** Welcome to the Photography Forum Challenge for September **2014** **

** ~Plant Life~**
Trees, leaves, flowers, weeds, forests & grass.

All a part of the kingdom Plantae.

** Colours of Autumn and growth in Spring**

** should give us all plenty of chances! 
**

**Please remember:
**Two images per member per week.
Image size: No larger than:
800 pixels X 600 pixels
and 200KB

What a beautiful collage. !!! Great challenge. I can do this, now that I am back home from vacation... Now I need another vacation. SIGH!

Have to see what I've got !!

What fun!  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Bees Paradise. Just to start the ball rolling.

 

 

Have fun,  Jeff.

Man, if I were a bee, that's where I'd want to live!!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Here is my second for the week. This is our garden with the expert doing the watering.

 

Thanks for creating a buzz, Jeff!

This is what it is all about!

 

You have such a pretty garden, Jeff.

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Fields full of plantlife :)

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. - Aristotle
-= Glass Eye Photography =- -= My Rendo Gallery =-

I am glad that you have joined me - nice pic.

What a beautiful bee heaven, Jeff :-)  

And I like to see your expert working in your beautiful garden :-))

A lovely spring shot, 3DGuy :)

A garden in Speyer, Germany :-)

Begonias, seen near the river in Mannheim, Germany :)

Welcome home, Helle!  Did you have a grand holiday?

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Here's some honeysuckle from my neighbor's yard.  I like the way this turned out so much, I might even put it in my gallery!  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Thank you Tara :-) OH yes, it was absolutely wonderful :-))) Hard but all worth the money :)

What a gorgeous honeysuckle this is. It is well worth posting indeed in your gallery..

I am not really back yet.  Have alot to do before I get back. 

Glad to have you peek in, anyway!  :)  I'm so looking forward to getting over there.  Bill wants to take me to Germany, because he spent so much time there while he was in the Army, and of course we must get to Denmark as well!  :)  The Immortal Mandy just turned 16 last week, and she's in perfect health, which means we aren't buying plane tickets this week!  LOL!  I'll have to enjoy that area through your camera for a while longer.  I hope you took lots of pictures on your trip!

Here's another plant ... bamboo from a neighbor's yard.

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

And nr.2

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. - Aristotle
-= Glass Eye Photography =- -= My Rendo Gallery =-

Sweet William!  Love it!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Ah, didn't know the name (I have approximately 0% botanical knowledge ).  The Dutch name is 'Duizendschoon', which I guess translates to something like 'a thousand beauty's'.

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. - Aristotle
-= Glass Eye Photography =- -= My Rendo Gallery =-

It certainly is a thousand beauties!  It's related to carnations and pinks, which are all dianthus.  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Nifty challenge Clive.  Here is one from me taken yesterday afternoon after a downpour.  Just the bare nifty 50 and 430EX strobe.  Just put the larger version of this in my gallery.

Oh sorry guys, some great work in here.

 

Good to see all the green fingers here!

Time for me to add the start of spring in my garden, a flower on an aloe.

 

 

Here is another succulent showing new growth in a friend's garden.

 

Quote - Glad to have you peek in, anyway!  :)  I'm so looking forward to getting over there.  Bill wants to take me to Germany, because he spent so much time there while he was in the Army, and of course we must get to Denmark as well!  :)  The Immortal Mandy just turned 16 last week, and she's in perfect health, which means we aren't buying plane tickets this week!  LOL!  I'll have to enjoy that area through your camera for a while longer.  I hope you took lots of pictures on your trip!

Here's another plant ... bamboo from a neighbor's yard.

OH yes, Tara, I took 1600 shots, but I can delete atleast half of them I am sure. Havent had time to go through them yet. It is going a bit slowly here. :)  WOW! so Mandy is 16. Happy Birthday to this little old lady :-)  Glad she is with good health. Well you wont regret a trip to Germany. That will be a fantastic experience. I can promise you that. Now that I have seen severel parts of Germany, I cannot understand, that so many German people are having vacation in Denmark. LOL!  Their country is en amazingly beautiful place. I hope you will let me know, when you will visit Denmark. Would be such fun to meat you both. :) 

I love bamboo. We had alot of them in the rowhouse, we lived in before we moved up here. The birds love them too. They are good to hide in :)

 

A lovelY flower in your second post, 3DGuy.

