Purple

I love purple flowers. These were at Sarah Duke Garden at Duke University. I took the picture 2 weeks ago and really need to go back there soon. There's a lot more flowers blooming now since we've had warm weather and some decent rain the past few days.

Tree Branch

Of the pictures I took Sunday at Sarah Duke this one is my favorite. I'm not sure why. Just something about the composition, I guess. Click on it to see it big and see if you think so too.

water flower

Same day as the last picture, same koi pond too. This lillypad bloom was just a few yards from the one that the dragonfly was on in yesterday's pic. Both these subjects were pretty far out in the pond so I had to use the macro at 12X zoom. Most of the pictures were too blurred to use but these two pics came out fairly steady.

Dragonfly

I wandered around Sarah Duke Garden today for a while in the midday heat. It was around 92 and the sun was beating down on me hard but it was worth it 'cause I got lucky with a number of photos. I'll probably be uploading shots from today for the next week at least. Here's one of a dragonfly at the koi pond. He's just sitting there looking pretty.

A bee and a yellow flower

I had to make a quick run up to north Durham today so I stopped briefly at Sarah Duke to take a few pictures. It'd been lightly raining on and off again so the plants were greener than usual and water drops were everywhere.

I happened to catch this bee just before he landed on this flower. If you notice, his wings are still moving so fast that the camera only caught a blur even using the flash.

lily pad

Just another picture from my walk around the Sarah Duke Gardens on Sunday. The lily pads were on a koi pond. I was going to take some pictures of the fish also but I didn't see any. Just little minnows. It was a hot day and the koi were probably hanging out on the bottom.

pink flowers dying

On Sunday Naomi, over at Here in the Hills, posted about the colors of drying flowers and compared it to the fading out of people as they age. Her pictures of the flowers are beautiful and her observations of the aging process are keen.

I bring this up due to the nature of this picture here. I took it on Sunday at Duke University and it was well nigh impossible to find a good bloom in the rose section without having a dead one next to it. That juxtaposition of life and death reminds me of Naomi's post.

Orange flowers

I was at Sarah Duke Gardens today with Chris and I saw these pretty orange (salmon?) flowers. I have no idea what they are--I'm sorry, I'm not a botanist!--but these look really pretty. As pretty as Chris? Not a chance but still as pretty as a picture. This picture, in fact.

Purple Crocus

A picture I took at Sarah Duke Garden this past Sunday. Crocuses are such pretty flowers and I especially enjoy the white striations on the petals. The stripes give the purple coloring even more impact.