This is snazzy! I have no idea what this sort of plant is called, other than...well...a plant! This is quite nice, especially in terms of the color. I think the best color bit is those pistil/stamen thingies like the tentacles of some aquatic creature waving in the current, just waiting to snag something edible. The details are really nice, and the colors are super. I like the de-centered focus of the bluer bits; the picture gets a nice since of drama that way. This is a great shot.

I really like the vividness of the flowers against the green. I like how organic and twisty the flowers are in this...and the way that blue doohickey thing (I really don't know the names of flower parts) juts out there in a contrasting color. Nice diagonals too. I think that's what grabs me the most. I like this quite a lot, particularly the vividness in this and you other flower posts. Once again, very cool. And now that my hands are cramping, I'm going to stop typing.

very unusual flowers that I do not recall seeing before

What a fascinating flower! I've never seen one like this before. The inside bits look like fancy three dimensional embroidery. It looks like something that has been carefully crafted. Excellent colors and composition. The deep pinks, and blues are beautiful against the lighter greens. I like the combination of two flowers still hiding that magnificient center and the other blazing forth in wild abandon. Wonderful capture!

What unusual species! It looks to me as a kind of tulip, but I am a layman on flora. The colors of the flowers are quite rare and stand out well against the blurry green background.

Very interesting and unusual flower as well as the colors, the colors are beautiful very nice DOF, beautiful capture!

Kate, welcome to RR. I only know Corey through proxy...that is via my wife Tara (auntietk) :) But I am very glad to see another Black posting. Wonderful DOF setting this unique bloom apart... Well done.

Beautiful and unusual. I have not seen one of these before, either. Botanic gardens are so fascinating. It's been a few years since we have been through one, and that was in the Denver Botanic Gardens in 2004.

Beautiful capture and nice color combination. Dana

Gorgeous! You have SUCH a good eye! The diagonal composition is superb, and I love the off-center focal point. You had me scanning the image for what was in focus, and then suddenly there it was, like a gift! You really have a way with florals. Beautiful work!

This is a beauty Love it Back later its late Hugs Susan~

lovely macro.Nice colors composition and frame !

Lovely shot Kate.

beautiful and unique~

I'm with corey in not knowing flower parts. ('Blue doohickey' is fine with me, lol.) A fine capture of a flower angled over, and if these were in the Chicago Botanical Gardens (out by Highland Park), then I bet you were in the prairie section. That has a ton of those primal prairie flowers that only experts know. Maybe it was some other part of the park, but it's definitely a primal flower. And your somewhat rugged texture (a kind of grainy focus) makes it look all the more primal. Very nice the way it leans out of the center and into the right side, from the bunch in the left half. I'm trying to get to what I've not commented on yet, and somehow I missed this little gem. That blue thing really is primal! It's like some flower dressed to go to a ball. More nice work from you Kate, and reminding me of things in this town I've often overlooked.