Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Orange to Blues

From orange to Blues:
When I was in 5th grade, I received my first set of Crayola colored pencils, a set of 8 colors. There, in that plastic case, were the colors of the rainbow and I could not stop looking at these incredible colors. They were also my tools for creating beautiful pictures. To this day, I want to capture the rainbow colors everytime I see them, only now, I try to do this with the camera.

Subconsciously, this love of color, is the reason why I started taking photos of flowers on this Texas trip. I saw the oranges first but the color that captured my eyes everytime, were the blues. When I was doing my identification research for these photos, I noticed that Texas thinks it owns this blue color. 5 of these flowers are named Texas something. I looked in my Michigan wildflower book, and there are only 2 pages with blue flowers. So I guess Texas does have something to brag about and the blue color of the spiderwort is incredible.


Photo taken at Aransas NWR, TX on 3/27/2007

Yellow Flax - Linum rigidum (Flax Family - Linaceae)

Photo taken at Aransas NWR, TX on 3/27/2007
Blue-Eyed Grass - Sisyrinchium dimorphum (Iris Family - Iradaceae)
This vivid blue catches your eyes everytime, everywhere


Photo taken at Galveston SP, TX on 3/29/2007

Free wallpaper (desktop background) for personal use
Click on above picture, then on next picture right-click and set as background

Texas Spiderwort - Tradescantia humilis (Spiderwort Family - Commelinaceae)
What a beautiful color!


Photo taken at Aransas NWR, TX on 3/27/2007

Texas Vervain - Verbena halei (Verbena Family -
Verbenaceae
)


Photo taken at Falcon SP, TX on 3/12/2007

Guayacan or Soapbush or Texas lignumvitae - Guajacum angustifolium (Creosote-Bush Family - Zygophyllaceae)


Photo taken at Aransas NWR, TX on 3/27/2007

Texas Baby Blue Eyes - Nemophila phacelioides (Waterleaf Family - Hydrophyllaceae)


Photo taken at Aransas NWR, TX on 3/27/2007

Purple Dalea - Dalea lasiathera (Pea Family - Fabaceae)


Photo taken at Goose Island SP, TX on 3/27/2007

Blue curls - Phacelia congesta (Waterleaf Family - Hydrophyllaceae)


Photo taken at Hwy 77, TX on 3/25/2007

Berlandier Lobelia - Lobelia berlandieri (Bellflower Family - Campanulaceae)


Photo taken at Goose Island SP, TX on 3/27/2007

Texas Bluebonnet - Lupinus texensis (Pea Family - Fabaceae)

Photo taken at Aransas NWR, TX on 3/27/2007

Scarlet Pimpernel - Anagallis avernsis (Primrose Family - Primulaceae)
Blue-flowered form of Scarlet flower.
Also known as Poor Man's Weather Glass because the flowers close
when rain is approaching.



Stay tuned for the final color, yellow, in this wildflower series.
(PS I still own a set of Crayola colored pencils today.)


The references I used for this research are:
Texas Wildflowers by Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller
Michigan Wildflowers in Color by Harry C. Lund
Peterson Field Guides: Southwestern and Texas Wildflowers
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Native Plants of South Texas

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm don't wear blue, and use the color sparingly in home decor, BUT I love blue flowers! Thanks so much for this beauty. You "made" my Sunday afternoon. After I saw these, I made my way back through your earlier postings.
God has surely given us a rainbow of colors, and your photos illustrate that in the stunning array of Texas wildflowers.

Anonymous said...

Aunt Maria, I have a bunch of Texas Spiderwort in my backyard garden...I think they self-seed because they are spread randomly throughout the garden. I was impressed to see a photo of them here on your blog. (I am supposed to be doing homework.)

natasha v

Unknown said...

Now these are great Pictures of flowers. I am looking for that special picture to paint for a friend. These are the only pictures I can say are worthy of painting so to show the flowers and the background they live in. I love the other flowers but this is what I want.