Wow.
I am in awe of the response to the last post. Thank you to everyone who has read and commented and e-mailed. I am going to respond to you all as soon as I can.
So much wisdom and depth, kindness and wonder and peace out there, and much of it thanks to traversing those dark nights of the soul. I feel a little bit like I’m holding hands with all of you, in a circle, as I hear your stories. Over and over, what I’m hearing is lives that are pure Beauty, as transcendent and moving as any scene in Nature.
And I’d like to give back a little bit of Beauty today.
Back in the winter, I published a series of macro photos called “stamen love,” just when I thought it was the last chance for the hellebores and camellias to show off their stuff. (I was totally wrong about the hellebores, who were still braving the heat and churning out flowers in late April.) Since then, I’ve noticed that, hey, I just like to photograph stamens. It wasn’t a case of being drawn to these in winter simply because there wasn’t much to photograph in the garden, as I’d assumed.
Stamens are eerily beautiful to me, whether rising triumphantly, stuffed with golden pollen, or fading to sepia and curling in upon themselves. I’m sure Freud would have had a field day with that, because these are, after all, the male parts of the flower. But whatever the reason for my attraction, it’s resulted in an accumulation of lovely stamen shots, just perfect to share with you today.
I hope you enjoy them.
Oh, and don’t forget you can click on any picture to enlarge it.
Without further ado:
Beautyberry stamens. Photo taken at SC Botanical Garden.
Mimosa stamens. Photo taken at Lake Keowee.
Single-flowered rose 'Knockout," with fading stamens and dew. Photo taken in a neighbor's yard. (Thanks, neighbor!)
Lacecap hydrangea in bloom. Photo taken in a suburban backyard.
Detail of lacecap hydrangea stamens, plus textures from Kim at kimklassencafe.com.
Daylily stamens. Photo taken at the SC Botanical Garden.
Wild rose stamens. Photo taken one spring morning just before dawn, at the edge of the woods, only a few feet from where I sit and write to you now.
Stamen impression, crepe myrtle stamens blowing in the wind. Photo taken in a Chinese restaurant parking lot.
Namasté, y’all.
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‘that by our wounds, others may be healed’
Elephant’s Eye´s last blog ..Where the aloes live- on a Karoo Koppie
You are a beautiful soul, Diana.
Lovely lovely pictures.
Susie @newdaynewlesson´s last blog ..Even Annoyance Can Be Forged Into A Treasured Moment
Well, thank you, Susie.
Beautiful photos, Meredith. I love the Mimosa photo and the daylily stamens is awesome. I don’t think I can get that close up on my camera. Maybe, I will upgrade one day.
Amy/goawayimgardening!´s last blog ..Santa Fe and Photo Tips
Amy, I think you and I are both dreaming of upgrading. I so appreciated the photo lesson on your blog the other day!
Thanks for the compliment.
Me again, also you have a whole new look to your blog. It looks great…pretty colors!
Amy´s last blog ..Santa Fe and Photo Tips
I’m glad you like it, Amy. I think with all these hot, bright summer colors, I was longing for a little soothing for my eyes.
Waa! Love those daylilly stamens! Great pics Meredith
Merrilee´s last blog ..Guest post- Creativity and the Scientific Mind by Graham Storrs
That has to be one of the better responses I’ve ever gotten to a pic, Merrilee. Thanks for that.
What a beautiful perspective you take in these pictures. Stunning!
Meredehuit ♥´s last blog ..What Lies Down My Garden Path
Thank you, Carolyn!
Meredith, I’m particularly taken with the white flower in the third photo. There’s something about the wrinkled texture of its petals and the dew clinging to the bottom one that keeps drawing my attention. It looks frail, and yet the dew drops speak of something that transcends that somehow. Can’t quite put my finger on it…
Tony, I really like that shot, too, and I also couldn’t exactly explain it. Something about light, and fragility, yes, and … and what?
Anyway, I think you have good taste.
Nice colors M; one is in need of some bright colors and stamen love to brighten up a dull and humid day…
David Macaulay´s last blog ..The fall and fall of Mad Mel Gibson
Glad I could brighten up your day, David!
Meredith, these are just gorgeous.
Wendy´s last blog ..Growing- buying- cooking Chinese long bean
I’m glad you like them, Wendy.
Stamens are beautiful, but my favorite is the mimosa. It’s so wispy.
Elizabeth´s last blog ..clever pup
Mimosas are pretty cool, Elizabeth. I keep meaning to get to that whole post about them in draft… but not yet. I suppose I can reveal the reason they’re so wispy, though: their “flowers” are all stamen! No petals, no sepals, no tepals… just stamen. Isn’t that nifty?
Hello Meredith,
Your photography skills are amazing! You have a great eye for the beauty that exists in the smallest parts of the plant. I think my favorite are the lily stamens….just beautiful!
Noelle / azplantlady´s last blog ..Julys Monthly Garden Bouquet MGB
Oh, Noelle, you are so sweet. The daylily surprised me, with its secret blue flash at the heart. So much beauty!
what a lovely series of photos, I love getting so close into flowers andseeing all the details
Crafty green Poet´s last blog ..Organic Fortnight
Juliet, thank you for those kind words. Joy lives in the details, I think. Sometimes, the tinier, the better.
Being the one that thinks if it looks like a flower and smells like a flower then it is a flower now I’m told I’m sneffing the male part.
Main Entry:sta£men
Pronunciation:*st*-m*n
Function:noun
Inflected Form:plural stamens also sta£mi£na \*st*-m*-n*, *sta-\
Etymology:Latin, warp, thread, from stare to stand — more at STAND
Date:1668
: a microsporophyll of a seed plant; specifically : the pollen-producing male organ of a flower that consists of an anther and a filament — see FLOWER illustration
Your never to old to learn.
desk49´s last blog ..The Sea-
I learn something new every day, Ellis. Glad I could pass along some of the fun.
