Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: crocus

Every February we have a group of cream-colored crocuses that pop up to ring in a new spring. I adore these stunning little blossoms, and they have been featured in more than a dozen of my shared pictures over the years. This is my best close-up of the stamens, aren't they cool?! I think they look like coral. :) (If you would like to see more pictures of these crocuses, click on the link on the note above.)

These crocuses are so stuffed together that it's really hard to get a picture of one without all the others crowding into the frame. I was going to dig up the bulbs and separate them this past fall but I wasn't positive where they were and I didn't want to risk damaging any of them. So after they're done blooming and the leaves fade, I'll dig them all up, and spread them out! :)

SPECIAL AWARD NOTICE!!! I am very proud to share First Place in Natural Jewelry's droplet contest! 24 incredible images, and this image tied for first place and is on the group's front page!! I'm so happy!!! :) :) :) www.flickr.com/groups/natural_jewellery/ This image is dedicated to my dear Flickr friend Nadia! www.flickr.com/photos/67040808@N03/ This amazing lady was so inspired by one of my pictures that she painted it, and this beautiful watercolor is displayed on her photostream right now! I am so touched by this gesture, I hardly know what to say, but I have been floating on air all day, and this picture makes me think of her! Thank you so much, Nadia!! We are really starting to see the signs of spring around here! It's so exciting to me!! I have my new camera, my 100mm macro lens, and I am ready to ROCK THIS PROPERTY! :D What a wonderful sight to see these beautiful crocuses popping up through the grass. In years past, I've missed seeing them until they'd come and gone and lay wilted in a sad pile. However, this year I had my eyes wide open every day, looking for them, and HERE THEY ARE!! YAY!!!

[best appreciated at full size against black] I have decided to have a counting of each kind of flower that I find on our property this spring! I have already shown a picture of the crocus patch, but I rudely showed it out of order, so here they are again, in proper order after the first and second! Yesterday when I took the dogs up to the ridge, I was very excited to find what I thought was the fourth flower, its bud preparing to open, but I was WRONG! Today, I went back with my camera and on the way I nearly stepped on the open face of a lovely yellow buttercup! Happy clicking ensued! I will now have three new flowers to show in the next few days, and this also means that I'll have to start really nosing around! Our property is the home of at least 20-30 flowers, and I'm determined to take pictures of them all! Last year I fell in love with my Canon SX130 and then my SX30 when I discovered how well it took macros, but I hope to retake every picture with my new camera, and with a year of experience to help me do a better job! Wish me luck! :) For now, I hope you like my "Sea of Crocus" shot to ring in Flower #3! :) I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! www.flickr.com/people/sfhipchick/ This image was taken in February, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Back in February, an explosion of pearly white crocus erupted out of the ground in our garden and created an amazing display for me to enjoy and take pictures of. Here is a macro showing the crocus stigma. I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too! Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! Janet's Profile (sfhipchick) This image was taken in March, 2012.

I was going to pass this picture by but I kept going back to it. Something about the soft focus all over except for just a bit on the bud reminds of a watercolor painting. I hope you like it! :)

This morning I woke up very early and started thinking about the lovely crocuses which I noticed in the garden two days ago. I knew I'd be taking pictures of them today, and I also knew that if I got my lazy butt out of bed, I could get pictures of frost on them before it melted! So I tiptoed downstairs, bundled up and went out into the garden. To my delight, the crocus still had some unmelted frost on some of them, and on the others, beautiful beads of water. YAY! :) (By the way, this was the 3rd Flower of Spring last year too! :D) Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His work is noted for its stylistic elegance and poetic fantasy. Giraudoux's dominant theme is the relationship between man and woman—or in some cases, between man and some unattainable ideal. Wikipedia: Jean Giraudoux Explored on Flickr on February 21, 2013. Highest position: #311.

I was able to get close enough to show the prisms in this bee's eyes! I'm sure it was extremely unimpressed with my macro flash! I took only a few pictures and then left them in peace! Sorry Bumbles!!

Here is a close-up of one of the bees inside its beautiful accommodations! It was lightly raining but not so hard that it was a danger to my camera! I couldn't ask for prettier conditions to take a picture of this darling bee! :)

I can't resist sharing more pictures of these beautiful crocuses in our garden! Here's one covered with morning rain!

Every day I go out to appreciate the beautiful crocus that are in full bloom in our front yard, and naturally I cannot help but take pictures. Yesterday afternoon I saw something on one of the flowers as I approached and whispered to myself, "Oh! Could that be a bee?! I moved over very slowly and sure enough, there was a bumble bee on one of the flowers! But wait!! There were TWO! I couldn't believe it!! And the story gets better!! I was a little sad because I would have liked to make the bees my pick of the day but I'd already chosen the hawk from earlier. No matter, they would make lovely alternate shots, right? Well, last night when I let the dogs out, I had a suspicion so I checked the flowers. I wondered about them yesterday afternoon because they'd been moving very sluggishly in the rapidly cooling temperature. As it turned out, they were too cold to fly away and decided to sleep inside the flowers overnight!! Absolutely amazing! And best of all, I popped outside this drizzly morning, hoping it was still too cold for them to fly, and what do you know...the cutie pies were crawling around in and out of the flowers and I got my pick of the day!!! YAYYY!!!!! I feel so incredibly lucky and fortunate to get these pictures!! (By the way, I'll have a couple of others to share of them in a week or two--I thought it would be better to spread them out.) Jacques-Yves Cousteau, commonly known in English as Jacques Cousteau; 11 June 1910 – 25 June 1997) was a French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He co-developed the Aqua-Lung, pioneered marine conservation and was a member of the Académie française. Wikipedia: Jacques Cousteau Explored on Flickr on February 28, 2013. Highest position: #106.

I don't know about you, but I could hardly believe my eyes when I found these darling bees sleeping in the crocus blossoms last night! This is something an illustrator draws for a children's book. You don't actually see this for real! Well, here we are!! Now, repeat after me: "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!" :D :D :D

Dedicated to my 365 pals, Kat , who's recovering from cancer surgery and is in my thoughts every day, and to Stephanie Calhoun , whose amazing textured images inspired me to try this for myself! You two are awesome!! :D This is another crocus image I took, and this time I had fun playing with it! My desire was to get some separation from the other crocuses crowding around it, and immediately I knew that this would look nice as a textured image! If you haven't tried this yet, please do, it's such fun! Thanks to Sienna62 for the texture! Explored on March 6, 2013. Highest position: #389.