photo of bees

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I love bottle brush tree flowers. They feature a beautiful red hue and it’s easy to figure out how they got their name. I recently found out bottle brush trees are a native plant of Australia. This may explain why we have so many of them in San Diego, as the weather is similar here as in many parts of Australia.

I chose bottle brush tree flowers for the month of April in my 2013 photo calendar and I had a few pictures to choose from. My final pick was actually not my first choice. The photo below was. I love the angle of the flower, the deep green leaves on the left and the other red brushes in the background. And then, surprise surprise, there are two bees on this bottle brush tree flower: one at the bottom of it and one flying right in front of it. The only thing that stopped me from choosing this photo as my final selection was that the flying bee was out of focus. But hey, it wasn’t even supposed to be on the picture in the first place!

What do you think? Should I consider it for my 2014 photo calendar? Or does the blurry bee bother you? Make sure you click on the image for a larger view, especially if you want to see the bees better.

View all of the pictures I selected for my 2013 photo calendar.

My 2013 12-month photo calendar is now available for sale on my Zazzle online store. Thank you for your support!

This past June, I took my kids on vacation to the small mountain town of Idyllwild in Southern California. 90% of the forests in San Diego County have burned down over the past 10 years so there’s not much greenery to enjoy, something I terribly miss living here. Idyllwild is just two hours away and very green, full of large pine trees, manzanita trees and other local species.

A small creek runs through the town. It must be a pretty good size in the winter and spring but by the time summer comes, the water barely runs. Still, Strawberry Creek is a beautiful place, mostly in the shade, and you can walk the trail right by its side.

Strawberry Creek owns its name to the many, many wild strawberries that grow throughout the town, but it could just as well be named Wild Rose Creek since the area features many wild roses too. And bees love them. They love them so much they don’t mind you taking pictures of them at all. I ended up with several good photos of bees on wild roses, but I picked the one below for my 2013 photo calendar. Of course, I used it for June since it happens to be the time of the year I took this picture. Let me know what you think of it.