A pristine basket-flower
A couple of weeks ago you saw a colony of basket-flowers (Plectocephalus americanus).
Now from May 26th along Burnet Rd. here’s a much closer view of a fresh one.
The ghosts in the background were horsemints (Monarda citriodora).
The traces of yellow-orange were coreopsis (Coreopsis sp.).
© 2019 Steven Schwartzman
Nice portrait. She loves me, she loves me not would be quite tedious with this one.
Steve Gingold
June 14, 2019 at 4:57 AM
I’m happy that you appreciate this portrait, which I’m fond of. Finding novel ways to portray this lovely but familiar wildflower after twenty years keeps getting harder.
Steve Schwartzman
June 14, 2019 at 5:20 AM
I know whereof you speak.
Steve Gingold
June 14, 2019 at 5:27 AM
We’ve both dealt with many such whereofs.
Steve Schwartzman
June 14, 2019 at 7:23 AM
Beautiful portrait. You have captured the delicate colors perfectly.
Michael Scandling
June 14, 2019 at 7:01 AM
“Delicate” seems just the right word for this basket-flower. The spirals of unopened florets at the center struck me as particularly attractive.
Steve Schwartzman
June 14, 2019 at 7:08 AM
Framing it against a dark background with relatively narrow depth of field really enhances the delicacy by making it pop. As I said, beautiful portrait.
Michael Scandling
June 14, 2019 at 7:16 AM
Thanks for your analysis as well as your appreciation.
Steve Schwartzman
June 14, 2019 at 7:21 AM
Truly a masterpiece of floral composition!
Peter Klopp
June 14, 2019 at 8:20 AM
Thanks for your confirmation. This is the second recent basket-flower portrait I’m especially pleased with.
Steve Schwartzman
June 14, 2019 at 8:33 AM
This is such a crisp portrait~I really like it.
melissabluefineart
June 14, 2019 at 8:54 AM
Yay, another confirmation. You’re the first to use the word crisp.
Steve Schwartzman
June 14, 2019 at 8:56 AM
Affirmations are always good, aren’t they? I’m surprised I’m the first~that word popped into my mind immediately when I saw it. The background is well captured as well.
melissabluefineart
June 14, 2019 at 8:58 AM
And you’ve heard me affirm many times that the background is as important as the subject.
Steve Schwartzman
June 14, 2019 at 9:26 AM
Beautifully captured.
lensandpensbysally
June 14, 2019 at 10:03 AM
Thanks. It was pristinity in my vicinity.
Steve Schwartzman
June 14, 2019 at 12:54 PM
I’m glad you posted another basket-flower, and an especially pretty one at that. The balance between the open and unopened rays is hard to find; being able to combine your skills with a nearly-perfect flower must have been pleasing.
I really am missing these flowers this year. I don’t know where they’ve gone (at least, around here — you obviously have them) but it’s like having a friend drop out of sight without explanation. If I didn’t have the flowers I dried last year in a vase, I still wouldn’t have seen one this spring.
shoreacres
June 14, 2019 at 12:23 PM
Yes and yes again: pleasing to find such a pristine flower head, pleased to have succeeded in portraying it. At the same time, I’m sorry and surprised that your spring wasn’t a basket-flower spring, especially to the extent that you didn’t see a single new one. How strange. While most of the ones in Austin are past their prime now, my season for this species got extended last weekend outside of Dallas, where I worked with a colony of basket-flowers that were still fresh thanks to 200 extra miles of latitude in the right direction.
Steve Schwartzman
June 14, 2019 at 1:05 PM
such beauty !!
gwenniesgardenworld
June 14, 2019 at 1:27 PM
Right you are! There’s no doubt that this is among our showiest wildflowers.
Steve Schwartzman
June 14, 2019 at 2:44 PM
😀
gwenniesgardenworld
June 16, 2019 at 8:59 AM
Very Nice Steve! Love the detail in the flower!
Reed Andariese
June 14, 2019 at 7:29 PM
These are indeed great flowers. I was thankful to get such a good specimen to portray.
Steve Schwartzman
June 14, 2019 at 7:54 PM
That is so pretty!
montucky
June 14, 2019 at 11:24 PM
And to think it grew in a ditchside colony along a busy road, with no one else stopping to appreciate it.
Steve Schwartzman
June 15, 2019 at 6:44 AM
Beautiful shot!!
Isabel F. Bernaldo de Quirós
June 15, 2019 at 2:26 AM
Thanks. I really came to like this portrait.
Steve Schwartzman
June 15, 2019 at 6:45 AM
Delicate beauty!!
norasphotos4u
June 15, 2019 at 3:37 PM
Basket-flowers live up to that description.
Steve Schwartzman
June 15, 2019 at 4:16 PM
A super image Steve … mind you the model is rather lovely 🙂
Julie@frogpondfarm
June 22, 2019 at 3:27 PM
Lovelier than some of the models who walk down runways.
Steve Schwartzman
June 22, 2019 at 4:32 PM