Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The Life Story of a Magnolia Blossom ...

I'd like to thank our gracious hostess Susan at A Southern Daydreamer, for taking the time to host our "Outdoor Wednesdays."

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post featuring some of the old magnolia trees in the Vicksburg National Military Park (if you would like to read it, you can click here).

In that post I mentioned that I wanted to capture with my camera a Little Gem Magnolia blossom in our courtyard, showing its life cycle, from bud to faded flower. Over a period of two or three days, I took several photos of the magnolia and was amazed at how quickly it changed from one photo shoot to the next one.

During one session, I was taking some close up shots of the center of the blossom, and a very exciting thing happened (it was exciting to me, at least). I was actually able to watch some of the stamens as they fell away from the carpels, which are the greenish-gold loops shown in the photos. I was transfixed, and even a little teary-eyed, as I watched this awesome display of God's creation.

I created a slide show of the photos I took of this lovely flower, and I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I enjoyed taking them (be sure to turn your sound up before you start the slide show).

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow:

Don't forget to visit Susan and the other "Outdoor Wednesday" participants to see what they are sharing today.

11 comments:

Joyce said...

Great photos and great music.
Joyce

Marjorie (Molly) Smith said...

Great photos, how beautiful our Magnolias are. Thanks for hi-liting it. You do such a great job.
Molly

Robin @ The Rendered Nest said...

Thank you for sharing these beautiful photos with us!

They remind me that we are to pour out our lives like a drink offering unto the Lord so we can fully bloom then die to self so we may bear more fruit!!

God is so amazing, isn't He?!

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Wow, Janie, you always do such a wonderful job with your photographs! I tried to do something similar last week, but my photographs pale by comparison. Wish I had your touch with the lens! Great job! :-)

Happy Outdoor Wednesday...

XO,

Sheila

ellen b said...

Janie,
That was so gorgeous! Thanks for the show and happy O.W. :0)

Barb said...

Hi Janie, wonderful. And, I love your header!!

Happy Outdoor Wednesday.

Barb

Mary Bergfeld said...

That was amazing. Thank you for creating and sharing it with us. Have a wonderful day.

Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer said...

Happy Outdoor Wednesday Janie! The magnolias are beautiful! Thanks for sharing your photos.~ Susan

Pat@Back Porch Musings said...

Janie, this is absolutely wonderful. You've inspired me to do something like this, too!

Christi @ A Southern Life said...

All I can say is - Spectacular! Thanks so much for the show. It was breathtaking. It's amazing that this sort of show is going on all around us every day and we don't take the time to notice.

Unknown said...

Hi Janie,
Your magnolia photos are awesome!
thanks for sharing!