Basil at GSO Historical Museum Garden

Basil is one of the herbs in the door gardens at the Greensboro Historical Museum, Greensboro, NC.   This garden is just now being established. and there are a lot of bare spots.  An overall view just was not good. So,  I took images of single plants for the newsletter.or to post on Facebook  It was late evening and overcast--taken with my Nikon Coolpix 600.  Minor editing in PSE 11 to down size image for the web and to label with the common & botanical names.  I have about 5 varieties of  baisl in my garden including a purple leaf cultivar which gies a red color to basil vinegar.. Plan to usie the lime one for cooking chicken dishes. which goes really well with cumin & fresh lemon juice. .

Faye - New Adoption from SCPA

On Friday May 20th we got a new dog from the SPCA of the Triad.  She is a boxer mix, 6 years old, and weighs 46 pounds.   This dog is more for Jack than me.  However, "Faye" has been my shadow and does not pay much attention to Jack in his lounge chair.  She is not a dog that likes to play with toys.   Have not tried the empty plastic water bottle.  She pulls on the leash when walking around the block and is very bad if she sees a rabbit. May have to invest in some dog training, if it is possible to teach  an old dog new tricks. I have tried taking a few pictures of her with my iPhone 6.  One on the couch after she was here about a day and the other on the deck when she was sunning.  The latter I cropped to be more like a portrait.  The one  was a low lighting situation on the couch.  It had Jacks stuff in the background so I applied a vignette.  

Purple Irises in Boom CU - Trish (Neighborhood)

Back in April I had taken images of my neighbor's iris and dwarf iris that were in bloom. The dwarf iris on the R is considered a native plant/wildflower.When I lived in Ohio these upight iris did not bloom until Decoration Day and were often carried in the parade. My father grew them.  I will say that this year it seems that spring flowers are blooming about 2 weeks earlier than the normal bloom time. The image on the left was taken about 6:55 pm with my iPhone 6.  My neighbor did give me 4 starts but I doubt they will bloom this year. Only editing was cropping to make the image web size.  I did post to my FB page and Photo Nuts. The image on the right was taken about the same time, but cropped, given increased highlights, sharpened and a vignette applied.in PSE 11.

Honeysuckle Blossom CU

It has been very windy lately or raining a lot the past 2 weeks.  I did manage to capture a close-up image of a non-native honeysuckle that was climbing a bush in my neighbor's yard.  It can be very invasive.   I remember my brothers and I pulling out the petals of the flower head and sucking on the end of it because it had a sweet taste.  I don't think our mother knew about this. Taken with Camera + app and added vignette in PSE 11. There is a different cultivar that has blossoms that hang down in a fan shape.  It is red in color. It is considered a native plant in NC.   For info on honeysuckle:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeysuckle.  

Chives Blooming in My Garden

My chives are blooming and have a lot of purple blossoms.  Decided to take a picture because they don't last real long.  These blossoms are edible.  In fact, I made a German Potato Salad for an herbal luncheon on Tuesday.  I added these blossoms as they are a member of the Allium family and have the onion flavor.  Taken with iPhone 6.  Used PSE post processing:: increased the highlights and sharpened.  I did post image on my FB page and also the Herb Society of America - NC Unit.

Rhododendron - Happy Mother's Day 2016

The left image should have been posted Sunday, May 8th, 2016, for Mother's Day.  Rhododendron have been blooming in my neighborhood for about 2 weeks. Usually I take close up images of their blossoms but chose to take a vertical image to see the various stages of the blossoms.  Unfortunately there was none of just the bud. The image on the left I incrased the highlights and sharpened, then added a vignette. I postedt on Facebook yesterday with text sentiment "Happy Mother's Day 2016".   Taken with iPhone 6. The image on the right is the original wiith increased highlights and minor sharpening..  I thought that these blossoms could be seen as the grandmother, mother, daughter, teenager, todler but without the bud no infant.  

High Point Museum Collage Created in Google Photos

I found out I can make a collage in Google Photos.   I chose 7 images from my Google Photos and the app created this collage on the R.  It was easy and fast.  Before you choose the images they should be edited to your satisfaction.   You do not have the choice of adding text. You can apply a filter or lighten and darken the whole collage.   I did apply a filter called :"Mars" which showed increased contrast and darkened.  It also made the image a square.   It saves the image as a JPEG file, so you can post in Facebook, attach the file to an email, use the file in this blog, or insert in a document. This was taken at the High Point Museum.  I used a Nikon P600 camera.  Any editing of the images prior to placement in the collage would have been done in PSE 11.    .

Gerber Daisies Backlit with Black Velvet Background

I recently bought some Gerber Daisies to plant in my garden, but before they actually got planted in the ground, I used an idea my friend and photographer, Sandi O'Reilly. had used for a different background and lighting the underside of them.  I really liked the colors of the underside of these petals. She shot hers with a DSL-R whereas I wanted to see what I could do with a black velvet backdrop and close up with my iPhone.  I used an LED flashlight for additional fill. With the iPhone you do not get "blinkies" to show you blown out areas and did not really see the effects of the lighting until I actually reviewed on the computuer monitor.  The image on the left shows the crinkling of the black velvet.  I used PSE 11 for post processing.  I filled in the black background with the fill bucket and cloning.  Using the lightness and darkness sliders did not work well.  So, I used the "Saturated" film effect x2 to give the effect more like my friend's.  I could have had more margin of black on the right.but some times the LED screen on the iPhone is misleading, especially if doing close up or macro.  

Succulents for Mother's Day 2016

Mother's Day is coming up next Sunday.  These are from Jack to me.     I am going to try my luck with a succulent planter this summer.  Walmart was having a promotion with quite a selection of choices for Mother's Day. The image on the left is of my new babies. They do have botanical names. However, I may have to give them nicknames according to their leaf structure. Since it is a rainy day I need to do some reading about how to care for them. I missed a presentation at the Piedmont Herb Group with Doris Hall.  I hope to use for "Show & Tell" at the Piedmont Group in September. More opportunities to photograph succulents. The plan is to try to do some journaling too. The latter project could be wishful thinking.  These should last longer than a bouquet of roses. When I went to the UNC-Charlotte Botanical Conservatory, I spent more time photographing the succulents --lots of textures than the Orchids in bloom there this past January.  No editing but liked the wet driveway as a background.  The one in the left foreground has some raindrops.