SITES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Old Man's Beard - 9th December 2010

Although I stick firmly to the belief that you can often appreciate plants better when you know nothing about them, I sometimes find myself tempted to research a bit further, to identify what I see. This, of course, nearly always turns out to be a bad idea. Not only do I start counting petals instead of appreciating them, I get distracted into looking through the pages of books and searching through sites merely to see pictures of the extraordinary plants and fungi there - whether they have anything to do with what I am looking for or not. (Generally not!)

On the other hand, browsing along the amazing, the beautiful and the ugly is a pleasure in its own right so I thought, for this post, I’d share with you four links to wonderful images of wonderful parts of nature.

The first is Science Images at PSmigrographs.

I didn’t find this for myself. Val Littlewood at Pencil and Leaf recommended it in one of her posts. It is the world through a microscope and she was sending us to see pollen.

But it isn’t just pollen. There are the stoma in leaves, tarantula fangs and bee’s penises! The oil glands in lavender and geraniums too. And gecko toes!

On the front page, there’s a slide show. I suggest you take a few moments to watch that, then go exploring. You won’t be able to resist! Set aside an hour. Bookmark it - you’ll want to go back!

DEAD FLOWER ON WILD BUDLEIA
December 9th 2010

Next up is Plants for a Future - an illustrated, annotated index of 7,000 Edible, Medicinal and Useful plants.

It’s another wander-round site. Here’s an example. Type Ground Elder into the search box. You will be taken to a grid which gives the Latin name (Aegopodium podagraria) and tells you this plant is in the family Umbelliferai.

Click the Latin name and this comes up

Beautiful, isn’t it? Botanical drawing (wonderful in its own right) photograph, quick information about where to find it, whether to eat it, how to look after it (!) then lots of detail in the text.

Another site to spend some time in! Another bookmark.

Next is Wildlife and Nature Photo Gallery, a Czech site for stock photos -  - in other words, photos for sale. You may not be wanting to buy them but you may well enjoy browsing.

IVY BERRIES - December 3rd 2010

Choose your preferred language by clicking on a flag in the top right hand corner.

I enjoy the fungi section.

There’s a photographic index at the top of the page if you are looking for a particular type of mushroom.

I tried Stomach Fungus,

in part because of its name and in part because these endearing little creature-like fungi (Lycoperdon echinatum) were illustrated.

If you scroll down the page you will be able to click a link to say why you want mushrooms. . . for eating?  to know which are poisonous?

DRIED OUT BLACKBERRIES -
December 9th 2010

Then there’s a link for mushrooms by the month. Here’s December.

I’m not clear December where but I don’t mind. The fungi are wonderful to look at!

If you already know precisely which mushroom you are looking for, there’s a list of botanical and common names at the foot of the main fungi page. On the other hand - you can have fun clicking on a name which intrigues you to find out what it describes.

Have a look at Porcelain Fungus (beautiful)

Red Banded Polypore (disgusting)

Scarlet Elf Cup (Sarcoscypha sp. - pretty and weird)

Scarlet Elf Cup - (Sarcoscypha coccinea - colourful and surprising)

Holwaya mucida - Crinula calciiformis (a sort of drowning hand)

Remember, this is not a scientific site, it is a photographic one so it isn’t exhaustive . . . none the less . . .

And the last recommendation - Alan Silverside’s Lichen Pages on Last Dragon.Org

LICHEN AND FROST ON ROCK
December 9th 2010

These pages put me in my place, bring me to my knees, almost make me despair. It’s part of a project in process. I first went there hoping it would help me identify a lichen near where I live. I came away knowing I hadn’t a hope and that lichen experts must be among the cleverest scientists in the world.

Here’s the page for lichen with Latin names beginning either with N or O.

Imagine being able to tell some of these apart with confidence!

(It’s a site in progress. I hope there will, one day, be easier ways to find things by description but it is interesting even without them.)

If this leaves you depressed rather than in awe of Stephen, maybe you should return to

Science Images at PSmigrographs.

and look at some of the photos from the flowers and plants

or, if you are feeling brave, the ticks and fleas

 hmm . . . maybe you’d prefer to stick to pollen!

