Sprinkle bedazzles morning flowers

These beauties woke up to a morning shower that added some shine to their faces.

Wet Hibiscus Flower

When the sprinkler finished, I spotted this opportunity for a photo of this hibiscus.

Sunflower-- the Dance of Spring

A sunflower will emerge, but it this moment, the orchestra is playing the Dance of Spring.

New flower looks blooming good

I don't have a clue what they are called but this is one of the new flowers that appeared last week on a bush in our front yard.  It's a real beauty.

Flowers advertise to passing bees

Summer flowers abound these days.  Just along the roadside, this bee attractor was advertising its remaining nectar and pollen.  It had several buds that had not yet bloomed, so this business was going to be open for a good while.

Bees buzz to new nectar fly-in

Bees are just like humans it seems.  When a new flower restaurant opens up, they all swarm there to see what the food is like. This is the magnolia at our house.

Azalea pollen going fast

The Azaleas in the front of our house exploded into spring's color party this past week and then in a few days, the ground was littered with glories gone.  As I shared my photo shot with a bee in a fury to find the dwindling supply of nectar, I wondered about the market scheme Azalea's use -- everybody in the shopping center (Azalea bush) advertise at one time, splashing up a color flag no bee could miss.

The pollen glide path

The petal of this iris looks like a glide path into the pollen port.  Spring has a job to do, and over the years has developed a lot of techniques to get it done.

Springing colors

Spring has uploaded its palette and painting life's springing.

Bits and bites in the bee world

From this summer, this photo shows there are some awful sloppy eaters out there in the bee family.   Actually, I guess they should more properly be called hunter-gatherers.

Flowers' powers can't stop showers

A flower, in the weather we have been having, is essentially a rain gauge.  This battered blossom had about 3/4 of an inch of rain in the bottom of the bulb. More rain tomorrow.... and on and on.  

I jest not when I ask whether we can weather this weather liquid sunshine.

Spring casualites

Spring splendor is spilling out.  Yet, even in the primal spring of life, there are casualties.  A brilliant azalea flower drops, preyed upon by Spring's heavy breath.

Spring dance of flowers

Spring is in full splendor.  Let the dance begin.

Sunflower guest

I wasn't the only one admiring my wife's sunflowers last summer.  This guy was a regular petal walker.

Flies in the backfield, two by tow

Just a supposition here, but, I'm thinking these flies are practicing for their big game this weekend against the reigning champion fleas.  It seems to me to involve too many in the backfield -- it must be some kind of flea-flicker play.  

The water-lily in the nearby pond gives them a feel for playing in a dome, I suspect.  Notice how big their front line is.  How would you like to be a flea and face those heavyweight hovers?

Challenging the sun

My wife, Linda, loved the volunteer sunflowers that cropped up in the back yard earlier in the summer.  Enough so, that she bought some seed and now is watching them daily.  About eight of them have opened wide to challenge the sun.  This is one of the next ones to take on his/her destiny. Its soon-to-be petals are pulling away from the center of the flower and unfurling.   Its a lot of fun to watch the slow burst of "sunergy."

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A peak inside a flower

A peak inside a flower. How was I to know there was a party going on?

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The road side nectar trade

 

Even the small flowers along the way are marketing their wares to any skyfaring nectar hunter.

Magnolias, the drama

 

Our magnolias are blooming.   Let the drama begin.... 

Magnolias, the drama