|
Several weeks ago I posted a photo on Facebook of a Dunce Cap succulent in my garden that was producing a death bloom. (See the top photo) This is a tower of buds that indicates the main plant is going to die, but not before producing a lot of seeds. I had never seen this before and so was curious about what would happen next. Well, it has been so interesting to watch! First, the blooms extended up to the top of the tower and then, over time, proceeded to turn pink and then reddish. (See the last 2 photos.) Currently, all that is left are dried, brown stalks but, of course, all the pups that had been sent out from the old plant are doing well. So, now I know! It's such an interesting plant!   
0 Comments
Next to my workplace is a lovely park with a pond and a small court where the locals play tennis or do outdoor exercises. I rarely have the chance to visit it but I always look at it wistfully through the bus window as we pass by. Today, as I left to return home, the sun was golden and so I decided that today was the day! Surely I could find 20 minutes in my schedule to go and enjoy the park. And so I did. This was what was waiting for me... (If you look carefully, you can see someone walking along the path. Hope that gives you some sense of scale.) (I didn't have my camera with me so took a chance with my mini iPad. Pretty happy with the results.)  We've been enjoying temperatures that hovered around 20C• but the winter winds have finally arrived! Today the high is 13°C and it looks like more of the same ahead. Oh, that wind is strong and cold! And yet, I still have flowers blooming in my garden! YES! There are just a few purple toadlilies in bloom at the moment. Their season is coming to an end. However, a white and yellow one I bought this year is still blooming away. They are quite small compared to the others and, at first, I wasn't sure if I was going to have any luck. Looks like they really are "late bloomers"! (^.~)  More chrysanthemums from the exhibition in Hirakata. This particular variety is called a "spider mum" or "spider bloom chrysanthemum". Click here to see more images of spider mums. Such an amazing range of colours and shapes!   Well, so much for any changes! Ah, well. Life has seasons and my season for the past year or so has me pulled in many different directions, leaving me with little time to focus on photography or this website. Hopefully that will change come early spring. We shall see. In the meantime, I intend to start post photos here more regularly and less on Facebook. Today's photo is from the annual chrysanthemum exhibition in Hirakata, a small city not far from here. I had no interest in chrysanthemums at all until my first visit to this exhibition. I had no idea there were so many different kinds! Now I'm hooked! (^.~) For more about chrysanthemums in Japanese culture, click here. For more about the chrysanthemum exhibition in Hirakata in 2020, click here.  |
BLOG
I'm a photographer based in Osaka, Japan. I love to take photographs. I like to share.
Archives
December 2021
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed