Echinacea - My Summer Friend

Whenever I'm out taking photos of flowers, I always tend to waunder

near the Echinacea plants first. They grow so freely, some so tall

and proud, and others seem to huddle together, and often if I'm

experimenting with DOF, these have been my favorites. I've none in

my garden at this home but in others I had quite a few. New varieties

have been introduced and some of my friends at the garden centres

revel in their beauty along with me. This summer has been so hot,

yet in this particular Garden Centre their display was just beautiful.

(thankyou for your visit, kind regards, Gail)

Hi Gail,  

Lovely.  We have a quite a patch of these purple cone flowers.  They are natives in Minnesota and reseed every year.

I like the diagonal angle.  The fact that these flowers are somewhat spent out makes the image more natural and real.  You may know the kids storyMadeleine and recall the line, "To the tigers in the zoo, Madeleine said Poo Poo." Personifying this image some, I can imagine the focused flowers strutting to the others all a flutter saying, see I'm in focus, not you.  Nonsense, eh?  Your capture of the lower left flower is amazing.  The blur is perfect  (in the rest of the image too) and the shadow of the cone points up to the cone in your image. You have quite the eye here, and are really good with a macro lens.  This is a true winner.  Great job, Gail.  Warmest (even in this heat) regards.   Larry

What a lovely critique. You are a fascinating person, and yes, I remember Madeline, my children, between books and the TV show. My grandchildren even have enjoyed her.  I see you have a 'love' of this flower, they are truly beautiful I think, and I often find myself as I go along and spot a real lovely one, sounds crazy,but I speak to them....'Oh my, you are a beauty!!'........nuts........must be the heat. This day when I took these, my back pack was soaked when I took it off.  But I could not stop, there were just so many.  I hope to get back up to this Garden Centre, tomorrow they are delivering some trees which I am sure my husband misjudged his 'strength' to prepare holes for.

We have CLAY...HARD, HARD, HARD, CLAY.......he hired whoever he could to help, ended up renting an 'auger'....just couldn't move the stuff. Eventually over the last 3 days he has 2 holes.....(but I dont' think they are wide enough.....but daren't not tell him......!! dreading the morning!!!) Will be glad to talk again to you, very enjoyable!!!

Kind regards, Gail

You creatively presented this excellent floral close up image Gail...

The pale green/purple color tones create a nice effect.....

Beautiful artistic result..... 7 ...rate...

PS: Many thanks my friend for your kind comment and rate under my last post.

So nice to hear your enthusiasum!! You are so full of life and encouragement!!! Truly your critique is welcome as is just hearing from you!!! I hope you are having a good summer.....lots of time off???? or still too busy???

Stay well, safe and most of all......keep that lust for life!!! Kind regards, Gail

So incredibly pretty!  I think this is my favorite summer flower!  I've planted a couple clumps around our yard and fingers-crossed they'll come back next year.  I love the crispness of the flowers.  Nicely done!

Yes you are a very creative and sensitive being of love!!! 

I like the composition with the stem slanting yet the flower remaining level . Ours are not in flower yet , I hope they turn out as interesting as this . Bill

Love it.  Nice work.  Learning.  Best Regards,

The best of today in my opinion, Gail ... Best regards

My name is Florin...

;)

Beautiful Gail !

The fading makes it artistic Gail! Nice frames this time!

Best regards!

PDE

Gail, you are always manage make some think extraordinary from ordinary shot! This one with no exception. 

Grigoriy.

Another beautiful artwork with creative color scheme. Best regards.

They are terribly pretty, cheerful and quite hardy. I need to pick up a few myself. Many thanks JeffS for your kind comments, most sincerely, Gail

Such a romantic you are jorge!! thankyou for the lovely flowers, that is a lovely shot itself!!!

Warm regards, Gail (Hugs for your kindness!!)

Yours almost appear to be a miniature version, at least with the length of stem...should be very beautiful when they do come out. Many thanks for your visit, Gail

So glad you enjoyed this composition, truly appreciate your opinion,

Warmest regards, Gail

Very good of you to let me know just what you thought of this composition, truly appreciate your kind words Ricardo.

Cheers for now, Gail

Thankyou for that lovely comment, warmest regards, Gail

glad you liked this one, warmest regards, Gail

many thanks for those beautiful words of critique, so appreciated,

Cheers for now, GAil

many thanks for those very kind words of encouragement Sumon, most sincerely, GAil