One of the pleasures of growing sunflowers is that they grow like weeds but are not weeds.1 They get big. They’re plants I can see eye-to-eye with.
Category: Photo gallery
Stay on the path
In years past one occasionally found such plants as argemone and corydalis in Wichita’s Sedgwick County Park. However, careful management has eliminated most of the pesky wildflowers, so that nothing distracts visitors from the splendid displays of Toxicodendron radicans throughout the park.
The same drive toward tidiness has also simplified the flora of the fields east of the park. Formerly, one would sometimes stumble across Mentzelia nuda, for instance, or Delphinium carolinianum, but gradually such conspicuous species disappeared. A few still remain, such as Oenothera rhombipetala and Dalea villosa, but if current trends continue, eventually the area will be just neat and tidy grass.
Sun in shade
Little duckie lost
Found in a pot of Dichorisandra thyrsiflora at the botanical garden this morning.
Horticultural snapshots
… well, not exactly “snapshots,” since the images were all done with stacked focus.
This little nigella couldn’t catch a break this year. A mole took out most of the plants, and thunderstorms pounded the survivors onto the ground. I rinsed off the flower as best I could, but it’s still rather gritty.
In the pink
The first poppy of the year.
On the way to work this morning
A barbershop quartet singing “God Bless America” outside a television station.
More yellow
Today’s post is brought to you by the color blue
Stereo mud
We finally got some of the rain we’ve been needing. One consequence is that everything in the garden is mud-spattered, including the little daffodils above. Click to embiggen, cross your eyes to see in three dimensions.
A bit of yellow, and some grumbling
I see that the Lords of WordPress have decided that I don’t need to see previews of my posts any more, unless I use their “visual” editor, which I dislike. I also don’t see a way to schedule posts for future publication, despite the claims in the “Help” tab in the editor. I’ve been using WordPress for about ten years now, but if there are many further “improvements,” I may look for another platform.
Update: the editing page is back to normal.
Garden snapshots
It’s too windy today to do anything outdoors, so I spent a little time with the indoor garden. Everything here will eventually be planted outside. Once they’re in the ground, I’ll establish the real indoor garden, with cacti, mesembs and stapeliads.
Arms and legs, but mainly arms
I shot a bit over 3,000 frames at a ballet rehearsal this evening. Here’s a preview. It’s going to take a while to go through them all.
Purple fuzz
I visited the botanical garden for the first time this year today. Before that, though, I took a close-up of a bit of henbit from the yard.
Cross your eyes
It will probably be six to eight weeks before colorful botanical subjects are available outdoors again, so here’s another toy soldier in stereo. (Cross your eyes until you see three images, then focus on the middle image.)
$12.99
How much would this much storage have cost 35 years ago? How large a room would you have needed for all the drives?
(The price jumped a few dollars since I ordered it.)
What’s in my camera?
Recent snapshots from my little go-everywhere camera.
No fly zone
One of the dealers at last week’s orchid show had an impressive display of carnivorous plants.
Today’s weirdo
Many orchids have attractive flowers. Others are bizarre, such as the bulbophyllum sticking its tongues out at you that I saw at the annual orchid show today.
Update: more pictures below the fold. Click to embiggen.
Update II: Welcome, visitors from AoSHQ. Orchids are here. You can find other botanical pictures here and here. Ballet and modern dance are here; contra dancing is with the other Walnut Valley Festival pictures. Stereo pictures, stacked focus and other photographic stunts are here. There are interactive panoramas here.
Dances with phones
Here a few pictures from one of the ballets performed at last night’s rehearsal at Friends University. The dancers put their telephones aside for the other pieces. I took about 100 gigabytes of photos altogether (including raws), which will take some time to go through. Click to embiggen.
