California pictures

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Rainbow colors - aloe flowers

Sunday Post: Ongoing

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Today I’m participating in Jakesprinter’s Sunday Post photo challenge. This week’s theme is Ongoing.

It took me a little time to figure out what type of photos I could take to best represent this theme. At first, I thought photographing a sunrise or a sunset in progression would be perfect. Unfortunately we haven’t had the best weather recently, so this opportunity has not presented itself in time.

So I’m offering you my second pick for this ongoing theme: bees, hard at work on a variety of flowers. What I find most amazing about bees is how relentless they are at doing their job, even when you stand right next to them for a photo opportunity. Their work is ongoing and uninterrupted and I love watching them and capturing them on camera.

Remember you can click on each photo so you can see it in a larger size.

I took this photo at Balboa Park in San Diego earlier this week. These are pear blossoms from ornamental pear trees. The bees were super busy collecting nectar from the thousands of flowers available to them.

Sunday Post: Ongoing - bees on the pear blossoms at San Diego Balboa Park — Sunday Post: Ongoing – bees on the pear blossoms at San Diego Balboa Park

This next photo is also from Balboa Park. Apparently the bees weren’t just busy with the pear blossoms. They were also hard at work on these beautiful aloe flowers. You could see the ongoing flow of bees all over these flowers.

Sunday Post: Ongoing - bees on aloe flowers at Balboa Park in San Diego — Sunday Post: Ongoing – bees on aloe flowers at Balboa Park in San Diego

I took the next photo at the San Diego Botanic Garden a few weeks ago. Bees seemed to love this cactus flower. You can see more photos of these bees and cactus here.

Sunday Post: Ongoing - bees on cactus flowers at the San Diego Botanic Garden — Sunday Post: Ongoing – bees on cactus flowers at the San Diego Botanic Garden

This next photo is from Idyllwild, California. This bee’s ongoing nectar collection on this wild rose made for a great photo opportunity.

Sunday Post: Ongoing - bee on a wild rose in Idyllwild — Sunday Post: Ongoing – bee on a wild rose in Idyllwild

My last photo is not of a bee but a tiger swallowtail butterfly. Just like bees, butterflies go from one flower to the next to collect nectar. This is an ongoing job and gives me an opportunity to chase them around to try to get a good shot. This one ended up on my 2013 photo calendar.

Sunday Post: Ongoing - tiger swallowtail butterfly — Sunday Post: Ongoing – tiger swallowtail butterfly

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth

This week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge theme is earth. At first, I thought I’d skip this photo challenge theme because I couldn’t think of any photos to use. Then I read Cee’s description of earth and I figured, hey I could do that! Earth: Clay, Rock, Dust, Sand, Mud, Crystal, Powder, Shadow, Space, Darkness, Gravity, Bone, Silicon.

Below is my personal take of this theme. Remember you can click on any photo to view a larger image.

Southern California is covered with dirt and rocks, not much green overall. Cactus, succulents and short bushes like California Sage Brush are what grow best here.

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Earth - succulents growing in dirt and rocks — Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth – succulents growing in dirt and rocks

I enjoy painted rocks and these rocks from the San Diego Botanic Garden are a cute and subtle way to ask people to stay away.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth - painted rocks — Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth – painted rocks

Of course San Diego is not all dirt and rocks. It also features beautiful beaches, my favorite being Coronado Beach. It is always listed as one of the Top 10 beaches in the U.S. and it deserves it.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth - San Diego sandy beach — Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth – San Diego sandy beach

My last photo is from Idyllwild, California. I call it the face in the rock, and it’s pretty obvious why. This is as if Earth was watching us as we walk by.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth - the face in the rock — Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth – the face in the rock

February 6, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Landscape Photos, Ocean photos, Photography, Photos of San Diego, Plant Photos, Rock photosTags: California pictures, Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth, Coronado Beach, face in the rock, hidden face in rock, painted rocks, photography, photos, photos of rocks, San Diego, San Diego beach, San Diego Botanic Garden 9 Comments

Travel theme: see through wings of a bee

Busy bees on cactus flowers

A few days ago, I shared with you some photos of flowers I took recently. Today I’d like to share a few more photos I took that day, more specifically the ones with the busy bees on the yellow cactus flowers.

Remember you can click on each photo for a larger view. This is the photo I shared the other day.

I love how the sunlight reflects on the bee’s wings to show its intricate design on the photo below.

Bee collecting nectar on yellow cactus flowers

I wonder how much nectar the bees can collect from these tiny flowers, which are just the size of a bee. At least the bees were busy doing their job and I didn’t seem to disturb them with my camera.

I got lucky for this last shot and managed to get two bees in the frame, a different angle for each. Busy bees!

February 4, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Animal Photos, California Photos, Flower Photos, Photography, Photos of San Diego, Plant PhotosTags: bee on cactus, bee on flower, bee photos, bees on cactus flowers, bees on flowers, cactus with small yellow flowers, California pictures, photography, photos, photos of bees, photos of flowers, San Diego 5 Comments

Mariachi band topiary - San Diego Botanic Garden

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Unique – the topiary at the San Diego Botanic Garden

I was going to hold off showing you the amazing topiary I discovered at the San Diego Botanic Garden, but when I saw that the WordPress weekly photo challenge is “unique”, I figured these photos would be perfect. I had never seen anything like it anywhere else, so to me, these are very unique indeed.

