Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Pentas lanceolata... also known as Egyptian Star Cluster or Star Flower... Summer, 2010

pink Pentas blossom
Pentas lanceolata is not winter hardy in our zone so this is the first year that I've tried it in my garden. Apparently, butterflies and bees as well as hummingbirds LOVE this plant... but I cannot vouch for that since I planted it in an area of my garden that is surrounded by Plumbago larpentae ground cover which has blue blossoms that are a real attractant for all manner of pollen gathering insects. Perhaps next year, I should plant more of this in a different area of my garden... and also plant different colors since pink is not one of my favorites! However, this tiny, perfect, first blossom caught my eye... later on... the entire cluster of tiny buds opened for a very nice display!
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4 comments:

  1. Liz ArmstrongOctober 19, 2010 at 3:09 PM

    I think your photos are amazing, I came across your blog by accident a while back and I keep coming back to it. The photos of the butterflies are amazingly clear, it'd be good to know more about how you are capturing these - what camera/lens/filters etc you are using.

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  2. VictoriaOctober 19, 2010 at 3:19 PM

    Thanks Liz for the kind words... I hope you read my reply here... and I will also try to remember to include shooting conditions with the next post. For most of my macros with insects, I use a Nikon D90 with a 105mm Nikon Macro lens with VR... hand held, aperture priority set to give me a fast enough shutter speed and desired DOF. Sometimes I adjust ISO to allow for faster shutter speeds. I have a UV filter on the camera to protect the lens. I've also been experimenting with extension tubes (the Pentas image was taken with an extension tube added to my macro lens) but find that insects move to fast in most cases for me to be able to add extension tubes.

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  3. KateriOctober 19, 2010 at 5:10 PM

    Ooh, what a pretty flower. Looks like it has an icicle growing out of the center of it!

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  4. Liz ArmstrongOctober 20, 2010 at 3:24 PM

    Hi Victoria, yes I've come back to your blog to see if you'd replied, so thank you for the information. I absolutely love your photos and I have a Nikon D5000 but at the moment I don't have a Macro lens, but I think I'm going to have to look into getting one or asking Santa to bring me one at Christmas.

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Thanks so much for stopping by... I try to return all visits and appreciate yours greatly.

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