Flowers

Red flowers & meanings: LAPC, FOTD

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Florists and gardeners use red flowers to represent a wide variety of emotions and characteristics. You may associate them with love, but they have many other meanings.

Columbines are symbols of strength, wisdom, and peace. Red columbines symbolize love, intense emotions, and encouragement.

Red columbine
Western columbine, Aquilegia formosa

Hibiscus are symbols of youth, beauty, success, glory, and femininity. Red hibiscus symbolize romance and love.

Red flowers hibiscus
Red hibiscus, Hibiscus sp.

Black-eyed Susans are symbols of justice, inspiring motivation and positive changes. They are sometimes associated with the sense of wonder of childhood.

Red blossoms Black-eyed Susan
Black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia sp.

Poppies are symbols of remembrance and hope. The flowers are used to recognize members of the Armed Forces around the world. In some cultures, red poppies represent love and success.

Red Iceland poppy
Iceland poppy, Papaver nudicaule

Indian paintbrush are symbols of creativity, passion, and the pursuit of dreams. Their red and orange flowers represent fiery energy and the drive needed to achieve your goals.

Indian paintbrush
Indian paintbrush, Castilleja sp.

Red flowers stand out in both wild and cultivated landscapes.

Meanings of flowers may vary, depending on the source. For this post, I relied on information on Petal Republic.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Primary Colors LAPC

Flower of the Day FOTD

Swallowtail on Penstemon: Friday Flowers

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I saw this beautiful Western Tiger Swallowtail on a penstemon flower in my front yard recently. We try to plant flowers that attract bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. We’ve seen LOTS of butterflies this year.

Swallowtail on penstemon

Friday Flowers

Perfection on the water: FOTD & NPC

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When I think about waterlilies, I think about perfection on the water. Delicate blossoms radiate over thick floating leaves. No more words needed.

perfection on the water

Flower of the Day (FOTD) – Waterlily

Nature Photo Challenge (NPC) #21 – Waterplants

Sunlight in a flower: Macro Monday

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I always think of yellow and gold flower petals as capturing sunlight in a flower.

Sunlight in a flower

The flowers shown in this post of little rays of sunshine are dedicated to fellow blogger, Bren, of Brashley Photography.

She recently lost her fight with cancer but will be remembered for her stunning, ethereal portraits of flowers. May her gentle soul rest in peace.

double views of cactus

Macro Monday

Little bit of everything garden: Friday Flowers

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I saw this little bit of everything garden on the High Desert Garden Tour in Bend, Oregon in July 2022. The long, narrow yard at this house included fruits, vegetables, and lots of flowers. The homeowners have been working on it for 22 years.

The owners created large, elevated raised beds from wood and tin roofing. You can see sweet alyssum blooming near the front edge. Hummingbird feeders hang near them. They’re growing pear, cherry, and apples on espaliers behind the raised beds.

Raised beds

This raised bed was at ground level. It included red lantana, yellow petunias, orange ganzia, purple salvia, and dark pink snapdragons.

little bit of everything garden

This tiered bed surrounded a tree. It included common sunflowers, orange marigolds, and golden celosia.

little bit of everything garden
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A small but bountiful garden: Friday Flowers

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This small but bountiful garden was behind a house in northeast Bend, Oregon. This was one of the featured stops on the High Desert Garden Tour in July 2022.

These purple clematis were beautiful. There’s also a peek of an Annabelle hydrangea shrub in this photo.

Clematis

These long-blooming flowers are a type of daisy. I think they’re Shasta daisies. You can see a multi-colored Euonymus shrub on the left side.

small but bountiful garden
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Pink Chrysanthemum up close: Macro Monday

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I saw this gorgeous pink chrysanthemum on the High Desert Garden Tour last year. Though native to China and northeastern Europe, these plants do well in many parts of the world. The long-lasting flowers are available in a variety of colors. These include pink, purple, orange, yellow, white, and red. Unlike many of the plants that grow in High Desert gardens, this one is not appetizing to deer. A big plus around here!

pink chrysanthemum

Macro Monday

The power of red blossoms: SS & Sijo poem

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The power of red blossoms radiating in the garden.
Crimson petals briefly unfold, reaching towards a cloudless sky
And the memory of their fire burns deep within your soul.

