The Colour of the Sun...

One of the last for this year I think - oh I am going to miss these, their colours...

Little yellow Suns

These are really little happy suns...how do you call it in English? In German we call them "sun bride" - literally translated...

"Helenium" (Asteraceae)
Sonnenbraut

GTS - Green Thumb Sunday

This is a last summer greeting I chose for today's theme. The weather is like in November here in Munich but everywhere you can still see these:

"Cosmos bipinnatus" (Asteraceae)

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Bamboo - another Silk Carving©

This is also not a photo from a natural bloom or blossom but a silk carving© of a plant that has many faces. More about the making of a silk carving you can read here

Bamboo serves many purposes besides being a multi-facetted garden plant, looking marvellous and being food for animals.
Bamboo is used mainly in Asia as construction material for whole houses and as scuffolding for multi storage buildings. Who has ever seen these amazing suffoldings reaching far into the sky knows what qualities the stems of this plant has. Additionally growing very fast and in multiple forms gives this plant a special importance.

In other parts of this world bamboo is used for building whole ships, for floors and furniture, decoration and even for dishes and clothing. I think there is no plant with more applications than bamboo besides being eco friendly, non-toxic, renewable.

But there is one downside to this plant also: When it blooms the plant dies and animals who feed exclusively on the leaves and sprouts of bamboo are in great danger of starving as it can happen with the big panda bears in China.

Every few years the bamboo starts to bloom and it does not do it in small groups but in whole areas at the same time. Which means that the bamboo dies in large patches. The pandas' natural habitats have become very constraint due to the growing of Chinas's population and cities and the bears don't have the chance to move from one territory into another any more because they cannot cover big distances. So the fate of these magnificent animals seems to be doomed.

Although China has initiated several breeding programs and plans to release the bears, who have been born in captivity, into the wild, I doubt that this will be a success. Too much territory has already been destroyed. And when there is no habitat to live in what sense does it make to increase the population?

"Bamboo", 59" x 15", Silk Carving

Here comes the Sun...

My viewers are often telling me that my photos make them smile - and this makes ME very happy and lets me smile. And you know what - each time I see a sunflower it makes me smile also - I swear each time...

"Helianthus" (Asteraceae)
sunflower, Sonnenblume

Garden Dreams...

without words...

A late Rose....

"Rosa"

A Yellow Dahlia and a sweet Visitor...

"Dahlia"

GTS - Green Thumb Sunday

For today's motto I found this to be the perfect garden pic: roses and an apple tree full of juicy fruit, ready to pick and then hmmm........

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Dahlia in dark Red...

"Dahlia"

Colours in Spots

I find that this is an interesting experiment. If you want to make sure you see all colours of an image use the extruding function of photoshop and you will have interesting results you might not have realized without. If you compare above photo with the manipulated photo you will realize that the weighting of colours seems to be different although it is the same photo. Apparently the perception of the eye is a different one than the digitalized...

An invasive but also useful Neophyt...

This is an invasive - it is really invasive because you can see it literally everywhere - neophyt from Canada, not unproblematic because it repells endemic species. On the other hand it is excellent food for bees, butterflies and other insects and it looks beautiful with its suncolours

"Solidago gigantea" (Asteraceae)

Riesengoldrute

More Yellow Suns...

Again and again I have to take pictures of these...

"Dahlia" (Asteraceae)
Dahlien

Yellow Suns...

Yellow suns in abundance...

"Dahlia" (Asteraceae)
Dahlien

Clover all over....

Last year we had a poppy field there - this year it is coverd with clover. Not as spectacular but nevertheless beautiful...

"Trifolium" (Faboideae) clover, Klee

Dahlia in elegant Pink...

This Dahlia is dressed up in a more subtle pink - even if not perfect it looks so elegant with the dark green setting in the background. And look at those colour hues - who would set up a composition such as this? Layout is everything...

"Dahlia" (Asteraceae) Dahlien

GTS - Green Thumb Sunday

Another garden dream for today's motto (and don't forget to click on this image - it's really big!!):

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Sunset in a Bloom

The weather is awful today, cold, rainy - simply yuck. So I dream of past late sunny days such as this one when I took these photos...

"Gladiolus" (Iridaceae)
glad, Gladiolen