Kousa Dogwood – Cornus kousa

One of the more unusual dogwoods that blooms in May in the DC area is the Kousa Dogwood. It took me a while to identify it as a dogwood the first few times I saw it – since it wasn’t blooming at the same time as the other dogwoods and the blossoms were so different.

© 2012 Patty Hankins

With a little research, I realized that what I was seeing was the Kousa Dogwood. Native originally to China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, the Kousa Dogwood is related to Cornus Florida – the more common American Dogwood. One advantage to the Kousa Dogwood is that is resistant to dogwood anthracnose disease, which affects many of the native dogwoods. For this reason, the Kousa Dogwood is being planted more frequently as an ornamental plant these days.

© 2012 Patty Hankins

The blossoms on the Kousa Dogwood bloom after the tree leafs out. They appear to sit above the leave in wonderful patterns that cover the tree.

© 2012 Patty Hankins

Kousa Dogwoods are frequently used in the DC area. I literally photographed these along the side of the road – between the sidewalk and the street.

© 2012 Patty Hankins

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing these bits of beauty from around my neighborhood.

© 2012 Patty Hankins

© 2012 Patty Hankins

Links – May 25, 2012

Pink Peony (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Here are some posts and articles that I enjoyed this week; I hope you enjoy them as well

National Park and National Wildlife Refuge Links

The White House has Rolling Out the Welcome Mat for our Military Families at National Parks and Public Lands

Flower and Plant Links

Native Plants & Wildlife Gardens has Butterfly Bushes ≠ More Butterflies

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center has Recommended Native Plants by State

Wildlife Links

The New York Times has Why Bambi Must Go

National Parks Traveler has Birding In The National Parks: Seen Any Rare Birds Lately?

BBC News has Warning over deep-ocean stowaways

Environment Issues Links

Food Democracy Now has Bee Kills in the Corn Belt: What’s GE Got to Do With It?

The Grand Forks Herald has Like seatbelts, invasive species laws are beginning to click

Photography and Art Links

Whimbrel Nature Blog has Composing Carefully

NPR has ‘Canal Zone’ Collages Test The Meaning Of ‘Fair Use’

If you are in the DC area, I hope you will join me and other flower lovers at our DC Flower Safari Meetups. The next one is scheduled for this Sunday, May 27th at Brookside Gardens, 1800 Glenallan Ave, Wheaton. I hope to see you there!

Columbine – Aquilegia Canadensis

Columbine © 2011 Patty Hankins

Columbine – what can I say – it’s one of those wildflowers that I just have to photograph every time I see it. Which means I have lots of Columbine photos. As I was looking through some of my photos that I haven’t posted – I realized there about twenty columbine photos I”ve edited and not shared here on the blog – and that’s just the wild columbine we have here on the East Coast – that doesn’t include the wonderful columbine I’ve photographed out west or some of the cultivated varieties I’ve photographed. And don’t worry – I’m not going to put all the photos into one blog post – just my favorites

© 2012 Patty Hankins

Columbine – Aquilegia canadensis – is a member of the buttercup (Ranunculaceae) family native to eastern two-thirds of the United States and Canada. It is very common throughout much of its range – only listed as endangered in Florida. Known for it’s showy red and yellow flowers, columbine are a bell-shaped flower with backward pointing tubes containing nector. Hummingbirds and a few long tongued insects are particularly attracted to nectar of the columbines.

© 2012 Patty Hankins

Columbine grows well in shade/partial shade – preferring sandy well-drained soils. The plants grow to be 2-3 feet tall. The flowers themselves are almost two inches long. In addition to attracting hummingbirds to your garden – columbine are both deer and rabbit resistant.  Columbine are not hard to grow – I have several thriving plants in my garden – and as many of you know – plants have to be pretty hardy to survive in my garden.

© 2011 Patty Hankins

Columbine was used for medicinal purposes by many native American tribes and early European settlers. The seeds were used by early settlers to speed childbirth – until it was discovered that large doses of columbine seeds could be poisonous. Native Americans used it to treat ailments ranging from heart trouble to poison ivy. It was also used as a love potion and to detect bewitchment.

© 2012 Patty Hankins

More information about Columbine can be found at

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Missouri Botanical Garden

Native American Ethnobotany

Robert W. Freckman Herbarium

USDA Plant Profiles

© 2012 Patty Hanknis

© 2012 Patty Hankins

Ever-Changing Light

What a difference the changes in light can make! The other morning in the course of only 15 minutes I saw some amazing changes in how some bearded irises looked – because as the sun got higher in the sky – it lit the flowers in many different ways. I spotted this set of three bearded irises – still haven’t been able to identify the variety – and as I photographed the first one – I noticed that while it was still in open shade from the nearby plants, the sun was about to start backlighting the flowers in the group. So I just settled in with my tripod and waited. It was wonderful seeing how the look of three flowers changed as the sun changed it’s position and what different photographs I could take at various times.

Here’s the progression of the photos over a span of 15 minutes.

7:49 AM

© 2012 Patty Hankins

8:54 AM

© 2012 Patty Hankins

7:56 AM

© 2012 Patty Hankins

7:57 AM

© 2012 Patty Hankins

8:00 AM

© 2012 Patty Hankins

8:03 AM

© 2012 Patty Hankins

So by any chance – does anyone recognize what type of bearded iris this is? Thanks

Capturing Nature’s Peaceful Beauty – Bring a Friend for Free

I still have a few spaces left in my Capturing Nature’s Peaceful Beauty workshop on June 1 – 3. I would love for you to join me for the weekend.