Red petunias
Power of red
Red dahlias
Red flowers

Sunday Stills (SS) Monthly Color Challenge – Red

Special flowers: LAPC

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Today I’ll share a few stories related to special flowers in my life.

Roses

Whenever I see roses, I think of a funny thing that happened to me when I was in my early twenties. I had just started dating a guy who checked parking passes where I worked. I invited him to my cozy little A-frame house on Puget Sound in Washington state. When we got to my house, I pulled open the screen door and there was a bouquet of roses tucked next to the main door. I grinned and asked if they were from him. “No,” he said sheepishly. He pulled a bouquet of roses from behind his back. Oops. The flowers in my door were from a different admirer. Awkward!


I took these photos on the High Desert Garden Tour this summer. The tour takes place in different Central Oregon locations, from sprawling rural ranches to tiny city yards. This year the featured gardens were in Bend.

Roses
Special flowers roses
Roses

Hibiscus

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Abundance of flowers: Friday Flowers

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There are an abundance of flowers growing along the path near the Hayden Homes Amphitheater in Bend, Oregon. I always look forward to walking there in the late summer and early fall months. Can you see why?

Abundance of flowers

Friday Flowers

Hibiscus photo & drawings: First Friday Art

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For this First Friday Art post, I’m sharing a hibiscus photo and a few drawings. I took this picture of a Spin the Bottle Hibiscus, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, at the Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon. I’m not sure who came up with the common name, but it’s a funny one!

Hibiscus

I’m sharing a quick pen-and-ink drawing I did of Hibiscus flowers. I’m participating in Inktober, a challenge where you make a drawing a day for a month based on prompts.

I tend to fuss over my artwork a lot, so for this challenge, I’m trying to draw fast. You create a different kind of artwork when working quickly. Is it perfect? No, but it’s a freeing experience. The goal is to capture the essence of your subject.

You can interpret the prompts any way you want to. Here was my interpretation of ‘bouquet’ from the October 5 prompt.

Hibiscus bouquet
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Trailing petunias up close: Macro Monday

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I saw these multi-colored trailing petunias in a hanging basket in downtown Bend. Since they produce so many flowers, another common name for this plant is ‘million bells.’

Trailing petunias
Trailing petunias Calibrachoa hybrida

These perennials are hybrids from plants originally grown in South America. They bloom from spring through first frost and they’re easy to grow. They make a perfect addition to hanging baskets.

Macro Monday

A white poppy up close: Macro Monday

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A white poppy up close growing in our garden last year. Poppies come in a variety of colors, but they’re also pretty in white.

a white poppy

Macro Monday

Focus on what is important: LAPC

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Focus on what is important and blur the distractions.

Burrowing owl

Magnify the delicacy of Nature’s architecture.

Apple blossoms

Find subjects that stand out from the herd and capture their strength.

Focus on what is important - bison

Focus on the palette of colors used to create distant masterpieces.

View from Gray Butte

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Bokeh

Memories of summer at Old Mill: Friday Flowers

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memories of summer in old Mill

This photo of memories of summer at Old Mill shows one of the many colorful plantings bordering the trails. This border is located along the Mill A Loop trail, one of my favorites in Bend, Oregon.

Friday Flowers

Blanket flowers up close: Macro Monday

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Here’s a photo of blanket flowers up close that I took last summer. These perennial flowers are big and showy. Their contrasting colors make them stand out as a star in any garden. These easy to grow plants are also drought tolerant. They attract butterflies and birds.

Blanket flowers up close

Macro Monday

Marigolds up close: Macro Monday

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I saw these marigolds up close in a park at the end of July. These vignettes show orange, yellow, and white flowers that were growing in a border planting. Marigolds are an easy to grow annual that blooms for weeks during the summer months.

