Storms?

Tags

avocet, Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, hibiscus, monarch butterfly, photography, postaday, tiger swallowtail

Hurricane Isaias is only glancing at Florida and is headed to the northeast. Storms with strong winds (70 mph or 112 kph) are predicted for our area. Yesterday, I went to the Edwin B. Forsythe refuge and saw groups of shorebirds huddled together on the water sleeping. Maybe they flew away from the storms and were resting there?

Shore birds resting.

There were many American Avocets that are usually rare in New Jersey.

American Avocets feeding in a marsh pool. In the background are reflections of marsh mallows that cover practically all the marsh banks.

Sand flies were also abundant and forced me to go home early. There hibiscuses and milkweed are in full bloom, and butterflies were flittering about.

Pink and white hibiscus.

Monarch butterfly.

Tiger Swallowtail.

Late Hibiscus

Tags

hibiscus, photography, postaday

In previous years, by now we would have frost, which would have killed all the summer flowers. This year is an exception, as yesterday we had temperatures in the 80 °F (27 °C). That is why, despite being ravaged by deer, our hibiscus flowers keep sending up beautiful and eye-catching blooms.

Hibiscus bud.

Older Hibiscus bud.

Partially open Hibiscus.

Hibiscus, the day after full bloom.

Hibiscus in full bloom.

Hibiscus, from the side.

Hibiscus, from the back.

Updates etc.

Tags

chrysalis, cleome, hibiscus, milkweed, monarch, photography, postaday, seedpod

Following is today’s shot of the Monarch chrysalis. There is the shape of a butterfly in there, but it has not come out yet. It has been 15 days, past the 10-14 days from formation to emergence.

Monarch Chrysalis.

The milkweed plants have gone to seed. Here’s a shot of one of the seedpods.

Seedpod of Asclepias Incarnata.

There are still some flowers, and the garden still has some spots of colors.

Cleome.

Hibiscus.

Hibiscus.

Some Late Summer Flowers

Tags

arrowhead, Bidens Trichosperma, colonial lake, hibiscus, photography, postaday, tickseed sunflower

I walked around Colonial Lake near home yesterday and took pictures of the following flowers. I am guessing the names of the first two, so please feel free to correct me if you happen to recognize them with their proper names.

Arrowhead flowers.

Bidens Trichosperma or Tickseed Sunflower.

Hibiscus dried seed pods.

Hibiscus (Rose Mallow)

Tags

hibiscus, photography, postaday, rose mallow

This year I planted from seeds several Hibiscus or Rose Mallow varieties. They came up easily and grew fine until one night the deer ate their tops off. I sprayed deer repellent on the remaining parts of the plants, stopping the nasty deer grazing. The plants are now doing well, sending gorgeous saucer size blooms one after the other.

Red Hibiscus.

White Hibiscus.

Pink and white Hibiscus.

Hibiscus pistil.

Red Hibiscus.

Finally, here are some of them together.

Hibiscus.

Tropical Flowers

Tags

hibiscus, hoi an, orchid, photography, postaday

For this first post of the new lunar year (Year of the Rooster), here are three colorful photos of some favorite flowers encountered during our visit to Hội An, Việt Nam last November. The last two photos appeared on this blog before. This time, I reprocessed them to enhance the beauty of the flowers even more.

Hibiscus along a street in Hội An.

White Orchids at a homestay in Hội An.

White and purple Orchids at homestay in Hội An.

Summer Flowers 2016

Tags

cleome, crape myrtle, dragonfly, hibiscus, photography, postaday

It was cooler today, though not by much. It got as hot as 90 F (32 C) then stopped there before backing down a notch. I took the opportunity to go to a local park in search of summer flowers to shoot. Here are a few that are representative of this time of the year.

Cleome, easy to grow, almost like a weed.

Hibiscus, a favorite that comes in many colors.

Hibiscus, this one was too well liked by the bugs.

Red Crape Myrtle.

Finally I managed to catch a dragonfly almost in flight, but not quite.

Dragonfly landing on a twig.