Love, Joy and Peas: sunflower

Showing posts with label sunflower. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Sunflowers and Bees at McKee Beshers Wildlife Management Area

Happy wild Wednesday! I hope you enjoy my bee and sunflower photos from McKee Beshers Wildlife Management Area. Today was my second ever visit but I hope to return again.

I thought this bee in flight over the sunflower field was neat.

Some people bring ladders, chairs and stools but I just did the best I could with what God gave me.

It really is amazing to see so many sunflowers with bees buzzing about happily.

I feel blessed to have been able to enjoy such a beautiful experience. God is good!

Thank you for visiting! May God bless and keep you!

Related posts:
Battling bees and sunflowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/08/bees-fighting-over-sunflower-photo.html
Teddy bear sunflower: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/teddy-bear-sunflower-black-eyed-susan.html
Sunflower and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/sunflower-day-lilies-vinca-and-mystery.html

Friday, July 8, 2016

Red Coreopsis, Purple Coneflowers, Yellow Day Lilies, Sunflowers and Fairy Marigolds

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" The red coreopsis is still blooming heavily and is often visited by bees.

The echinacea, also known as purple coneflower, is also blooming heavily. This old fashioned purple coneflower not only survived but made many volunteer babies which have now formed a mini echinacea field. I'm thrilled because Bermuda grass invaded that bed and echinacea is one of the few things strong enough to thrive with it tangled in its roots.

Last week I featured our double orange day lily but this week the bright yellow is the day lily star. My favorite thing about it is that it was a gift from some kind neighbors (they wish to remain anonymous) but I love the true yellow color too.

Last year we planted a few sunflowers but this year we didn't plant any. It was really exciting to see this volunteer sunflower develop from one of last year's mother plants. It's not in a convenient place (it's crammed in between a rose bush and some very robust oregano) but I'm letting nature take its course and just enjoying it.

Another volunteer is this teeny tiny marigold. I think of it as my fairy marigold, although I don't remember its actual name. The flowers are about the size of a dime and the foliage is feathery.

For me, one of the greatest delights in life is gardening. I love the happy surprises, watching things grow (especially from seed) and seeing nature take its course during the year. God certainly was creative and generous when He came up with so many amazing plants for our world.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless and keep you!

Related posts:
Butterflies on coneflowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/07/butterflies-and-bees-love-purple.html
Bees on pretty flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/08/busy-bees-on-beautiful-blooms-zinnia.html
Dew drops on flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/08/dew-drops-bees-and-pretty-flowers.html

Friday, June 26, 2015

Sunflower, Day Lilies, Vinca and Mystery Flowers

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" Above is our first sunflower of the year. Bees love sunflowers and I love them both.

Our double bloom orange day lilies started opening this week too.

As did my favorite bicolor day lilies, the El Dorado style. We originally had six of these pretty plants but are down to three (I think this was mostly because of the backhoe situation).

The vincas have been blooming since we planted them but this is the first decent photo.

And these tiny but pretty yellow flowers started blooming this week too. My dear friend Missy gave me the original plants and they spread a bit wider each year. Neither of us knows what the plant is but I think Missy said it's an herb of some kind. If you know what it is, please share.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you this summer and always!

Which is your favorite flower/photo from this week's post? What is blooming in your area?

Related posts:
Black eyed susans, sunflowers and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/teddy-bear-sunflower-black-eyed-susan.html
Sunflowers and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/sunflowers-dahlias-marigolds-verbena.html
Bees and sunflowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/08/bees-fighting-over-sunflower-photo.html

Friday, August 8, 2014

Sunflower, Dahlia, Marigold, Gladiola and Bachelor Button Flowers From My Garden

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" Sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers to see. They're just so cheerful. I use them as a decor feature inside too.

As much as I love sunflowers, I think dahlias are my favorite flowers to grow. You get so many, they keep blooming strongly through frost, and you get some surprises along the way. This is the only dahlia bloom we've had this year with such a flame like center, white tips and pale yellow base petals. Definitely a nice surprise.

The marigolds are still going strong and the bees appreciate them.

I think this is my first gladiola bloom of all time and now we have two plants in bloom. I'm not sure if the third bulb I planted in spring is going to bloom but I hope it does.

The poor bachelor button plants... I started them from seed last year. About seven made it through the hot summer. Then we had a (diseased) giant tree cut down this spring and parts of it landed on them. I thought they were all dead but three managed to spring back to life... only to be eaten all the way to the ground by a mystery animal just when they were in bud (before they bloomed). Finally, this week two of the plants had flowers! I feel like it's a miracle.

