The Lotus are Blooming!

This season, everything is blooming early. The lotus have popped out 2 weeks early!  I hope they will last for a long time, since I have a Garden Conservancy tour here on August 4th.

The delicate flowers are always soothing to the soul and the leaves undulate gracefully in the breezes.

Other flowers that are blooming now are the Foxgloves and Day lilies.  And of course there are numerous frogs leaping into the pond as I walk by. No scarcity of them here!

Lotus

Frog

Day lily

Frog

Lotus behind a small willow

Day lily

Lotus

Lotus

Fox glove

Foxglove

In the garden on a sunny day

After several days of rain and cold, it was nice to get out into the garden again.  Lots of weeds have invaded many of the gardens.  The war on weeds begins!  Here are some early day photos of some of the blooming flowers.

Many plants have not been robust in their flowering. the iris produced on bloom and the peonies are pretty sparse this year. The early heat and then the frost might have had an impact.

peony

campanula

foxglove

garden on a hill

daisies

poppies

poppies

fox glove

pink peony

Cayuga Nature Photographers and the Cornell Plantations

Today, the Cayuga Nature Photographers held a photo shooting workshop in the Cornell Plantations as part of a join class in photography.  Last Wednesday was an introductory session and next Wednesday will be for follow-up on post processing and sharing images with the group.  While helping out, I took some pictures with a Nikon Cool Pix camera. We avoided serious rain and finished the session just before the breezes started interfering with flower stability.

We started at 7 AM, with heavy moisture still on the flowers.  Here are photos of a Rhododendron, Hosta (2), the Giant Magnolia (2), Allium, Lilies (2), Poppy, Catalpa flowers, Foxglove, and an iris.

Mallards, Monet, and Soft Sun

This is a lovely time of year in the Fingerlakes region. The soft sun in the early morning illuminates the best of nature.  I went out this morning, following an evening rain. The water lilies were just opening up, the rain water was puddled on the leaves, and the ducks were navigating the vegetation in search of food.

With patience, I was able to photograph the Mallard pair as they exited the pond and headed for the gardens.  Handsome male!  The pair were not successful in raising a family due to other wildlife, but have remained residents of the pond for now.

The photos here include Echinacea, Water Lilies, resident Mallards, unknown flower, Foxglove, and Hibiscus.  I hope you enjoy today's share.