Studio39Designs

Beautiful Blooms at San Diego’s Botanic Garden

A couple of weeks ago, I visited some friends in San Diego.  One afternoon, we visited the Botanic Garden there, and there were so many varieties of beauty to see.  In this blog post, I’ll share some of the floral blooms.

Gold Star

This flower is named Gold Star – for obvious reasons, I think!  It’s originally from Mexico, but is flourishing at the botanic garden in San Diego.  I especially like the reddish detail on the inside of the petals.  It sort of draws you into the heart of the bloom.

Hard at Work

This flower is called a Globe Artichoke – I don’t know that I’ve ever seen an artichoke blooming, but now I can add that to my list of new experiences!  I can’t tell you how many shots I took of this bloom with bees hovering around it before I got this perfect shot!  Thank goodness for digital cameras – saves me a fortune on processing prints!  I love the detail that I was (finally!) able to capture on the bee.

Spotlight

This image struck me because of the lighting.  I love how the sun cast a wonderfully soft spotlight on this bloom.  It makes the flower seem like it’s glowing.  Altho it was early afternoon and the sun was at its strongest, I think its rays were diffused by some trees overhead.

Perfect Petals

It’s not often that I see a truly perfect bloom, with all the petals intact and so symmetrical.  The other thing that drew me to this bloom is the coloring.  The deep center, and then the variation of color on the petals.  It almost looks fake, like some florist did some magical coloring on it, but all the magic of this bloom was provided by Nature!

Rich Red

One of the best color combinations in nature is red and green.  Yes, I know – Christmas colors – but they also serve to set each other off so well in nature.  The red of this bloom is perfectly balanced with the green leaves of the plant.  When the lighter color stalks are added in, it’s a nice soft place to rest our eyes and a great offset for the rich colors on this plant and bloom.

Red Top Thistle

Generally speaking, thistles aren’t that pretty of a plant…..except when it’s blooming!  Then, the rich red top seems to be the perfect counterpoint for the spikey thorns and pale coloring on the rest of the plant.  Almost makes me want to reach out and touch it…..almost!

Stark Beauty

I have never seen this flower before.  I’m not certain if the color is red or purple, or something in between.  But between the dramatic markings on the petals, and the contrast between the pale and bold colors, this flower is quite stunningly beautiful.

Enjoy!