Ronnie, I love your raindrops on the leaf.!!

Clive I do love your aloe flower alot. Excellent shot.

And your other succulent is looking like such one we call paradise tree here. I have a large one on my terrace. Beautiful shot.

@ Helle - Of course we will let you know when we will visit Denmark, since you are the number one attraction of the country for us!  :)  You know, we drove around much of the United States from last September until May ... eight months we were gone ... and we came back here and said, "It's so beautiful here, we haven't seen anything more amazing in our entire trip.  Why did we ever leave?"  But!  We're getting ready to go again in a few weeks and do it again. LOL! 

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Here is a Bellis against a background of yellow Pansies taken in the garden

Beautiful, Carl!  Nice to see you again!  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Thank you Tara! I've been very busy for most of this year with my Industrial/Commercial photography work that I have not had any time to go out and do the fun stuff.

A big thank you to Clive for picking a genre that meant that I could just go out into the garden and take a few pics!

I do have some time off coming up soon so I will endeavour to go out into my Yorkshire countryside and be posting again soon

I can't remember the name of this one so if anyone knows what it is then it would be great to be reminded of it!

To show of the furriness of the flower I sprayed water on to it with a fine spray-bottle to simulate when I have seen it in the morning dew (possibly a little too much though as you can see water droplets falling off from the bottom of the flower).

WOW so gorgeous flowers, Carl. Dont know the name of the last one though, sorry.

auntie waits patiently for the first week to be up so she can post two more pictures

 

:)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

So is Helle Anker :)

Pretty images, everyone!

This is White Meadowsweet.

Prickly Pear

Oh boy, we're in week 2!  :)

I took this specifically for the challenge.  A fun twist. 

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

And the real thing ...

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

WOW! I really love the whit Meadowsweet flowers, Bakapo.

Pretty pear is just awesome, mbz2662

I really like the shadows of your plants, Tara, but the real thing is very lovely too. :)

New week is good:-)

This shot is taken yesterday with flash on my little tizzie.

Here is another one taken same day also with flash. I still have tiny pansies in a pot. :-)

Lovely!  Your new little Tizzy is wonderful,  I'm noticing more now when people are using them, and they're really quite excellent, aren't they?

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Thanks Tara.  Yes, it is really full of possibilities, which are very easy to "pull" out of it. And it has an enormous ability to zoom on distance or for macro. I love it and I am very satisfied with it :-) I really found out how good it is on my Rhine tour. :) There, we had to zoom in on awesome castles on top of mountains far away etc. 

Some wonderful pics above and I have missed them because I don't seem to be getting notification of fresh input !

 

 

Here is a pic of the champion onion and leek grower - my friend John who has just produced this 12.4 pound onion which he thinks will break the world record.

I took this pic today in his garden.

GOSH!!!!!!!!! He has food for weeks in this, If he has the heart to cut it in pieses, that is. LOL!! !

such wonderful photos Jeff, Helle, Tara and 3dguy with superb panorama!

new month again, love this challenge!

my first i have done some days ago at home, is my wisteria growing and growing...

Tara & Bill If you ever are in Germany, my home is near the border :-)

gosh, i could done the best potatoe / leek gratin ever with this enormous leek and onion!

absolut stunning Jeff!!!!

A wonderful 'love' knot Priska.

Here I am again folks. this time with a set of four butterfly Antirhinums.

I use thse words because in the English language this is a montage, not a collage! But hey who really cares???

Priska, your plant shot is quite awesome. Love the colors. :)

 

Jeff, your butterfly Antirhinums are so delightful. :)

thank you Jeff and Helle! 

Jeff, your flowers and garden makes me almost jealous ;-)

What fun it would be to meet you, Priska!  :)  Of course I have no idea where we will be going yet ... this one is Bill's trip to plan ... but when we get closer, I'll certainly let you know!   :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Thanks for the kind words.

All these photos are so pretty... nice job everyone!

The onion and leeks are amazing! 

This is one from my archives, but I  just love it :)

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. - Aristotle
-= Glass Eye Photography =- -= My Rendo Gallery =-

Gorgeeous!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

A real beauty 3D.

Wonderful daisies indeed, 3DGuy. A really lovely photo. I wrote this already yesterday, but I must have forgotten to press "PostReply",,, fsss !

