Since we are into the month of August I thought I'd start a new thread.
I was out weeding this afternoon and look who I ran into ... can you see my slithery friend amongst the plants?
Needless to say, I didn't do anymore weeding! ^_^
August Off Topic
Alternanthera (can't remember which cultivar)
Plectranthus
Hibiscus bloom
It is scary to see snakes! I don't blame you for taking a break from weeding!
Your pictures are gorgeous!
Tibouchina ("Princess Flower")
Ok, your turn! Lets see those pictures ... blooms, foliage, critters!
Thanks Sally! I am still having trouble getting good pic's. I can literally take 50 pictures and maybe have two or three that are pretty good.
Well, that is the way to do it. Take a bunch and pick the best!
Lin,
I think your pictures are great!! I love your beautiful blooms.My back has been bad so I haven't taken any pictures for awhile.
Lynn
My DH took a picture of one cactus.
Nice cactus blooms!
Thanks Sally ^_^.
Pretty cactus Lynn!
Thanks Jan! I have been sending some of them to new homes,but I still have quite a few.
pro photographers take thousands of photos just to get a few good ones. I once read that a national geographic photographer doing a spread on polar bears for the magazine took something like 50,000 photos just for maybe 10 to go in the article!! The average Playboy playmate shoot is 10,000 photos - now think about that. If someone took 10,000 pics of me, I am sure they could come up with 5 or 6 where I looked exceptional!
That is one pretty little snake!
Oh, pretty cactus blooms! They are such thorny plants but have such beautiful flowers!
LOL, when I look through the viewfinder (or whatever it's called) the image will look so sharp/clear. I click the shot and then when I download, it's totally blurry! I am waaay past due for an eye exam so hopefully after I get my eyes checked and get new contact lens (s) I will be seeing better! ^_^
Lynn, I have 20/20 vision and the same exact thing happens when I look thru the viewfinder. It's not our eyes, it's our digital photography skills! Do you have a manual for your camera? Mine was a handmedown when my brother bought the latest model, no manual came with it.
i have a great camera & still can't get real good pictures, i like the ones pf just the flower rather than the whole plant in most cases, mine almost always turn out crappy.,lol
bonnie
I use the manual setting, no flash, and usually the macro. Have to make sure to provide adequate ambient light however. Some people take their plants outside in the daylight to get better light for photographing--though I guess that could be a bit risky.
I mostly have problems with my digital which is a canon power shot. I also have a canon rebel EOS 35mm which I take great pics with, but you have to develop the film the old fashioned way, and you know how it is, you pay for a whole bunch of pictures and maybe just a few are worth keeping, the rest could be thrown away. Digitals are much more economical. If you can figure out how to work the dang things right - in the case of the digital, I probably waste alot of batteries trying to get good pictures.
Mine is a Canon Power Shot also....
I wish I knew more about cactus as that is a real beauty! Do you grow them inside, Lynn?
Viostrep sent me some kind of rare (Haworthia) plant that I leave in a west window in the kitchen and she seems to be very happy.
Just realized I missed all of Lin's wonderful yard......I am not trying to make anything outside even bloom...........just stay alive.
We are all going to get a tractor and turn our yards under before next February and there is a new carpet grass grown from seed.........everyone has lost their St. Augustine grass this summer in the drought.
Gail,
They are outside in the summer and in my basement totally dormant waterwise from late fall until spring.I used to have many more and also a lot of succulents,but I have given many of them away as well as my half a library of books....LOL.It is just to hard to haul them plus Begonias,Gerbera Daisies,Lantana,and everything else I decide I need to keep alive every year LOL.....inside and out.Then there is the spraying before bringing in,the close watch for spider mites,etc.I just can't go up and down the stairs that much anymore and some of them are so huge and heavy I cannot move them without a wheelbarrow,especially the older Jade plant and very tall Cereus Peruvianus (SP?).
Don't get me wrong.....they are beautiful and don't really require a lot of care on a regular basis like Gessies do,but it is too much for me anymore.I have also given away most of my Begonias,although I dearly love them,especially Rex
's and some of the rhizhome types!!
I got rid of all the begonias except the cane which survive our winters with a little protection. So I certainly understand. This spring I sold all my hoyas (most of them) on ebay..........just can't get around like I used to. (LOL)
I let all the annuals die, but lantana is very hardy here and the heat kills our winter gerbera daises.
NO, I am not hauling anything around outside anymore........Those were the 'good ole' days' but wouldn't trade them for anything. Digging in the ground is the most therapeutic thing I had for many years and now it is growing under gro lights as the years go by.
Oh do I hear you !!
Hey plantladylin,what kinda of little critter was that,kinda cute ,and i love allthose plants,colues,spiderplant,they didnt look like weeds
im not a snake hater by the way,but im not gonna grab a wild one,now spiders and wasp,i will run and run fast
JIM
We don't have many poisonous snakes around here, and if we do they are not in our garden...timber rattlers in the Pine Barrens are the only bad snakes I can recall in my area. They don't want to be where people are. And Jim, I don't like spiders either, but will spare their creepy little lives as long as they stay outside. As for wasps, I just try to stay away from them - was stung on the back of my knee as a kid, and OMG did that HURT!!!
I'm a bit skittish around spiders too, but outdoors....I might go grab my camera! Snakes are ok.....Wasps---EEP!
Ooo Gessie, I have one of those Haworthia's. They are different. :)
viostrep and I did a trade and she sent it to me. Let go take a picture of her. The variegation on her is really starting to show.
I don't know what I am doing wrong to cause her to have brown tips. Connie told me she would start making babies and have even had them break the pot with new babies.
Do you know, Leslie, why the tips stay brown?
forgot the picture
How neat, Gail!
She is cool but I know nothing about her....need to read up!
Gail,
I think the brown tips are mostly to do with a lack of water.Succulents need more than Cacti,in most cases.
I took a few pictures of common garden flowers,but at least I got outside for a bit LOL.
What's left of my poor Dragon Wing.It's about 6 years old,but it used to be huge.I let it freeze......darn.
Foliage
Lobelia
Nice pics, Lynn and thanks for the tip on watering my Haworthia. Will keep it watered better. I was treating it like a cactus.
You know we are jealous of anything growing outside. Our drought is still going on............not an inch of water since January. We are going to plow up our yards and reseed grass. I am going to do it the easy way with nothing but Bermuda.
Next spring if you want Dragon Wing Begonias......they are everywhere in every nursery down here.
They are usually 1.50 for a giant 4" pot.