Reds

Here are a couple of bright photos to start your week....

Gerbera daisies:

Non-stop begonias:

The begonia has since frozen, and I think I'll be dumping the gerberas rather than bring them into the house this year. They've been in that pot long enough. I'll start over with something new next spring. So these are the final pics of both flowers.

Now I need to take more photos... of... something.

The gerbera daisies

As I mentioned yesterday, the gerbera daisies are blooming nicely, too. Here they are:

And then there was poor Josie, wanting sooo badly to come out and help take photos!

A study in contrasts

Soooo.... it's April, right? April 19th, in fact? Someone please assure me that it is! Last year at this time, corn planting was well under way. Contrast #1: This morning it looks like this (6+" of new 'stuff'):

Contrast #2: I took this photo yesterday at my sewing room window... just because I thought it made a nice contrast. Several, in fact... the drippy, rainy-looking window, yet the snow in the background (that was the actual depth of the drift at the window... and it got bigger), and the silhouette of the summery flowers. What a mixture!

Last week I showed you how the poor birds were struggling to find food. Here are a couple more pics I took later of different kinds of birds also searching for food. A blackbird...

... and a flicker:

Contrast #3: A much BIGGER bird, also searching for food. It's a pretty unusual sight to see turkeys around here while there's still snow on the ground. There were five others with this big ol' tom.

Okay, enough of the "winter" scenery (I've more than had enough, believe me!). This next photo is definitely a contrast from that. But it's a contrast in itself, because if you remember, the first flower stalk on this amaryllis had a problem. This is the second stalk, and there's not a blemish on it! Hurray! Yep, Contrast #4:

Contrast #5: The above photo's colors are accurate. The photo below is an example of what can happen if you don't have the proper white balance setting on your camera. Not such great colors:

There you have it. Hope you enjoyed our little "study". ;)

Baby, it's COLD outside!

This was my sewing room window view around noonish yesterday. It had gotten to -10°F the night before, and it barely got above zero during the day. The window never did clear off, even with the sun shining on it.

Now, if I had my new camera figured out, these pictures would've been much nicer, I'm sure. But I thought the frost was interesting, anyway. This is to the left of the flowers:

To the right:

And at the bottom right:

The gerberas themselves made for a nice silhouette:

(Click on any pic to enlarge.)

There had been FIVE blooms, but I'd had to cut one off that morning, because it was finished. There are no yellow ones right now, but a number of buds are coming.

I did at least figure out how to take a basic picture with the new camera... and get it into the computer. Here is one of my first photo attempts:

Not bad for just experimenting, huh? She, of course, had to be 'right there' as I was figuring things out. At least she's pretty photogenic, even if she doesn't sit still very well. :)

They like it... and I like them

I've moved my gerbera daisies to the window of my sewing room for the winter. Even though it's a cool spot, it's a south window, so they get full sunshine. They're thriving so far.

During the summer outside, they seemed to take turns blooming. But now they're even both blooming at once.

The coolness makes the flowers last longer. Lovely!

Since I took these photos, the stems on the red ones have gotten taller, too, so they look almost as nice as the yellow ones. I hope I can keep them going through the winter!

Gerberas and gazanias

I brought my gerbera daisies in from outside and put them in my sewing room window. I think they should do well there, getting full sunlight. They seem to like it so far.

They had a little fungus problem during the summer, but I sprayed them, and they seem to have outgrown it pretty well now.

There's a red flowering one, too, but interestingly, they never seem to want to bloom at the same time... they take turns.

I also can't resist taking pics of my gazanias. They just keep getting fuller and prettier!

Such a bright spot in my now-nearly-done flower bed!

I'm not sure if they're annuals or perennials. I've seen them described as both online. Does anybody else have them and know what they are? Otherwise, I guess time will tell.

Stinkers of another sort

Nope, these weren't literally stink-ers. These were just little feathered "friends", who are no longer my friends! 

I'd been thinking recently that since my gerbera daisies had so many new buds coming, I'd soon have to take another picture to show you all the lovely new blooms. Well, some of the flowers aren't quite as pretty as they once were. Look:

I happened to glance out the window and saw a little bird chase another bird off my daisies and land on them itself. I watched it for a bit to see what it was doing there. And then I got mad and went out and chased it away! Look what it did!

It just hopped around picking petals off!

Now what was the point of that?! I didn't get a very good look, but I think it was a female goldfinch. Stupid bird.

One more

I have a lot more to post about (including some newly-found kittens), but so much to do and so little time, so I'll just show you the pic I took this morning of the new red gerbera daisy bloom that's just opened up.  So gorgeous! It's actually a deeper red than this, though. I'll have to try for a better photo later (and not do it in such a hurry).

Thanks again, N&S&C for the teacup! If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have these lovely flowers to enjoy!

(And if it weren't for a major booboo when sewing, I'd have a little more time, too. *sigh*)

Teacup update

You may recall (and be wondering about) the teacup I got as a Mother's Day gift. I finally decided to put gerbera daisies in it. I love those flowers! I've tried them before, but put them in the ground, and they didn't do very well for some reason. So I'm hoping they'll do better in a pot teacup!

Here's my little model with too much sun in her face, but wearing a very appropriate T-shirt, next to my now-filled teacup.

I'll get some better pics later, in better light, and after the flowers are looking nicer. The original blooms here are starting to fade, but more are on the way.

My plan is to put them in my sewing room window during the winter. They'll be a little cool, but they'll get full sun and hopefully keep blooming... or at least stay alive till next spring. And they won't get chewed on by a certain dear-to-my-heart cat!

I like that the teacup is pretty heavy, so the wind won't be taking it anywhere. Yet it's portable so I can move it from one side of the house to the other, to protect the flowers from the gale-force winds we get some days. And so I can bring it into the garage every night to protect it from digging raccoons or skunks or whatever!