In fact – it is so important to me that you enjoy your photography experiences that I want you to be able to share the workshop with a friend. If you register now  - you can bring a friend to the workshop for free! That way you’ll have someone to practice with after the workshop.

The workshop features 3 photo shoots at parks or botanical gardens in the Washington DC area and classroom sessions at my home in Bethesda.

At the Workshop you will . . .

• Discover new ways to see nature
• Learn to create the photographs you’ve always wanted to create
• Capture the beauty you see in your photographs
• Have a one-on-one discussion with Patty about your photography

After the workshop . . .

• You will be better able to capture what you see in nature in your photographs
• You will see the beauty of nature in a whole new way
• You will be more confident using your camera to create the photographs you want to create

If this sounds like the photography workshop you’ve been looking – be sure to register with your friend before the workshop fills up.

Hope to see you in June at my Capturing Nature’s Peaceful Beauty workshop

Links – May 18, 2012

Pink Tulip Trio (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Here are some posts and articles that I enjoyed this week; I hope you enjoy them as well

National Park and National Wildlife Refuge Links

National Parks Traveler has Keeping Things Quiet In the National Parks, Yosemite Falls Featured In New Webcam From Yosemite National Park, and List Of “Most Endangered Rivers” Flows Through National Parks

Wildlife Links

National Parks Traveler has Study Assessing Climate Change Impacts On Birds Includes Yosemite National Park

Environment Issues Links

MSNBC has Report: Global biodiversity down 30 percent in 40 years

Photography and Art Links

Charles Cramer has Tonal Adjusments in the Age of Lightroom 4 at Luminous Landscape

Art Wolfe has What to Do on a Rainy Day?

If you are in the DC area, I hope you will join me and other flower lovers at our DC Flower Safari Meetups. The next one is scheduled for May 27th at Brookside Gardens, 1800 Glenallan Ave, Wheaton. I hope to see you there!

Gaithersburg Book Festival – Saturday May 19

I just wanted to let you know that I will have a booth at the Gaithersburg Book Festival this Saturday May 19. Held on the grounds of City Hall in Gaithersburg, Maryland, the festival runs from 10 AM – 6 PM. There will be authors of all sorts reading from and sharing information about their books.

I will be in booth 16 in the Non-Fiction section. I’ll have copies of my book Wildflower Meditations: A Gift for the Spirit and sets of my notecards available for sale.

If you’re in the area – please stop by – I’d love to see you

Tulips and Lilies in Black and White

I’ve continued to process some of the flower photographs as black and whites. While color is one of the things that often attracts me to a flower – when I look at them in black and white I see more details in the structure and texture in the flowers. I hope you enjoy a few flowers in black and white.

The petals of a Banja Luka Tulip

© 2012 Patty Hankins

Petals and the center of some Mickey Mouse Tulips

© 2012 Patty Hankins

© 2012 Patty Hankins

A group of tulips photographed from above

 © 2012 Patty Hankins

The center of two different Lilytopia Lilies

© 2012 Patty Hankins

© 2012 Patty Hankins

Center of a Tiger Edition Lily

© 2012 Patty Hankins

Low Larkspur – delphinium nutallianum

© 2011 Patty Hankins

One of the beautiful wildflowers I photographed at Grand Teton National Park last summer was Low Larkspur. It is related to the dwarf larkspur I’ve photographed along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. It was a great splash of color among the greens and browns of the grasses in the field where I spotted it. And I love being able to see both a beautiful little wildflower and the grand mountains in the view.

© 2011 Patty Hankins

Low Larkspur (delphinium nutallianum) is a member of Ranunculaceae (buttercup) family. It is native to much of the western United States and Canada.

© 2011 Patty Hankins

Depending on where you find it will likely determine how tall it is. At Grand Teton National Park, the Low Larkspur was less than 12″ tall. It can grow to as tall as 30″ tall in the southern part of its range. It is known for having only one stem, with blue-violet flowers.

© 2011 Patty Hankins

Like many other members of the delphinium family, low larkspur is highly toxic to humans and animals, especially cattle. All parts of the plant contain alkaloids than can be fatal for humans – and often are fatal for cattle. AVOID EATING ANY PARTS OF THE LARKSPUR PLANTS.

© 2011 Patty Hankins

Despite the toxic nature of the plants, they have been used by Native American tribes as a stain for arrows and in ceremonies.

More information about Low Larkspur can be found at

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Native American Ethnobotany

The Wildlife News – Larkspur Strikes Again

USDA Plant Profiles

USDA Plants Poisonous to Livestock in the Western States

Links – May 11, 2012

Monet’s Blue Bearded Iris (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

Here are some posts and articles that I enjoyed this week; I hope you enjoy them as well

Flower and Plant Links

GOOD Project has Why Killing Your Lawn Is a Good Idea – And How to Do It

Longwood Gardens has Proud to be Beautiful

The Washington Post hasGoats tackle weeds, invasive species that chemicals and mowers can’t handle

Natural News has Human genes engineered into experimental GMO rice being grown in Kansas

Wildlife Links

EurekaAlert has Scientists provide first large-scale estimate of reef shark losses in the Pacific Ocean

The New York Times has Herd’s Fate Lies in Preservation Clash

Environment Issues Links

The Huffington Post has Why Safeguarding the Arctic Is a Must

Mother Jones has 2 Years Later, Grim Photos From the BP Disaster

Photography and Art Links

NPR has The Power Of Flower Photos

If you are in the DC area, I hope you will join me and other flower lovers at our DC Flower Safari Meetups. The next one is scheduled for May 12th at Green Spring Gardens, 4601 Green Spring Road, Alexandria. I hope to see you there!