Whorls of horsemint flowers

You may recall some horsemints recently shown from a distance as part of a wildflower mix, so now a closeup in isolation (thank you, break in the clouds) seemed in order. The flowers of Monarda citriodora grow in tiers of whorls, as you see in this photograph from June 27th along the property line of a funeral home on Interstate 35 in far north Austin.

The picture comes to you at quite a cost to me: although I purposely avoided getting into overgrown areas and stayed on the funeral home’s mowed property while photographing the native plants at the periphery, by the next morning I’d ended up with over a hundred chigger bites, the most I’ve ever had. Can you spell i-t-c-h-y?

If you’re interested in photography as a craft, you’ll find that points 1, 3, 6 and especially 8 in About My Techniques are relevant to this photograph.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman