Unknown Blossom
While I am quite anxious to get some of my deer fence shots up (mentioned also yesterday), I just don’t have the time right now. Instead, I give you a flower from my visit to Royal Roads University gardens a few weeks ago – this is in the lower end of the gardens where it is very shady, and it was windy – I had to crank the ISO a bit to get a decent shutter speed and focus to go with it.
I like this flower, but have no idea what variety it is. I am thinking one of you can do the identification for me, as it has to be quite common in gardens in different places. Thanks in advance!
Canon EOS 5D MkII, Canon EF 100mm/f2.8 macro lens, ISO1250, f2.8, 1/400th.
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burnt embers 
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Definitely bee balm, and very pretty. Lovely image.
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Thanks Laurie! Glad you like it. Do you know if my guess about damp feet is accurate, or would it do OK in a drier setting where some of the native plants from around here flourish?
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Not sure – but I planted some in a fairly dry area in our yard and they did well. Others in a wetter part of our garden didn’t do quite as well, though did survive.
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Thanks! Maybe it would go grow in our dry yard (that has patches of standing water in the winter), in one of the raised beds perhaps.
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Hi Ephem; someone mentioned bee balm, which is also known as monarda. That’s what it looks like to me too.
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Hi Lynn. Thanks for yet another name. Monarda seems to be a genus name, so a good one to know. Bergamot seems to be in common usage too. This is a good reference site for it: http://1.usa.gov/16q4Aey (though it has a typo in referring alternately to Bergamot and Bergamont).
Such a knowledgeable readership I have. Thanks all!
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“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” ~Dr. Seuss
Ohhh, I absolutely adore this whosawhatchacallit flower…reminds me of something from a Dr. Seuss story.
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I agree David – it is Seussian – I think it’s the ‘petals’ poking out at the top that do it.
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Purple and green is a great combination but in addition, the use of negative space to the right of the flower is a nice touch.
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Thanks Ken. There was quite a bit more negative space in the original framing but I cropped it out for a bit more balance to the shot as a whole.
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That’s just gorgeous. Beautiful colours.
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Thanks Karen.
This was quite dimly lit and so I am interested in how it looks compared to the brighter ones I have been taking recently, like yesterday’s soft focus buds. Both kinds of lighting have a lot going for them, at least sometimes.
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I think it’s bee balm! Google bee balm and check out the images to see what you think.
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Hi Linda, I think your right – thanks! It is also called Bergamot. Ironically the best image I found is on a blog that I follow! http://wp.me/pI1US-13y
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This is a beautiful shot!
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Thank you Melinda! These things were waving around in the breeze quite a bit so I feel pretty lucky to get some of it in focus.
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If you’d had none of it in focus, we could circle back to yesterday’s conversation…..
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It would, and I might even have deleted one that was not in focus… Getting my eye trained to allow things to be out of focus in the right way seems like it could be a huge task.
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“Out of focus in the right way” is harder than it sounds. Karen McRae is brilliant with it – http://drawandshoot.me/.
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She is completely brilliant with it, a real inspiration.
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Yes. I love her work – it’s so ethereal and graceful.
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I wish gardens had signs on every flower because I often find something I love that I can’t identify. We were at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail last week and came across the MOST unusual plant and have no clue what it is. I have not seen your flower before either. Hopefully someone has! I love the vibrant colour!
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Thanks Paula. I am hoping that one of my gardening enthusiasts will track it down for me. But, I do admit, I have not even tried, so am being totally lazy about this one.
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Well, I just tried – with one of those google images searches to find things that look the same as this image. Which produced the usual hilarious results but did find one exactly like this. The site is in Japanese though, and searching for the google translated name of ‘torch grass’ did not get anywhere. Appropriate it was a Japanese website, as this is in the Japanese Garden.
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I have no idea what this is either, but it sure is beautiful!
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Hi Lisa – it would be nice to have in my garden, but it seemed to be in a very damp area, which my garden lacks entirely (except in the winter when water can be ankle deep).
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exquisite 🙂
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Thanks Liana!
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