Mountain Laurel (Kalmia Latifolia)

Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)

Mountain Laurel (Kalmia Latifolia) is Connecticut's State Flower. It is unlawful to pick it or take a cutting when it is along side a road or highway. It is growing at my son, Joe and Donna's house in S. Windsor, CT.

Purple Pansies

Pansies

I try to visit my family in Connecticut a couple times a year. When I do go, I usually stay at my son and daughter-in-law's house in S. Windsor.

Their home is just beautiful and their yard is amazing. There are small garden's all over the yard in different places. These pansies are growing in pots on the back porch just outside the breezeway. They have all the colors and color combinations.

Purple is one of my favorite colors, so I chose to show you all these this time. Aren't they just gorgeous?

Indian Blanket Flowers

Indian Blanket Flowers

These Indian Blanket Flowers (Gaillardia pulchella) are wild all over Florida. You can see them growing alongside sidewalks and all along the highways. These were growing in a side garden amongst the rocks in Rockport, MA. I love the colors.

They grow about 3" in diameter and they produce many color variations and combinations in the red/pink/yellow range. Another common name for them is Showy Gaillardia.

Flowers From a Side Garden

Flowers from a side garden

I love these flowers that I found in a side garden at one of the houses in Rockport, MA in the Bearskin Neck region. I can recognize the Poppies, but those curly looking flowers have me puzzled. Do any of you readers/followers have any idea what they are?

Salvia

Row of Salvia

While driving around in South Windsor, my son and I spotted this row of Salvia on the side of a farm house. I love the color and that splash of pink in the tree in the background.

Goose Gourd

Goose Gourd Bouquet

During our road trip through Bolton, CT, my son and I spotted an off road farmer's stand on the other side of the street. It had several vases of floral arraignments visible from the road with a sign that said $6.00. We stopped and thought it would be nice to bring flowers home to Donna. My son, Joe, got out of the car and walked over to the stand to see what they had. He had bought flowers from this farmer before and knew they were honest and reasonable. Way in the back of the shelf, he spotted this bouquet.

He came back to the car empty handed and told me he saw a beautiful arraignment for $20.00 and he had to get more money. I gave him $10.00 and he had $10.00 in his pocket. He came back to the car with this heavy gourd in both hands. It was comical to watch when he tried to open the car door all the water poured out on his shirt. Of course, once I stopped laughing, I got out to help him.

I never expected anything like this! There was a little note attached to this bouquet saying that when the flowers go bad, the gourd is edible. It is called a Goose Gourd; the photo shows why. Needless to say, his wife, Donna, loved this little surprise.

Flowers and Gardens

While in Maine, one of the things that attracted me to a lot of the places we visiting were the gardens and flowers that were in bloom. Some were unusual and I've never seen them before.

These are called Swamp Candles. I originally thought they were some type of Azalea because of their shape and the way they were in clusters. After much investigation on the internet, I found out they are Swamp Candles. They are also known as Bog Loosestrife. They were in the garden at Webhannet Falls in Wells.

The next one is a rare variety of Peony. I love the bright red color with the creamy white centers. I knew it was some kind of Peony, but didn't realize that this variety is rare. They are just as sweet smelling as any other Peony, which was my first hint that they were Peonies. These were in the gardens at St Anthony's Franciscan Monastery in Kennebunk.

Finally, I spotted these Foxgloves. These I was able to identify without the help of the internet. They're fairly common, but I've never seen them in Florida gardens. Maybe they just don't take to the heat very well. These were also in the little garden at Webhannet Falls in Wells.

Most everywhere we went we found flowers and gardens. It just adds so much to the beauty of this area. This also pleased my daughter-in-law. She loves to garden and loves beautiful flowers. She was in her glory.

My Favorites

During my trip, I had a chance to stop at my son and daughter-in-law's house. They have the most amazing yard and there are so many photo opps there, it's hard to figure out what I want to photograph first. So, I photograph everything. They have many little gardens in different areas. They're yard is shaped like the state of CT. The previous owners originally had 47 acres, which they sold off smaller parcels so they'd be left with a yard shaped like their state.

This little Tufted Titmouse is my favorite backyard bird. I like the way they sound like a car starter (at least to me). They're also cute with their little little crests. This one is eating berries or nuts from a tree. I miss seeing these little birds in my yard.

They also have a lot of flowering bushes and trees including my favorite, a Tulip tree. Tulip trees are more suitable for down south, but for some reason, this one thrives in their yard. It's a very old tree, but when it's in bloom it's just gorgeous! Unfortunately, I got there just as the flowers were done. Oh well, maybe next year. It seems I always go there too soon or too late by only a couple of weeks. I can never get the timing right to see everything in bloom.

I did get to see one of my favorite flowering bushes, though; the Mountain-laurel. I've loved these since I was a young child. Maybe I'm so fond of them because my grandmother loved them so much and they remind me of her. These are just starting to pass, but still beautiful. Mountain-laurels are the Connecticut and Pennsylvania's state flower, and they are protected in Connecticut.

Well, there you have it; my favorite flowering bush and my favorite backyard bird.

Both images were shot with my Canon 40-D, a Canon 55-250mm lens at about the same time of day. Both in Aperture Priority mode with partial metering at ISO 400, the Titmouse at F5.6 and 1/60 sec with +1 Ev (exposure compensation). I used a wide aperture (F stop) to blur the background which brought attention to the bird. The Mountain-laurel was shot at F5.6 at 1/500 sec, +1 Ev to bring out the white flowers and blur the background.

Prairie Coneflower

This image was made during our regular Monday night Meetup last night. It was sprinkling off and on, and rather cool, but the flowers didn't show how we all felt, freezing down by the water.

I've been experimenting with a new technique where I'm increasing the saturation to boost the color. I kind of like the way it made this lone flower pop.

The garden at the park is setup mostly to attract butterflies and has a mixture of Blue Salvia, Oleander, Indian Blanket flowers, Sunflowers, Roses, Black-eyed Susans and a few I haven't identified as yet. There are several little small areas with the flowers around trees and it's a wonderful place to capture these beautiful flowers--and butterflies. I especially like the Indian Blanket flowers with their beautiful colors.

We've been meeting at the same place since last April, and you'd think we could never come up with something new to capture. It's amazing, that every week, someone spots something and takes it in a different way that makes us say, "Now why didn't I see that?"