Still Life – Page 25 – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

The Waterlily Genus Nymphaea

Congrats to all fathers and grandfathers, Happy Fathers Day

June 19, 2022June 12, 2022 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

The McKee informative placard divides the Genus Nymphaea into “Hardy” and “Tropical” waterlilies. “Hardy” being plants native to temperate climates, such as New York State. I do not have photos of these from McKee. Nor are there examples of Lotus.

**The idiosyncratic categories of McKee Gardens**

What I have is an abundance of the “tropical” varieties.

“The family Nymphaeaceae, of which the genus Nymphaea is a part, is thought to be the most basic of all the Angiosperms. A minute flower of the Nymphaea type was found in early Cretaceous deposits in Portugal, dating early waterlilies to at least 115-125 million years ago.“

*Bright sunlight washed out the flower, not so for the reflected image*

Here is a brightly colored “tropical” flower well above the water surface on an erect stem emerging from the water.

“Angiosperm,” the word referring to all flowering plants, is composed to two greek words angio-. meaning enclosed, and -sperm, meaning seed. “DNA studies indicate the Nymphaeaceae separated from the rest of the angiosperm family tree…..before the separation of the monocots and dicots.” – see reference.

Click me for wonderful sculpture at McKee Gardens

Reference: The Botanical Garden, Volume II, by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, Firefly Books, pp 382-383

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

First Bloom

“Princess of the Night” one evening

June 17, 2022June 17, 2022 MichaelStephenWills13 Comments

Our Night Blooming Cereus spent this winter on a stand on an eastern facing window. The day after Memorial Day it is back to the poolside rain barrel where, looking up from swimming laps June 12th, I spied the first bloom of the season.

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I am sure it opened during the day.

I am grateful for the unexpected pleasure.

Photographs are from the Apple IPhone 7, flash enabled.

Click me for another Cereus Post.

Weigela Bountiful

an exceptional bloom for our backyard wonder

June 14, 2022June 12, 2022 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

Click me to find background information on our Weigela bush.

2022 is a breakout year for the Weigela bushes of our yard, each has bloomed literally for a month. The flowers are still fresh today.

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These photographs were taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV dslr and the Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM lens with a “BeFree” Manfrotto tripod with ball head. f-stop was tamped down to the maximum, f16 for this lens. Exposures were taken in the evening with the sunlight filtered through our hemlock trees.

Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Betty Boop

These photos feature Floribunda and double cluster roses captured on a June evening. Various stages of bloom were photographed.

June 12, 2022June 10, 2024 MichaelStephenWills6 Comments

These Floribunda, semi-double petaled blooms were captured along with the yellow double cluster roses of the previous post, in the evening shade of a late spring day, June 23rd.

Above is a mix of just opened (the dark red, center bottom), fully opened new (just to right of center) and aging (all the rest).

Throughout this set I used the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV dslr with the EF 50 mm f/1.2L USM stabilized with a Manfrotto 468MG tripod with Hydrostatic Ball Head.

Floribundas, sometimes called cluster flowered roses, originated with Poulsen’s nursery in Denmark from crossed with Hybrid Teas with Polyantha Roses, themselves crosses between dwarf Chinas and a dwarf, repeat-flowering form of R. multiflora. Texas-based rose hybridizer Tom Carruth released Betty Boop in 1999, naming it after a cartoon character from the 1930’s. Pam found this plant around 2008 offered by the K-mart store in Cortland. She is amazed by the beauty of the Betty Boops.

Another beloved characteristic is the longevity of the blooms. Pam collected and arranged this vase last week, for Father’s Day. I provided the setting. In this controlled environment the low ISO provides better colors and contrast with minimal digital noise.

References

“The Botanical Garden” Vol 1, Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix, Firefly Books, Buffalo, N.Y. 2002 pp 228 – 233.

Wikipedia search for “Betty Boop rose” and ” Tom Carruth rose.”

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

“Los Mariachis” and two metal owls

A selection of photographs from our January 2019 visit to McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida

June 10, 2022May 27, 2022 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

My final Seward Johnson sculpture posting opens with a piece of uncertain authorship, I just know it was not installed for our second 2020 visit just before COVID-19 hit.

Here we have a dynamic group, I can almost hear the music.

Click me for a dinosaur at McKee Gardens, Amargasaurus, a “small” sauropod.,

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

“Nice to See You”, “Stormy Weather” and “Cat Nap”

A selection of photographs from our January 2019 visit to McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida

June 8, 2022May 27, 2022 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

This set starts off with a nice guy at work. He was positioned on the large cafe windows. We met the grandchildren around lunch time, so we caught up around the food.

Click me for a dinosaur at McKee Gardens, “Herrerosaurus, one of the firs t “

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Group Participation

A selection of photographs from our January 2019 visit to McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida

June 6, 2022May 26, 2022 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

The visual narrative and accessibility draw the viewer in…..the exhibit included prop to be used for posing with the art work.

Request to readers: how will you participate? Include responses in the comments. Thank You

Click me for a dinosaur at McKee Gardens, “Neovenator, teeth like steak knive s “

“A Memorable Date” and “Coming Home”

A selection of photographs from our January 2019 visit to McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero Beach, Indian River County, Florida

June 4, 2022May 31, 2022 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

Snooty art critics look down their noses at Johnson’s work, calling it “kitsch,” sentimental and not worthy of display in art museums. It say, “this will be cherished when you are dust.”