Fringed Iris

This flower was actually photographed in the great outdoors! The black background on this Japanese Iris was unintentional (“putting the subject under the spotlight”); I was so focused (no pun intended) on capturing all

Closeup of a Christmas Cactus Flower

As its name suggests, Christmas Cactus blooms in the winter, when most other flowers do not–providing a festive and welcome burst of colour during the holiday season. Photographed on November 23.

Colour Me Purple

This gallery contains 4 photos. Light purple clematis? Prickly light purple poppy? The purple form of daisy fleabane? Purple snapdragons? Colour me mystified. Photographed on June 7 at the UBC Botanical Garden. UPDATE: Many thanks to myfoodandflowers for identifying these beauties.

Himalayan blue poppy (Meconopsis betonicifolia ‘Hensol Violet’)

Purple Clematis

Ice Plant (delosperma sutherlandii)

Chinese Ground Orchids (bletilla striata)

I See Irises

This photo contains 3 photos. Irises have been painted, become national flowers, put on flags, and even made into perfumes and medicines. All flowers here were photographed on June 7 at the UBC Botanical Garden. I have not seen yellow irises before, and these butter yellow ones with light green veining look amazing.

Your Royal Spikiness

This Easter Lily Cactus has never flowered–I’m told, in the 40 something years it’s been alive–until today. But one day, there was a six-inch, finger-like protrusion which quickly became a bud and then next day (August 28 to be exact), poof!

Orange You Beautiful!

This gallery contains 3 photos. Asiatic Tiger Hybrid Lilies … or so I’ve been told. These were photographed at home, beneath the California lilac tree, which explains the bits of bluish-purple flowers that have fallen on the lily petals.

Pretty Little Umbrellas

This gallery contains 2 photos. Just don’t eat or touch kalmia latifolia, aka mountain laurel; all parts are poisonous! They are pretty in pink, and resemble the underside (“ribs”) of umbrellas. Photographed at UBC Botanical Garden in early June.

Colours of Spring: Yellow Poppy

A closeup of the heart of a yellow poppy on the neighbour’s lawn in mid-May on a very sunny Saturday. Not taken with a macro lens, but close cropped.

Colours of Spring: Red Peony

A flowering red peony–one of four on the front lawn bed, and one of many more in the backyard, waiting to bud–taken on a sunny mid-May evening. I’ve seen peonies in other colours of white and pink, and some, not all, have a fragrance; others are completely scentless. All have nectar that ants find irresistible, but thankfully these peonies are free of formicidic predations.