Marigolds up close
Yellow flower blooming
White flower blooming

Macro Monday

Milkweed seedpod up close: Macro Monday

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Here are three photos of a milkweed seedpod up close. As you may know, milkweed flowers are a favorite of monarch butterflies. North American populations of this butterfly have been rapidly declining.

I got a packet of seeds for free from Deschutes Land Trust, one of our local conservation nonprofits. To find milkweed seeds near you, use the Milkweed Seed Finder courtesy of the Xerces Society.

milkweed seedpod
seeds up close
Milkweed seedpod

We planted milkweed starts in our garden this year, but they fried during a week of unusually hot weather. 🙁

My friend, Suzy, planted hers last year and had greater success. This seedpod she gave me measures 4 inches in length. A couple of days ago it split along a seam. Each seed is attached to a little wispy fluff known as coma.

Does this milkweed seedpod remind anyone else out there of the pods in Invasion of the Body Snatchers?

Macro Monday

Poppies & honeybee up close: Macro Monday

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Poppies & honeybee up close in our garden this spring. This bee has full pollen baskets on its hind legs. Did you know these pollen pellets can account for 30% of a bee’s weight?

Poppies & honeybees

Macro Monday

Fading hibiscus up close: Macro Monday

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I saw these fading hibiscus flowers at a local garden center in early June. The petals are past their prime, but the flowers still have a style all their own.

Fading hibiscus

Macro Monday

Daisies Three Ways: One-to-three & Friday Flowers

/ SoyBend / 8 Comments

Here are pictures of daisies three ways I took on the Mill A Loop trail in Bend, Oregon. I used Corel PaintShop Pro 2021 to do the photo processing.

The first two show the original photo compared to a soft focus adjustment. I think it works well for these soft flowers.

Flowers in Bend, OregonDaisies three ways

The second two show the original photo compared to a colored edges effect. I like to draw and this effect created a work of art, minus all the erasing I usually do. 😉

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Artichoke blooming up close: Macro Monday

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We planted a couple artichoke plants in our garden this year and assumed they died after a week of extreme heat. Several leaves on both plants turned brown from the sun, but the plants survived. Here are their purple blossoms up close. Artichokes are pretty and tasty!

Artichoke blossom close up
vegetables in bloom

Macro Monday

Flowers flowers everywhere!: Friday Flowers & FOTD

/ SoyBend / 4 Comments

I saw flowers, flowers everywhere while walking the riverside trail in the Old Mill District of Bend this morning. This is my favorite time of year to walk by the plantings near the amphitheater. Can you see why?

Flowers, flowers everywhere

Friday Flowers & Flower of the Day (FOTD)

Yellow & white iris up close: Macro Monday

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I saw this yellow & white iris in bloom in mid June. When you see them blooming, summer is on the way. The golden colors in this blossom mirror the warmth of summer days to come.

Yellow & white iris

Macro Monday

Wonderful colors inspired by a song: LAPC

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This week I’m featuring pictures of green, red, blue, and white. These are colors in What a Wonderful World, a song that brings back a special memory. Many years ago, I helped a kindergartner class with an art project related to the song. I assigned each student a color and let them paint anything they wanted. It was a “wonderful” experience!

Here’s my take on the colors from the song.

This picture shows the vibrancy of green foliage surrounding a great blue heron in Troutdale.

Wonderful great blue heron

Here’s a picture featuring the power of red in an up close portrait of a hibiscus.

Close up of hyacinth flower
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Pink flowers in my yard: Sunday Stills

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Today I’m featuring portraits of pink flowers in my Bend, Oregon yard. All of these plants are drought tolerant, once established.

The first photo is an ice plant. This groundcover has cheerful starburst flowers and succulent leaves. The leaves turn a bronze color in winter. We had an escapee take root in another part of our yard and it survived without watering.

