flower.

Ground Level Daffodil Picture

Lowered the camera to the ground and used the swivel display to get this point of view. Used the super macro mode on the camera though it could be focus better.

Small Daffodil

Another picture of a miniature daffodil. It is maybe 10 cm high and the flower is 3 cm wide.

Cactus Flower

Here is the bud of a cactus flower. The cactus has been in the sun room this winter and maybe the warmer air and higher humidity triggered the plant to get ready to bloom.

Happy PI (3.14159...) Day (03-14-2009)

I volunteered at the Louisville Science Center on PI day and there were a number of activities for visitors. An event that attracted a lot of visitor attention was the pie or PI eating contest. Four staff members and one volunteen competed by trying to eat as much whip cream/chocolate pudding pie without their hands in 3 minutes and 14 seconds. The manager of the gift shop won in a close contest with one of the floor managers.


On the third floor where I was working, we had visitors place a number on a color strip that represented part of the number PI (3.14159...). It was printed out to the first 1000 digits and we began to go sequentially down the list. Here is a picture of the early version where the number chain was still making its way past the second floor. When I left, we had about 100 digits in the chain and when I finished volunteering at 4 PM it might have been toward 200 digits and almost to the floor of the 1st level.


The following picture is one of a banner hanging from the 3rd floor.

Willow Tree Leaf

Here is a leaf skeleton of a willow tree leaf. It makes a neat pattern against a sky background.

Peach Flower Bud

Here is an early flower on the peach tree. It seems to have dark pink color.

Baby Daffodil

Here is a baby daffodil (2-4 cm across) growing in our flower bed. It is the first flower out in our yard.