 

Here is my prickly garden in my kitchen.  The skull is that of a mole, found on Park Island while walking Brady.

 

Thst is indeed a cute prickly garden you have there :-)

 

Thanks Helle, they have grown so well, I am looking forward to some flowers on the one on the left.

 

I do like cacti, but I dont have any... not so many places to have such here in our little summer house, where we live all year. Hope we will get to see it, when it gets flowers :)

I like the skull Clive and the cacti aren't bad either.

Fascinating cactus plants and the skull is awesome.

 

Thanks for all the comments!

Here is a flower on a 'weed' groundcover in my garden.  I have no green fingers, so I welcome anything that grows with little care or attention. Sometimes I am rewarded with beauty!

 

How festive!  LOVE the hat!!  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

This is a beauty indeed Clive. A lovely and delicate little flower.

OH WOW, Clive. It is soo delightful. Lovely clarity here. !!!

I know it's not a week since my last two posts but I will be away all next week so I am posting now. Hope that's ok Clive !!

 

Here is a montage of flowers.

And here is another one.  These are all from the garden a few months ago.

OH how lovely they all are, Jeff. Glad you didnt disappoint us, by not posting them for the sake of next week    Have a great week off. :) 

A stunning collection of flowers! Your garden must be a lovely place.

 

No problem, Jeff, enjoy the week away!

Your garden is way better than mine!

 

 

Taken outside my front door.

The Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow plant, or Brunfelsia latifolia, got its more common name because of its fragrant two-inch blooms. These flowers last for three days and change color with each day. The first day they are purple (yesterday), the second day they change to a pastel lavender shade (today), and on the third day they change to an almost white color (tomorrow). Because each flower lasts for three days and goes through this colorful transformation, it is easy to tell whether it is a yesterday bloom or a shade representing today and tomorrow.

 

Here is one of the windswept trees alongside Sandvlei, Muizenberg.

What makes you think that we have a lot of strong South-Easterly winds here...!?

 

Love the dramatic tree silhouette Clive!

Close-up of an aster taken in the garden

I forgot about this challenge.... but, here I am.

The blooming Sonoran desert, during the monsoon season.

and another

 

So earthy and colourful - The world we live in!

Really nice pics Clive, Rockstrider and MBZ.

Nice entries everyone :)

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. - Aristotle
-= Glass Eye Photography =- -= My Rendo Gallery =-

 

A new week and here is a shot looking up into a thorn tree.

 

WOW! SO many beautiful things you have posted here :-)

A walking tree in mono.

 

This was taken on a trip to the Canyons in America back in May 2011.

Conifers.

 

Taken a few weeks ago at Cricket St Thomas near Chard.

 

Stunning Jeff! It looks like you had a good time away as well!

 

Here are a few of the plants in a friends garden on a farm.

 

I agree with Clive and I love that wlking tree :-)

That b&w of the tree on the edge of the cliff is absolutely stunning, Jeff!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Lavender road

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. - Aristotle
-= Glass Eye Photography =- -= My Rendo Gallery =-

That's gorgeous ... it has to be Keukenhof, yes?

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

Yes, that is indeed 'de keukenhof'

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. - Aristotle
-= Glass Eye Photography =- -= My Rendo Gallery =-

I'd love to see it in person ... it's unmistakable!  :)

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. - Aristotle
-= Glass Eye Photography =- -= My Rendo Gallery =-

Gorgeous!

"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."  ...  Robert Capa

This is really beautiful 3D.

The first of my last two for the short week.

 

Gnarly :)

 

That is rather twisted trunk, Melinda!

Given the tulips and daffodils above is it beauty and the beast...?!

 

The dusty way home from the farm yesterday.

 

Great shots Melinda and Clive. Here is one of our garden taken today.

 

I am seriously jealous of your garden, Jeff - green with envy!

 

 

Thanks all for all of the Plant Life submitted.

For the forum challenge in October we are doing 'Converging Lines'.

Lets meet there!

 

Had 2 more in the queue I forgot to post.. I know september's over, but here 2 more :P

 

 

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. - Aristotle
-= Glass Eye Photography =- -= My Rendo Gallery =-

 

No problem, they are beautiful and worth the wait!

 

DOh! The month is already gone and i didnt have time to do much with this. SIGH !

Two great tulip pics 3D. Better late than never!