Garden Photo of the Day

Garden Photography: Beauty Is in the Details

Looking closely at floral beauty

Today’s photos are from Dave Barkley in South Riding, Virginia, who sent in these intimate portraits of beautiful flowers.

yellow pansyA yellow pansy laden with dew

rose of sharonAnother close-up of a dew-laden flower, this one a double rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus, Zones 5–8). Double flowers develop when some of the anthers get converted into extra petals. Sometimes these in-between, smaller extra petals are called “petaloids.” The extra petals can often make an individual flower last longer and amplify any scent the flower has.

morning glorySometimes fading flowers can be just as beautiful as fresh ones if you stop to look at them closely. These morning glory (Ipomoea sp., annual) flowers collapse in on themselves after their brief morning bloom time.

yellow semi-double roseIn the world of roses, the wild species have only five petals. Fully double forms have many extra petals, filling the flower, while semi-double varieties, like this glowing yellow one, have only a few extra petals. They’re all beautiful!

yellow and cream roseThe color of roses often varies a lot. Yellows often fade to cream or white as a flower ages, and the intensity of color often changes with temperature and the amount of sun they are exposed to. Zooming in and observing these changes is one of the great joys of gardening.

male flower of a bitter gourdBeautiful flowers are often also found in the vegetable garden, as here with a male flower of a bitter gourd (aka East Indian cucumber). This vegetable, popular in South and Southeast Asia, has a strong, bitter flavor and, like many members of the cucumber family, quite beautiful flowers.

 

Have a garden you’d like to share?

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

If you want to send photos in separate emails to the GPOD email box that is just fine.

Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!

You don’t have to be a professional garden photographer – check out our garden photography tips!

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Comments

  1. garden1953 10/14/2020

    Beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing.

  2. Carolyn3134 10/14/2020

    Outstanding photography. Thanks for showing us the details!

  3. User avater
    cynthia2020 10/14/2020

    Dave - terrific photographic compositions! I also enjoyed identifying each flower before looking at the captions. :-D

  4. alicefleurkens 10/14/2020

    Love the morning glories. Going to have to look a bit closer at the rosés now. Beautiful pictures. Alice

  5. User avater
    simplesue 10/14/2020

    Really fine photography! So refreshing to wake up to dew covered blooms! Those morning glories- wow, so much detail it was like looking at them with a magnifying glass!

  6. Rebeccazone7 10/14/2020

    This was a true reminder to stop and look closer.

  7. User avater
    bdowen 10/14/2020

    Beautiful photography! Nice reminder to look at our gardens from the bees' viewpoint. Thank you for sharing!

  8. User avater
    meander_michaele 10/14/2020

    Love these delectable close-ups, Dave. I feel like I am right there in your garden leaning down for my own personal perusals...especially of the dew laden beauties. It's hard not to feel refreshed and invigorated by taking in such beauty.

  9. btucker9675 10/14/2020

    Stunning - thank you for sharing these!

  10. carolineyoungwilliams 10/14/2020

    SPECTACULAR, Dave. I love the effect that dew have on flowers that are being photographed. Thank you for sharing your beautiful artwork.

  11. cheryl_c 10/14/2020

    Breathtaking pictures. Thank you for reminding us to enjoy the 'close-ups' of our gardens.

  12. User avater
    vanhatalosuomi 10/15/2020

    Thank you for sharing. Great photos.

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