You’re probably also sniffing the female part, the pistil, in a lot of cases, if it makes you feel any better. They’re often situated together, unless — well, there’s a whole bunch of exceptions I won’t go into here. As Wikipedia says about plant sexuality, “Among all living organisms, flowers, which are the reproductive structures of angiosperms, are the most varied physically and show the greatest diversity in methods of reproduction of all biological systems.” (And no, I can’t believe I just quoted wikipedia. Sigh.)
Dear Meredith, What a lovely sequence of pictures. It is true that your photographs show a very real sense of artistry which, matched with your thoughtful and descriptive prose, give to all your postings a very special quality.
Edith Hope´s last blog ..By Bus to Bloomsbury
Edith, has anyone ever told you that you excel at the graceful compliment? I am now blushing, but sincerely pleased.
Thank you for your kind words.
There are some great images there. It’s posts like this that push me towards buying a decent camera!
The Idiot Gardener´s last blog ..Hung like a donkey
IG, I highly recommend it, if you have the wherewithal. I’m sad to say I now daydream of having access to a DSLR, which is far, far (like stratospherically far) outside my own budget. I suppose there will always be something better we could get if only… for now, I quite like your pictures, and my own. We are doing pretty good, I’d say!
I like the one from the Chinese restaurant parking lot for its story.
Lynn´s last blog ..Go Braves- hair for the spill and fancy headdress
Lynn.
I just knew I had to include the backstory on that one.
Meredith, that is so nice. I love a good macro in the morning. The intense color on the daylily stamen is wonderful.~~Dee
So glad you liked it, Dee. I think it would be nice to start out all my mornings with a macro of a flower.
Hey, someone needs to start that meme… Macro in the Morning.
Whoa, what amazing photos! I especially like the wild mimosa stamens!
Your photos have inspired me numerous times, and one of my goals is to improve my photography, and eventually get a better camera than my little point and shoot. I just bought a digitial photography book this week as a step towards that goal. Now to find time to read it…
Kathy´s last blog ..Memory Making 101
Thank you, Kathy! You’ll have to share any awesome lessons you garner as you study. I’d love to lean over your shoulder, so to speak. My camera isn’t really considered a fancy one at all, and it’s pretty old for a point & shoot… but you’d be amazed what you can do when you get to know its quirks. I’ve taken so many photos with it, it’s like my old friend now, really.
F. even says he can’t get it to do half of what I manage to coax out of it. And oops! Technically, it’s his camera.
I’m encouraged that your camera is nothing fancy–sometimes I think we (I) make excuses about needing this or that in order to achieve our goals, when really all we need is to go out and DO something!
Kathy´s last blog ..Memory Making 101
Stunning photographs, Meredith! You really are a multi-talented woman. At first glance, I loved the mimosa best; but I’m finding the yellow and blue of those daylily stamens against the orange background just mesmerizing.
Jean´s last blog ..Tradescantia
Aw, you’re so sweet, Jean. I think the blue contrasted with the tangerine works so well because those are opposites on the color wheel, so our eye is naturally riveted to them. I find the same effect in any photo with a really strong red-green or purple-yellow contrast. It’s just the way our eyes are programmed, I suppose.
How wonderful that the plants have figured that out, though. That thought reminds me of that other Michael Pollan book I want to read…
Meredith — All of the photos of flower stamens are beautiful. I also am fascinated by stamens, but I’m not as good as you at capturing their beauty in photographs. I’m still learning “close ups” with my camera.
One thing I noticed about the set of stamen photos you had click to see is that they mostly hanging.down from the flower. Oddly this made me think of the beauty of jellyfish and how they have a similar look…more deadly meaning, but they do dangle their beauty:~)
Here are some beautiful jellyfish pictures I found at Jeremia Froyland’s site: http://jeremiafroyland.com/63-stunning-jellyfish-pictures/ Check them out and let me know what you think. Do they remind of sea flowers?
Sara´s last blog ..Can You Say It
Sara, I’m glad you liked the shots. You’ll get comfortable with your close-up style soon, I’m sure. I thought I never would, until I figured out that my camera’s zoom was uncooperative (for my style of shooting) at anything above 2.3x magnification. It took me about five months to figure that out. But once I did, I was on my way… getting shots I liked.
Speaking of shots I like, amazing photos of jellies! I hadn’t even realized that the winter flower stamens hung downward like that until you said it. But yes, the hellebores and camellias might be jellies, frozen on land… awesome find.
Macro views are my absolute favorite – and these are beautiful. I especially love the wild rose.
Ginny´s last blog ..Come in through the gate
So happy that you like them, Ginny.
I was surprised by the wild rose turning out so simply and elegantly… I was used to glancing out my kitchen window and seeing just hundreds of them clustered together, where they’d formed an impromptu hedge along the edge of the forest, and to get up close and realize each one was so… well, perfect… what can I say? It was amazing.
I’ve been absent the last few weeks and am slowly catching up. I read your last three posts and must tell you how impressed I am by what you have written. As a person who is coming out of a difficult time, your words ring true. Often we are given challenges so that we might grow. And, as we all know, growing is rough. But the person we become at the end of the experience is worth it. So worth it.
Amber´s last blog ..An Exercise In Mental Health
Amber, I am so glad to hear my words “ring true.” That is a very high compliment, in my opinion, and I thank you for it.
I had noticed your absence, but was not sure whether to be concerned. This time of year, so many are going on vacation, or busy with the kids (hey, I know that *always* your situation, right?
), or overwhelmed with the peak gardening season (Northern Hemisphere), or having a bout of the winter blues (Southern Hemisphere), so I just hoped we’d see you back soon. And sure enough, here you are. 