I hope you enjoy these sites - the dramatic, the beautiful and the useful!

PICTURES SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES

I've inherited two tags from Esther (one from Compostings and one from The Garden Faerie). And Rach at the Big Sofa has left one for me too.

They are each for six random facts - which makes eighteen and Esther has already posted six on her blog from one she got ages ago.

I've been taking a look around - there's a log jam. Thinking of six interesting facts is hard enough. (Eighteen.) Finding six (eighteen) people to pass the tag on to is . . . well, it's difficult.

So . . . I'm going to be very brave and start a new one. (I asked Esther about it and she says I can do whatever I like, she's too busy thinking about her missing underwear and evading the police to bother.)

So . . . it will be called 'The Esther Montgomery Prize' (my decision) 'For a Particular Picture' and the 'Prize' (which isn't really a 'prize') is to put Esther's little nosegay of blue flowers in your sidebar (or somewhere).

So . . . instead of finding eighteen interesting (boring if you are me) facts - I will start the ball rolling with eighteen memorable pictures.

(The nice thing about this is that I can delve back to pictures I keep looking at 'in my mind's eye'. They don't have to be current.)

Oh! I went onto another page without realising it so I've got 24. Never mind - a bonus!

Oh! Another 'Oh!' '. I've made a right hash up of this.

Having spent ages choosing the photos for the list - I can't make links to the right places (only to the blog or to a blown up picture). I'll contact the blog owners and ask if I can reproduce their pictures here (with links to their blogs). If they say 'yes', then the images will gradually appear.

Oh what a twit! Well, that's what comes of being new to blogging! Photos, Reflexions, Creations - Barbies on Washing Line - May 21st 2008

and trees with huge, exposed roots - June 4th 2008













And on the SAME DAY - Grow This - Roots Pushing Up Through the Ground June 4th 2008 !

Barbee's Blog - Her Garden in Spring - Blog Header for the first part of 2008









Victoria's Backyard - Her Sub-Tropical Garden - Blog Header







Gardening Tips and Ideas - The Naked Statue - May 16th 2008 Garden Hopping - Bowl of Roses - 13th June 2008

Blogging from Blackpitts - Wall - March 5th 2008

Clodhoppers - Inside her Greenhouse - 14th May 2008

.

and The Green Man 10th June 2008 .






Red Dirt Ramblings - Alaskan Cedar - 17th April 2008

Typing on the Void - Rounders Match - 13th May 2008 . . . . (This isn't actually the picture I was thinking of even though it is of the rounders match. Pete R. Free who owns the blog has asked me to use this one instsead because the people who are in the one I was rembering haven't been asked about it being put here - though I suppose it is a memorable photo in the sense that it is on the slant and you can't see anything in it!)Earth, Wind and Water - Underwater Turtle - 15th May 2008

. An Artist's Garden - Best Clothes on Scarecrow -



Scurrying Toadstools - Photo by 'Bernard' First seen on My Daily Haiku - July 15th 2008

Green Desert - Washing Line - 17th April 2008 .

Garden Girl - Her Great Grandfather's Car Which he Turned into a Tractor! - March 24th 2008
My Aloe Garden - Aloe in Namibian Desert - March 15th 2008

Sunweeds Secret Garden - Her Land After a Bush Fire - March 19th 2008

Philip's Garden Blog - Barrows - 18th April 2008 Garden Monkey's Book Flange - 22nd June 2008 - Notice on Charity Shop Door

Veg Monkey and The Mrs - Raised Beds - 28th May 2008
Faire Garden - Thoughtful Grandson By Pond - 22nd April 2008
.
Well, that should get things off to a good start but, I suggest, if any of these blog-owners would like to pass on the 'prize' perhaps choosing three 'Particular Pictures' would be a manageable number and, hopefully, the recipients will be pleased with the nosegay which is the Esther Montgomery Memorial 'Prize' For a Particularly Memorable Picture.