Our obedient plants started blooming after I took the photos for this week's post so hopefully next week I'll have a photo of one for you with a lovely butterfly on it.

I hope you enjoyed this week's mini photo tour of my Maryland garden! May God bless you!

Do you have any miracle plants or flowers? I'd love to hear the story behind them!

Related posts:
Teddy bear sunflower: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/teddy-bear-sunflower-black-eyed-susan.html
Sunflower garden room: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/06/fun-ideas-from-childrens-garden-at-us.html
Dramatic sunflower: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/sunflowers-dahlias-marigolds-verbena.html
Bees on flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/08/busy-bees-on-beautiful-blooms-zinnia.html

Friday, July 25, 2014

Teddy Bear Sunflower, Black-Eyed Susan, Zinnia, Vinca and Bicolor Day Lily Photos

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland Garden." I especially love my garden at this time of year. God has blessed me with so many flowers it's hard to choose just five for this weekly feature. I hope you enjoy my selections. The cheery black-eyed Susans are at their peak (and they're also the Maryland state flower).

This orange zinnia flower is over four inches in diameter.

The tiny but gorgeously fluffy teddy bear sunflower blooms are adorable.

The day lilies are still going strong. We have early, mid and late season bloomers so it keeps the day lily area full of flowers for a nice part of the summer.

I love the raindrops on this red vinca. It seems to be doing fine in its hanging basket but if it starts to suffer and we have a cool day I'll probably plant it in the ground.

Thank you for joining me on this week's photo tour of my Maryland garden! May God bless, keep and encourage you!

Related posts:
Yellow finch feeds on black-eyed Susans: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/08/yellow-finch-feeding-on-black-eyed.html
2013 black-eyed Susans: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-butterfly-bee-and-bunch-of-beautiful.html
Raindrops on pretty flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/08/raindrops-on-pretty-flowers-for-floral.html
Flowers and insects: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/07/pretty-flowers-wild-insects-this-week.html

Friday, July 18, 2014

Sunflowers, Dahlias, Marigolds, Verbena: This Week in My Maryland Garden

Happy floral Friday! This week my Maryland garden produced its first sunflower. We now have four sunflower plants blooming and some more just sprouting (the package said it would be about 60 days from sowing to blooming so we should still be able to enjoy them before frost appears).

The dahlias are flower powerhouses. I love the big flowers on the "dinner plate dahlia" plants and the abundant ones on the minis. The bees do too.

Last week featured several marigold photos but I hope you'll still enjoy this one.

This is the first of my white and yellow bicolor dahlias. I like the unusual curly petals.

The verbena is another strong bloomer. These plants have been blooming since early spring. We lost a couple in the window boxes but the ones in the ground seem happy.

I hope you enjoyed this week's mini photo tour of my Maryland garden! May the God who created all these beautiful flowers bless you abundantly!

Which is your favorite flower photo from this post? What flowers make you think of summer?

Related posts:
Spring dahlias: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/05/dahlias-ranunculus-azaleas-lilacs-and.html
Dahlia macros: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/10/delightful-dahlia-close-up-photos.html
Cat smells dahlia: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/08/cat-enjoys-my-first-dinner-plate-dahlia.html
Yellow dahlia and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/06/dahlias-day-lilies-daisies-and-more.html

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Bees Fighting Over Sunflower Photo Series With Neat Motion Picture

Today at the U.S. National Arboretum I enjoyed watching these bees fight over this sunflower. What I didn't know when I loaded these photos is that Google's magic will make a motion picture out of such a series. It's the last photo and I hope the motion shows for you as it did for me. I was really tickled by this newly discovered feature.

Above you can see a bee coming in to attack the one already on the sunflower.

Above you can see a bee planning a sneak attack from the top left quadrant of the sunflower.

Another bee on bee dive bomb attack in the making.

In this final regular photo, the bees are sharing the sunflower (I love a happy ending). This last photo I adjusted so you could see the two bees (barely) in the bottom left quadrant of the middle part of the sunflower. The first four were untouched.

And, lastly, here's the magic motion picture. Isn't that neat?

I thank God for the many blessings in my life, which include my wonderful husband, the abilities He's blessed me with (walking, seeing, photography and so much more!), beautiful flowers, and your kind support. May God bless you and keep you!