Jerusalem Artichoke Close Up - Nannette's Garden

I have some Jerusalem Artichokes (Helianthus tuberosa) growing in my garden.  This was a close up of a single blossom  taken on a rainy morning.  Some people consider it a weed, others a gourmet vegetable.  In France used in production of beer and wine.  It has a taste similar to a potato. This plant is a member of the sunflower family.  They bloom late summer and eveuntually you can harvest the root as a vegetable.  It can be pickled or roasted with seasonings and baked with other root vegetables.  Some restaurants list on their menu under side dishes as "chokes".or sunchokes not related to artichokes. These  plants can grow 7 ft tall. It is a rhizome/tuber and will come back again next year. Once you have them they multiply.  Camera+ HDR. Edited in PSE 11.

Pink Peony CU Center with Raindrops 5/10/2015

Sunday I went to Sarah Duke Gardens, Durham, NC, as a treat to myself for Mother's Day.  It is only about 50 min. from Greensboro on a good day. We left at 7:30 A.M.hoping for some early morning sun on the flowers in the "Annual Terrace Garden".  Well, it was overcast and trying to rain but we were determined to go to the garden "rain or shine". We did stop at Trader Joe's in Chapel Hill first hoping the sun would shine. There were many cultivars of peonies in bloom.  I wanted to get a picture of just the center close up.  I used the Camera+ app and the macro mode.  HDR modeon Post processing done in PSE 11 used highlight and mid-tone sliders, slight sharpening.  Stay tuned for more images from the garden.

Rain Drops Falling on MyFront Car Window - Abstract Trees

Last week we had  a lot of rain.  I admit this abstract photo was not my original idea.  A friend of mine had taken a similar image and posted on FB.  She shot in shade and lighting was actually about this color. I used the front car window of my Prius to capture this image of the tall trees in my backyard with the raindrops out of focus. This image was originally shot in color but I decided to use color variations in PSE 11 to give it a different more painterly appearance.  The leaves were just starting to come out . If I ever get into using my phots for digital art, I am sure this would be one I might start with as a background, change the opacity. and try other filters. I did end up sharing the image on the FB page for the iPhone Photo Academy yesterday.