Flower time
 

I don't know if it is the same in certain parts of the States, but here in the SE of the UK, we've had such a prolongued winter that everything seems as if its is coming into bloom at once.

Too many choices really, but as our Bluebell woods nearby always present well - and this year is no exception - thought I'd post a few pics here and invite others to do the same with pictures they have that particularly catch their attention.

.

Spot Mrs CF!

.

It's a shame you can't experience the scent!

.

.

.

One last combined panoramic effect jobbie...:

.

I love the shot with Mrs. CF and the pooch on the path, beautiful composition.

I hope she's not doing what it looks like she's doing behind that bush, man.

Thankfully not! Another picture to take your mnd off that idea anyway!

This is an unusual tree - I haven't seen too many of them around. unexpectedly, we had one in the garden of our last house, one that was well established. It blossoms in May and is extremely colourful (as you can see). The flowers are small and tight - similar to forsythia flowers, but the leaves are rounded like large coins. We know it as a Judas Tree or Tree of Judaea.

This one (well there are actually two right next to each other - even more unusual!) lies in a farmer's field adjacent to the M25. The field and what looks to have been a small arboretum where it is located would have been part of the original Headley Court Estate a couple of centuries ago. The estate is now broken up, and the main house and about a quarter of the original grounds are a specialist MOD hospital used for rehabiltation and recouperatiom for troops injured in battle - we get a lot of Iraq and previously Afghanistan casualties being treated there (usually helicoptered in)

.

VERRRY Cool CF !!!

I love some of the names of the roads , zig zag road :)

Flower?

OK, flower.

Hell yeah, flower. :D

Rapeseed, hayfever nightmare

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...75_small_2.jpg

Primrose on a riverbank

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...primrose01.jpg

Daffodils in the shade

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...affodils01.jpg

Apologies for size, let me know if they bother you and I'll re-size accordingly.

Rapeseed and a wind farm - two forms of alternative energy (rapeseed oil is used as a bio-fuel additive).

Why, they fit perfectly. :thumb2:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/dcp_3441.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...cture_1911.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...unFlowers2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...NYFlowers3.jpg

I've posted these before, but there are a bunch of flowers in here.
http://tinyurl.com/lfsk6

I oughtta show you my dad's orchid collection...

Like the sunflower shot, rk - it's like they're all dozing but one has heard you, and is saying '...and what exactly do you think you're doing??'

Well put... I had been caught.

We've only lived in our current house for the last 7 years, but some of the trees and shrubs go back over 100 years. I thought the following pictures might illustrate how one particular plant has established itself.

I'll start with a clue as to its age - here is the stem, and a close up of some of its flowers:

A bit of a giveaway that it's a clematis, but maybe not how it has climbed over the years, as the next two pictures will show (the second being a close up of the bunch of flowers to the left and top) :


.

The fir tree in which the clematis has established itself must be around 50 feet high and each year the clematis gets a little closer to the top!

Another view from a different angle:

.

..and, on a slightly different note, the Horse Chestnut looks great this year, so deserved a photo (a suggestion of a plentiful supply of conkers in the autumn!):

.

these pics are gorgeous. i am almost drunk with flower fumes. :drunk:

Time to get you drunk again!

Heavy rains the last couple of weeks, but the Hawthorn, or May blossom managed to survive. This year it's very abundant - looks more like snow covering the trees than the small Hawthorn flowers - these two pictures were taken on The Drive which is a side road by Headle Court:

.

UPdated map to show where the hawthorn trees are:

.

Trivia time:

Name the fruit of the hawthorn tree.

The Scarlet Letter and House of Seven Gables. :D

A copy of the post from my early Father's Day thread.
Sorry they are links and not pics, but they are very large.
First pics with my new camera.

I took these at Longwood Gardens. Unfortunately, I have to use a flash since any attempt to use the indoor lighting at night requires me to hold the camera very steady. Longwood has a policy of not allowing tripods except during certain hours.

Another Longwood Picture
 

..and another.

so beautiful!!!

http://www.flowerpictures.net/wallpa...waterlily3.jpg

I love the fields of blue CF.(I couldn't see Mrs. CF)
and that cactus xoB

Night shot from the fourth.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...6/100_0420.jpg

very cool rk

----------------


I picked some of the property roses today. They are left unmaintained so I go prune them a little then take some for myself. I swear this bunch had a die hard earwig I tried to grind in the disposal three times!

I am going to make up some insecticide and spray the bushes I pick from because they are covered in aphids. I've asked the apartment management to give them some TLC but they may just allow them to suffer. The first bush really responded to my earlier prunning with this pink bunch of roses I called my reward. They are beautiful although my camera is low resolution and they housed a terminator bug I nick named arnold for surviving the disposal so many times.

Your roses need ladybugs.

I saw one ladybug out there. Poor thing.... I hope it dosn't eat itself to death.:headshake

That's a word which seems to have taken off over here. I don't know if there are any regions where it was already used, but as far as I know we pretty much all used ladybird. I often hear youngsters (my nieces for instance) calling them ladybugs now.

It's been ladybug here since I've been small so it is the proper british word of ladybird that it has always been there.

You know here in the west it's trailer park english. :blush:


http://img.inkfrog.com/pix/67princess/ThreeinOne.jpg

Munching an aphid.

The breakfast of champions.

It IS very lucky to have a Ladybug.