Flower Power - Community Thread

[Douglas Sherman]

Emily Dickinson loved botany and so many of her poems were about flowers. One of her most famous poems was about the Fringed Gentian, a hauntingly beautiful blue/purplish blue flower that blooms late in the fall in prairies.

God made a little Gentian —
It tried — to be a Rose —
And failed — and all the Summer laughed —
But just before the Snows

There rose a Purple Creature —
That ravished all the Hill —
And Summer hid her Forehead —
And Mockery — was still —

The Frosts were her condition —
The Tyrian would not come
Until the North — invoke it —
Creator — Shall I — bloom?

Here are a couple of Fringed Gentian images from MIdwest prairies.


Fringed Gentian with Goldenrod. Notice the fringes on the edges of the petals. These prevent ants from stealing the pollen because they fall off when the fringes can't support them. The main pollinators are bumble bees which can spread the pollen far and wide.

Frost on a Fringed Gentian is testimony to their late fall blooming season. These flowers close at night so that only certain bumble bees can pollinate them.

Add a favorite flower image(s) here and why you like that particular flower.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Lovely images Doug and why you like them. Hard for me to choose one particular flower, For now I'll go with a Lily. I like shooting them real close and the details when you peak inside are captivating.

 

[JimFox]

Emily Dickinson loved botany and so many of her poems were about flowers. One of her most famous poems was about the Fringed Gentian, a hauntingly beautiful blue/purplish blue flower that blooms late in the fall in prairies.

God made a little Gentian —
It tried — to be a Rose —
And failed — and all the Summer laughed —
But just before the Snows

There rose a Purple Creature —
That ravished all the Hill —
And Summer hid her Forehead —
And Mockery — was still —

The Frosts were her condition —
The Tyrian would not come
Until the North — invoke it —
Creator — Shall I — bloom?

Here are a couple of Fringed Gentian images from MIdwest prairies.


Fringed Gentian with Goldenrod. Notice the fringes on the edges of the petals. These prevent ants from stealing the pollen because they fall off when the fringes can't support them. The main pollinators are bumble bees which can spread the pollen far and wide.
View attachment 46025


Frost on a Fringed Gentian is testimony to their late fall blooming season. These flowers close at night so that only certain bumble bees can pollinate them.
View attachment 46027

Add a favorite flower image(s) here and why you like that particular flower.

Wow Doug!

It’s great that not only do we get to see beautiful flowers, we also get to learn some things too. Very interesting!

 

[AlanLichty]

A shot from the campground I was staying this past week - a blooming camelia:

 

[MonikaC]

Emily Dickinson loved botany and so many of her poems were about flowers. One of her most famous poems was about the Fringed Gentian, a hauntingly beautiful blue/purplish blue flower that blooms late in the fall in prairies.

God made a little Gentian —
It tried — to be a Rose —
And failed — and all the Summer laughed —
But just before the Snows

There rose a Purple Creature —
That ravished all the Hill —
And Summer hid her Forehead —
And Mockery — was still —

The Frosts were her condition —
The Tyrian would not come
Until the North — invoke it —
Creator — Shall I — bloom?

Here are a couple of Fringed Gentian images from MIdwest prairies.


Fringed Gentian with Goldenrod. Notice the fringes on the edges of the petals. These prevent ants from stealing the pollen because they fall off when the fringes can't support them. The main pollinators are bumble bees which can spread the pollen far and wide.
View attachment 46025


Frost on a Fringed Gentian is testimony to their late fall blooming season. These flowers close at night so that only certain bumble bees can pollinate them.
View attachment 46027

Add a favorite flower image(s) here and why you like that particular flower.

Love the frosted gentian!

 

[Douglas Sherman]

Lovely images Doug and why you like them. Hard for me to choose one particular flower, For now I'll go with a Lily. I like shooting them real close and the details when you peak inside are captivating.

View attachment 46028

View attachment 46029

These are absolutely gorgeous, Jameel.

A shot from the campground I was staying this past week - a blooming camelia:

View attachment 46030

Very nice, Alan.

 

[Douglas Sherman]

Love the frosted gentian!

Thanks so much, Monika.

 

[MonikaC]

I took this literally to be about gentians (shows how much imagination I have!)
The most common one here in Colorado's Front Range is Gentiana Parryi, though there are Arctic Gentians (this one was on the Alpine Loop on the way up Handies Peak) and Fringed & Star.

Alpine Gentians

Fringed

Parryi

Star

 

[Ben Egbert]

What a great collection of flowers, Douglas, especially like your spread. I am going to show a flower I found in my slide collection. I scanned it, and these old slides are not up to current standards.

Iris

 

[dan swiger]

Calle Lillies, Big Sur coast.
I like them because they are elegant

 

[JimFox]

From the Central Coast of California in Cambria yesterday.

 

[Ken Rennie]

Bluebells with my unpaid model. Ken