Crocosmia flowers

This plant has lived in a pot for the last year. Our spring planting got interrupted and many things are still in pots or are just now getting permanent homes. I was struck by the nice arch that the stem formed.

The flowers are Crocosmia, originally native to South Africa. For scale, the longest blossom is about an 1 1/2 inches (37mm).

For more closeup photos visit Lisa’s Chaos.

Calendula flower

Karen told me to go look at the Calendula beside the house. It has some beautiful gradations of color. She was right. I also found the detritus that collected in the center of the flower interesting.

According to Wikipedia, Calendula (pronounced /kəˈlɛndjuːlə/ Ca-lén-du-la), Pot Marigold, is a genus of about 12-20 species of annual or perennial herbaceous plants in the daisy family Asteraceae, native to the area from Macaronesia east through the Mediterranean region to Iran. That means that they originated in the same part of the world as house cats. How’s that for useless trivia?

For more closeup photos from around the world, visit Lisa’s Chaos – 100th Macro Monday!

Sunflowers from our neighbor's yard

I’ve walked by these sunflowers for many days and kept wanting to photograph them. I noticed the last time I walked by that they were starting to fade. I stopped to take the shot thinking that the title for the photo would serve a dual purpose, referring both to my passing by and to their state.

Shallots on our kitchen window sill

These shallots were grown in a large pot. After our greenhouse fire this spring, we lost our drive to get a vegetable garden in this year. I love the old bird shaped basket and the glass ristra we picked up in New Mexico.

Closeup of an African Violet

I’ve been playing with my new extension tubes for my closeup lens. The pollen trail on this flower caught my eye so I decided to include it for a Macro Monday shot.

Here’s a closeup of the plant’s leaves.

African Violet Leaves Closeup

Closeup of a bread seed poppy and pod capsule

Port Townsend is awash in poppies now. We’ve always had them but this year they seem to be taking over the city. This is a bread seed poppy also known as an opium poppy. They’re legal to grow but not process for drugs of any kind. Let the pods (capsules) dry and they contain about a half a teaspoon of seeds each, the kind you use in baking.

See more closeup photos at Lisa’s Chaos.

Starling about to land on a bird feeder

This starling was coming in for a landing on the suet feeder (just beyond the seed feeder).  Poor thing didn’t know that a new cage had been added that keeps birds its size out.