Ice plant

The second plant is a Woods’ rose. This native 2-5 foot tall shrub attracts bees, butterflies, and birds. Red rose hips develop once the flowers lose their petals.

Pink flowers of Wood's rose
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Within a small seed – 4 haiku: LAPC

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Within a small seed blanket flowers
Blanket flower seed heads

within a small seed
a tiny new life slumbers
awakened by sun

Hops and chives
Hops & chives

emerald limbs stretch
stems lengthen and reach skyward
embraced by springtime

Flower border May 2020
Mixed flower border
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A colorful corner in Bend: Friday Flowers

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Here’s a colorful corner filled with blooming summer flowers. This planting includes: hollyhocks, foxglove, blanket flowers, ‘orange blaze’ red hot poker, black-eyed Susan, pansies, and more. I’m looking forward to seeing them again in a few months.

A colorful corner in Bend, Oregon

See more photos of flowers in bloom at Flower Border at Old Mill and A peninsula of flowers.

Friday Flowers

A white coneflower up close: Macro Monday

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Here’s a white coneflower up close in my garden. I usually see pink or purple coneflowers, but they’re also pretty in this color. Their scientific name, Echinacea, comes from the Latin word for ‘sea urchin’ and the Ancient Greek word for ‘hedgehog.’ The spiny cone-shaped central disk resembles some type of prickly creature.

White coneflower August 2020

Macro Monday

Showy layers of a poppy up close: Macro Monday

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Showy layers of a red poppy up close

Showy layers of crepe paper-like red petals encircle a yellow melon-shaped ovary. Golden-anthered stamens stand guard over the precious seeds within.

Monday Macros

A blooming cosmos up close: Macro Monday

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A blooming cosmos

A blooming cosmos is one of my favorite sights to see in a garden. We had several colors of cosmos in our garden this summer, but this magenta-colored flower was my favorite. I love how the color contrasts with the bright yellow center. The bees appreciated them as well.

Macro Monday

Goldflame honeysuckle up close: Macro Monday

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Goldflame honeysuckle

These colorful flowers are on a goldflame honeysuckle plant. Hummingbirds frequently visit this vine’s gorgeous flowers. In North America and Eurasia, 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified.

Macro Monday

Sweet alyssum up close: Macro Monday

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This delicate beauty is sweet alyssum. Sweet to see and sweet to smell. Most common as a white flower, this dwarf variety has lavender purple blossoms.

sweet alyssum up close

Macro Monday

A peninsula of flowers: Friday Flowers

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A peninsula of flowers

This peninsula of flowers was seen in the Old Mill district of Bend, Oregon. The gardeners do a great job maintaining these picturesque flowerbeds. They brighten up even the darkest of days.

Friday Flowers

Nasturtium blossoms up close: Macro Monday

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Nasturtium blossoms up close

Bright nasturtium blossoms up close in our High Desert garden. These flowers look pretty and they taste good. They have a distinctive spicy flavor.

Macro Monday

Bachelor buttons up close: Macro Monday

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Bachelor buttons up close Bend, Oregon August 2020
Bachelor buttons up close in Bend, Oregon August 2020
Close up of flower July 2020

Bachelor buttons up close in our garden. I never knew they had so many colors. This flower has such an interesting structure – like a bouquet of tiny trumpets.

Macro Monday

A garden of plenty: Homegrown Harvest Photo Challenge

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Last year we started to create a new garden space in our backyard. After a lot of work, it’s looking like a garden of plenty now.

A garden of plenty in Bend, Oregon August 2020

This is how it looked several years ago when we bought the place. The house included a fenced dog run with a heated doghouse.

A garden of plenty before 2013

Some of the beds in our newly-created garden are bordered by rocks collected on our property, and others are store bought. Smaller rocks we collected on our rock hounding adventures decorate the edges of the raised beds. See the obsidian from Glass Buttes?

Obsidian rocks around a raised bed garden August 2020
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