With a new home comes a new garden. I miss all of my gardens at my former home but I am finding new peace in my fun and English style container garden.

One thing that I do not miss about the old gardens is the level of upkeep. It was a lot of work to get the beds started at the beginning summer, maintaining over the summer months and finally breaking everything down late fate.

This new space is probably more my speed and I can have a different look every year. So far, I’m off to a great start in my  little lush oasis.

Pictured here in order: Calla Lily, Hibiscus. Petunia, Hen & Chicks, African Daisy, Icelandic Poppy. And all of these were taken with my iPhone 4…. Crazy right?

What’s not to love about tiger lilies? Especially bright pink ones…

Actually, the lilies in my garden are your standard range variety but sometimes when I’m processing images, my mind wonders, then I tend to chop & screw colors like Michael Watts does beats.

Life would be the bomb, if you could alter reality with the flick of a slider as you can in Lightroom or Photoshop. Until then…..

As I made my way home this evening, I decided to stop to pick some wild sunflowers. They are all over the place creating small seas of sunshine.

Once I got home, I took a few photos to unwind. As I wrapped up, I heard this rapid buzzing sound. When I looked up, I was greeted by a broad-billed hummingbird.

As soon as I lifted to my camera to get a snapshot, the bird was gone.

For shits and giggles, I used an iPad as a light table to illuminate this white henryi trumpet lily. I, then took a few photos of it with my iPhone using Camera+.

After I was done playing with Camera+, I realized that I should capture this with my “real” camera.

This was a fun & very geeky thing to do but the end result cannot be denied.

On a related note, I now know that the iPad has another practical use for me because I’m not really finding it good for much. Yeah, I’m still not feeling the iPad but I’m totally feeling this image.

Over the past week or so, my gardens have been in full swing boasting bold colors, fun shapes and patters with tons of fragrance. I have been enjoying every single moment of it.

While I have been enjoying it, I have been lazy with the camera and not too motivated to capture any macro shoots as I have done in previous years.

Monday, I happened to look over at a Texas rose and found the inspiration that I needed to get off my put to pick up my 105mm macro lens.

I actually got really busy photographing many things. It was like I woke up from some kinda of artist coma.

So yes, floral images are back, bitches!

While preparing my lunch a few weeks ago, I looked out of the window over the sink & noticed the robin’s nest from last year was occupied. Like a kid, I got all excited.

I don’t claim to be an ornithologist so I researched aKa Googled to see if robins reused there nests from previous years.  Evidently, they do not reuse the nests but may build over it.  I also found that the nests should be destroyed after the babies leave the nest to prevent bug infestations.

I actually thought about doing that last year but didn’t want to affect another being as I was not sure if anyone would return.

I guess the nest was healthy enough because Momma Robin looks relaxed out there.

I’m hoping that I will be able to see the babies once they hatch, but the growing foliage may prevent that.

The above photo was a little tricky to get so I had Olivia help me out a bit by holding back the branches while I almost broke my neck standing on a chair as I leaned over the deck. It was worth it though!

One of my favorite blooms to see & smell this time of year are those of the magnolia tree. Every time I see a magnolia tree, I get a little excited. The bright colors & intoxicating perfume just send me!

The flowers while beautiful and smile inducing also remind me of the song “Strange Fruit” written by Abel Meeropol & immortalized by Billie Holiday over 70 years ago.

“Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is the fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop”

I’ve been a Getty Images creative contributor with the Flickr Collection for a couple of years now and it has been a profitable enjoyable experience.

Many times since 2008 I have posted about my “need” to submit an application to become a regular creative Getty Images contributor.

I took the little quiz way back when and this or that stopped me from submitting the images for review.  Actually back then, I found the process intimidating. I felt that my images were OK, but I was afraid to have them scrutinized.  Then there was this whole thing of sending a disc of images to Dublin, Ireland to have the photos assessed blah blah blah.

Now the process is much more simple and I am over the fears that kept me from moving forward previously. With that said, I have 40 images up for review with releases, meta data & all that jazz.

Now, I’ll be waiting on pins & needles for the next 30 days to see if I was good enough….

My ultimate goal is to be freelance editorial for Getty. Let me see if I can clear this hurdle 1st.

I think I can!
I think I can!
I think I can!

Reminds me of a daffodil (my favorite spring flower) crossed with a gladiolus, but it’s a cattleya orchid (BLC Husky Boy Romeo if you want to get all specific.).  Like my beloved daffodil & gladiolus, this orchid only blooms one a year. Luckily, the flower lasts at least a month on this type of orchid.

Pulling from my days of working as a floral designer, cattleya orchids are very popular for corsages around this time of year. You see them everywhere for sale; especially around Mother’s Day.

OK, flower nerd moment over. For now…

Like the nerd that I am, I hung out at the Michigan Orchid Society Show to see some new beauties and hopefully pick up one or two.

The exhibits were huge and very diverse, much larger than the Ann Arbor Orchid Festival.

What I found not so great about the Michigan Orchid Society Show was the variety of items that the vendors had available for sale.  I was somewhat disappointed.  The Ann Arbor show vendors really had some great and unique items.

I guess the cool thing is that I didn’t spend much. Actually, I spent like 20 bucks on a new cattleya orchid named “Husky Boy.” I had to have it because of the beautiful yellow flowers and an even better name.

Pictured above is a psychopsis names “Kalihi.” It was beautiful, but I was not prepared to drop all the cash that the seller wanted.

To see a few more of my orchid images, check here.

Over the weekend, I hung out at the Ann Arbor Orchid Festival to totally submerge myself into my new orchid obsession.

This event was on my calendar for months & I was totally ready to be wowed & boy was I. I’m not sure how many people attended, but that place remained packed during the hours that I spent both days.

Going to various stores, you may see 3-4 varieties of orchids and usually the same ones and or colors every time. This orchid festival had hundreds of varieties of orchids. It was almost overwhelming! And for the ones that were on sale, they were moving like hotcakes. Expensive hotcakes.

The orchids ranged in price from 5 to 150 bucks. The one orchid that went for $150 was a “Winston Churchill Paphiopedilum,” which happens to be the oldest & most successful hybrid orchid ever going back to 1951. The grower that sold this orchid gave me quite an education & also noted that the “Winston Churchill Paphiopedilum” has sold for as much as $1500 in recent years. Shocking right! All that cash for a plan that has one flower bloom per year.

Randomly, I also leaned that there are 110,000 known hybrid orchids, 25,000 known natural species, & that the Great Lakes region has 51 native orchid species which happened to be paphiopedilums (also known as lady slippers). Pretty cool to know that orchids can thrive in agricultural zones 4 & 5.

I resisted the urge to splurge and walked away with only 3 new babies, a new paphiopedilum (Redvale Red Rooster x Valwin’ Sun Spot), phalaenopsis (Sin Yuan Golden Beauty “Fairy Tale”) & a maxilaria (Maxillaria Tenuifolia x Maxillaria Sanguinea), which smells like coconut when in bloom.

Of the many orchid species that I had the chance to view and research, I have to say that paphiopedilums are hands down my favorite. Sure, they only bloom once a year & typically you only get a single bloom but they are big and texturally dramatic. And we all know that I love drama!

I will not say how much I spent on the three plants, but I do know that I will not be going out for lunch for at least 3 weeks!

To see a few more images, check here.

Orchid geek out!

Spring is finally here & it’s time for bees and things and flowers.

Cannot wait to see my tulips, daffodils & hyacinths!