Weekly Photography Challenge: Green

Nothing feels as green to me as the green of living plants. Here are a few photos from my garden that I took in warmer weather.

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Weekly Photography Challenge: Renewal

Sitting by the fire on a chilly evening with a good book, homemade cookies and a cup of hot cocoa – don’t forget the whipped cream and cinnamon sugar.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Big

The Mr. Lincoln rose is cherished as  long-stem cutting variety for its fragrant large single blooms born atop very long canes. The photo above is of a bloom on the Mr. Lincoln Rose in our front yard. The canes on this rose bush are standing at over just over 7-feet tall right now. I believe that is about the maximum height for  a Mr. Lincoln. I had to extend my tripod to its fullest height to get this photo; and with a breeze blowing the canes around, I had my doubts about whether I would get a good shot at all. This particular bloom is about 4.5 inches across and 4 inches tall. It is highly fragrant and full of color.  I’d call it a big rose. There are currently two such blooms on this bush with three more buds yet to open. I can never bring myself to cut my roses, though. I like having them in the garden for everyone to enjoy. After the remaining three buds open, I suspect that this Mr. Lincoln will be done blooming for the season. It takes a lot of energy to put on such a stunning show. On a side note, Mr. Lincoln roses are described in horticultural literature as being a uniformly dark red, but mine always have a little tinge of magenta.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Wrong

“Oh, Mommy, something is wrong with my nose.”

When Abbey had stitches in her nose a while back, now and then she would give me a look that said it all.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Growth

When we moved into our house twelve years ago, this American Linden tree (a.k.a. Basswood tree) was a scrawny specimen. I could reach up with a pair of clippers and prune out competing leaders.  I did my best to shape this tree in its formative years, but now it is in the neighborhood of 30 feet tall (give or take). Not realizing how quickly it would grow, when we moved in, I planted sun-loving perennials near the tree. I should have known better. Now I am trying to find other locations in the garden for those very same plants as they are in shade too much of the day. If it grows to full size, this tree could reach 70 feet tall and 50 feet wide. Then I would really have to rethink my garden!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Purple

Manhattan is home to Kansas State University. Since the school colors are royal purple and white, there is no shortage of purple around town. (For more photos see my post Putting on the Purple.) Thank you to Varney’s Bookstore for letting me take the bottom two photos inside the shop.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

I keep plants by a few of my kitchen windows. These photos look inside two of the orchids in my ‘inside garden”.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Dreaming

This is a photo that I took two years ago during a late afternoon summer storm.  I think that it has a dream-like quality. That storm brought down several trees on our block. Though I don’t wish to see that repeated, we could use the moisture. Recently, we’ve been hot and dry here in Kansas. The very thought of rain seems like a dream.