First let me say I’ve seen lots of topiary and I always admire the art of being able to create shapes out of trees. In a way, what the San Diego Botanic Garden has done is a little different, as you’ll see below. The most amazing thing about these plant “sculptures” is that you could literally walk right past them and not notice them – they blend in with their surroundings very well. In fact, I walked past the first one, saw the second, then walked back to the first one to take pictures from the beginning. Most people didn’t notice most of them either until they saw me taking pictures of them.

I took these first few photos in the Mexican Garden area of the San Diego Botanic Garden. The light was very bright and most of the garden was in the shade, so it was tricky to take photos, with such contrast on most pictures. And I didn’t use a flash either. I need to plan half a day to go up there by myself and spend the time to take the right pictures, the right way, at the right time.

I invite you to click on some of these photos to see all the details of each topiary in a larger format.

This is the first topiary you see as you enter the Mexican Garden, that is if you don’t walk right by it as I did.

Unique topiary at the San Diego Botanic Garden

The second topiary is just as pretty. You can see each plant is exactly where it’s supposed to be.

Mexican lady topiary at the San Diego Botanic Garden

The next two topiary items are opposite of each other. It’s a couple dancing to the music of a mariachi band.

Dancing couple topiary at the San Diego Botanic Garden

Check out the musicians’ mustaches!

I’m not sure what this topiary is supposed to be. A gardener? You tell me what you think it is.

Gardener topiary - San Diego Botanic Garden — Gardener topiary – San Diego Botanic Garden

The next topiary is a man sitting down and looking at something in his hand.

This is what he’s looking at: a butterfly (made with a plant, of course). Nice!

These last few photos are from topiary art I found in the children’s garden of the San Diego Botanic Garden.

This one is technically not a topiary but rather a sculpture made out of planting pots… Pretty neat, huh?

The next one is a poor rhinoceros topiary that has a shedding problem. It looks quite naked in some areas.

The last one is a reading rabbit, perfect addition to a children’s garden.

Reading rabbit topiary - San Diego Botanic Garden — Reading rabbit topiary – San Diego Botanic Garden

I hope you enjoyed these photos of unique topiary. Thanks for stopping by!

February 1, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Photography, Photos of San Diego, Plant Photos, Tree PhotosTags: California pictures, photography, photos, potting plant sculptures, San Diego, San Diego Botanic Garden, San Diego botanic garden topiary, topiary, topiary animals, topiary art, topiary people, topiary shapes 27 Comments

Wordpress weekly photo challenge: the hue of you - lampranthus productus iceplant

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Flowers

I’m participating in the online adventure travel and photography magazine LetsBeWild.com’s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggers. This week’s Challenge is: Flowers.

Yeah! Flowers are one of my favorite subjects to photograph. I used quite a few photos of flowers in my 2013 12-month photo calendar, didn’t I?

Why do I love photographing flowers so much? First, they still mostly still, unlike my kids, so I can take my time and find the best angle to photograph them. Unless my kids are standing very impatiently by my side… Second, flowers come in tons of different colors. I love pink and purple (you’ll see one of my most favorite flowers below) but really, flowers look great in almost any color. Third, on top of their awesome colors, some flowers can even smell good. Ah, our world is such a wonderful place…

For this photo challenge on flowers, I’ll share a few photos I took during my most recent visit to the San Diego Botanic Garden. I have many more photos to share about this visit, including some of the most amazing topiary I’ve ever seen. So if you’d like to see them, make sure you subscribe to this blog (sign up in the left sidebar), or to my Facebook page.

It’s one thing to like flowers and take photos of them. It’s another to know the names of the flowers you photograph. Even when I visit the San Diego Botanic Garden, I manage to take photos of flowers that are not labeled, so several of the flowers below will remain nameless, unless you know their names and you’re kind enough to share in the Comments section.

Remember you can click on each photo for a larger view.

Here’s one of my most favorite flower in San Diego. It starts blooming in large patches in January, for about two months – a beautiful way to celebrate winter here. I believe this is called a Pink Aster. And it’s my favorite color too!

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Flowers - Pink asters — Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Flowers – Pink asters

What goes well with flowers? Bees! Here’s a bee on cactus flowers. Very cute, small, yellow flowers as you can see, smaller than a bee. Unfortunately I don’t know what type of cactus this is.

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Flowers - Bee on cactus flowers — Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Flowers – Bee on cactus flowers

Many types of cactus are blooming at this time of year, and aloe is no exception. The one in the front is called Red Aloe, the one in the back Gold Aloe. Don’t they look great?

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Flowers - Red Aloe and Gold Aloe — Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Flowers – Red Aloe and Gold Aloe

My last flower pick is some type of daisy. Unfortunately its petals are not in great shape but I really like the angle of this photo.

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Flowers - Yellow daisy — Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Flowers – Yellow daisy

Stay tuned for a couple more posts on my visit to the San Diego Botanic Garden. I promise you won’t be disappointed, especially with the topiary I found throughout the garden.