Camping in July - Flowers of Michigan

The last few days of June, and leading into July, I took a short camping trip to Allegan Michigan. This is something that my family and I do every year, but the last two we missed. It was exceptionally nice to get to take a break from the house after all of this time.

Jewelweed - Touch Me Not

These are always cool to see, and grow in the campground every year. Their seed pods explode on contact, and can launch the seeds feet away. The flowers are also beautiful.

Mushroom Group

I don't know the exact species of these, but there were a couple groups of them. All of the different groups may have been linked underground, and just have been different fruiting bodies. This would result in something like the "fairy rings" that people see sometimes.

Ponds

The campsite has two private ponds, and connects to Dumont Lake. There are quite a few aquatic plants growing in this pond. This gave it a much more natural look than the first pond.

Aquatic Plants - Spatterdock

Spatterdock - Nuphar advena

I am thinking that the species for these are Nuphar advena, but it could be something slightly different. The leafs are heart shaped, and flowers closed instead of the round leafs and open flowers of a water lily. It was very cool to see all of these about to bloom. Wish I could have been there a couple more days to see the progression of the flowers.

Bittersweet Nightshade

Sadly, this plant is invasive to the Great Lakes. It was very pretty, and probably my favorite flower that I saw on this trip. Guess the pretty flowers try to mask the poisonous and invasiveness of this plant.

Duck (Mallard)

I don't know an incredible amount about birds, but I am thinking that this is a mallard duck. They ran around the two ponds throughout the days we were camping, and provided a couple chances for photographs.

Hope you enjoyed the images :)

All images taken with a Nikon D3200 in Allegan, Michigan USA

Vanilla Scented Lilies

Today the weather was rather dreary. One would think that this would ruin any potential images, but it actually provides some nice situations for them. The rain drops on the flowers and plants creates almost some sort of serenity, and the reflections make the images even more complex.

Once the rain cleared, I went outside to get some pictures of my lilies. I hadn't yet gotten a chance to get pictures of them this year, and so these are the first for the season. The lilies have performed wonderfully every year without issue. They are also the most wonderfully scented flowers I have currently. Their vanilla coloration is matched with an almost vanilla like scent.

I also experimented a little with some lenses I have. I used my standard 18-55mm lens, but then used some close-up lenses and a fisheye lens that attaches to the end.

Hope you enjoyed the images :)

All images taken with a Nikon D3200

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A Spotlight on Garden Flowers

The focus for this color challenge post shall be a garden flower that could perhaps pass for Monday Red or Tuesday Orange. Because it is technically still Monday in my timezone, I will post it as Monday. This flower provided a couple nice shots.

All Images taken with a Nikon D3200

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