Lobelia Cardinalis - near Nannette's mailbox

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Lobelia Cardinalis (Cardinal Flower) is a plant I have growing by my mailbox.  It usually blooms in August and September.  I decided to take the left image from the top down as it had clusters at the top which is an unusual formation for this plant.  It is usually a single stem (right image) wit\h blossoms starting to bloom at the bottom and evetually bloom at the top.  It is a great plant for hummingbirds.  I had a difficult time getting a good background because this plant by a mailbox and near the curb/street. The right image I used the Old Confederate Rose leaves as a background  Images shot in Camera+.  Editing done in PSE 11.  In the right orignal image the beetles had "done a number" on the leaves with holes.  I did use the healing brush and clone tool to try eliminate them.

Native Rubeckia Blooms in My Front Yard

I have a lot of "native" rubeckia blooming in my front yard.   Decided to take an image that would show more blooms but have some closer to the camera that could show more detail. It is a periennial and seems to have more plants every year.   Taken with native camera. Post processing with PSE 11. Cropped, shadows increased and midtones slightly, sharpened.