Wildflowers

Datura Bloom

At the Lavender Festival, out in the lavender fields there was an occasional Datura plant. This was a flower on one of the plants. I liked the nice purple tinge on the edges of the petals. Also known as Thorn Apple and Jimson Weed. Either way, it is poisonous.

Jimson Weed in Bloom

It's that time of year for the Jimson Weed to be in flower, and I found these purple-tinged blooms at Whitewater Canyon Preserve yesterday. So often they are pure white--very pretty--but the purple ones are my favorite.

Jimson Weed Flower

One of many beautiful flowers of Jimson Weed in Whitewater Canyon Preserve.

California Poppies

The California State Flower, the CA Poppy, is a beautiful golden orange. This shows the buds, flowers and seedpods. Judith Sparhawk

Texas Bluebonnets ~ Springtime in Texas means fields of beautiful bluebonnets.

Bluebonnets in Texas

No wonder they talk about this flower as being such a favorite in Texas. I have seen many species of lupine in many places, but these are the brightest blue ever!

Free At Last! ~ My new milkweed plant has many seed pods on it. This is the first one to open up, to let out its seeds. They began to lift and fly in the afternoon breeze. I had to grab my camera to capture them before they could fly away.

Pyramid of Seeds ~ Another shot of the milkweed seeds just out of one of the small pods on the plant I just got. Still waiting for a Monarch to happen by and choose it for a home for it's babies!

Me & My Shadow ~ All these seeds came out of a small pod milkweed plant. I liked the way the one on the right showed its shadow. They glistened beautifully in the sunlight.

Milkweed Seeds

~ This is a close-up of some of the milkweed seeds from the plant in my patio. I loved the shine from the sunlight.

Puff Ball ~ This seed head and bud of the Yellow Salsify was photographed at Cherry Creek State Park in Colorado. I loved the pattern and shine in the seeds of this puff ball, which was several inches across.

Dogwood in the Sky

Dogwood in the Sky ~ The Pacific Dogwood trees are blooming in the mountains now, with many blossoms covering the boughs. They are a lovely sight.

Pacific Dogwood

~ The Pacific Dogwood trees are blooming in the mountains now, with many blossoms covering the boughs. They are a lovely sight.

Poppies Two ~ More California Poppies from nearby the Antelope Valley poppy preserve.

Poppies Four ~ The California Poppies were lovely among the Goldfields and other wildflowers. This type of poppy tends to have smaller blooms and grow low to the ground. Close-ups like this require hands-and-knees shooting.

California Poppies

Field of Gold ~ I went to the Antelope Valley to visit the California Poppy Preserve. Despite our rainy winter, it wasn't one of the best poppy flowering years. Still, I found some wonderful pockets of blooming poppies. The little yellow flowers around the poppies are called Goldfields, and can blanket whole hillsides in yellow.

White Starburst ~ I'm not sure what this plant is, but I liked the look of these star-like clusters. This is actually the seed cluster, which disperses the seeds similarly to a thistle seed head. I photographed both the full cluster and a partial one. This was out at the poppy preserve, which is considered high desert, in the Antelope Valley, California.

California Gold ~ It was very windy out at the poppy preserve (which is common), so shots of poppies were taken quickly whenever the wind let up for a second or two.

The Burst Starburst ~ This photo shows the partial seed clusters of the as yet unidentified plant.

Blue Columbine

Columbine Beauty ~ This blue columbine bloom was the largest I had ever seen and was very pretty. I fell in love with the blue version of this plant when I lived in Colorado, where it grows in the wild, and is the state flower.

Lotsa Baby Blues ~ One section of Descanso Gardens is called the California Garden, and is planted with only native plants of this state. One of the wildflower sections had these beautiful Baby Blue Eyes. They were one of my favorite wildflowers as a child, and I enjoyed seeing them there.

Desert Jewel

~ This beautiful flower was the only bloom on a Thorn Apple or Jimson Weed plant at Keys Ranch in Joshua Tree National Park. It was the largest flower of this type I''seen--about 8 inches across. I loved the purple edges on the petals.

Wild Fuchsias

These delicate fuchsias were growing in the wild in northern California. I am assuming they are a wildflower there, though I may be wrong and they are several generations away from a cultivated plant.