Austin Botanical Center - 2011-05

[guppiecat]

On my trip to Austin (where I got the Armadillo board game, which sadly isn't online, but the shop is here), I went to the Austin Botanical Center. This place has the interesting claim to fame of having a large Japanese garden in Texas. I wouldn't have thought it would work, but it does.

The entire set is here. (Set has bugs, but not scary* ones.) (Set also has extreme close ups of genitals**.)

* Well, scary to me, anyway

** Well, plant genitals

Here is my favorite:




First, a series of three shots to illustrate how things look different depending on the scale of your view. I rarely get a sequence that works this well, and had I been thinking of it, I could add additional shots to each end of the scale.







Next, more bees! Texas bees, for some reason, are a lot easier to photograph than Iowa or Minnesota bees.










Not sure what sort of wasp this is. They don't have these where I live.


This is what happens when you put too much salt in the water softener.


Texas loves me.



Dirty.


Also dirty.


Not sure if these colours look right to non colour-blind people. It looks neat to me, though.


"Why sure I’ll introduce you to the boys. They give ‘em funny names though, St. Lou."


When you're lost and all alone there ain't no word for lonely.


Turtles are not easily amused. They know that life is nothing but a shell game.

Comments

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I think you've done it justice.

I forget what those wasps are called; they live in holes in the ground, and I think they don't sting; I've never been stung by one, anyway.

[mle292.livejournal.com]

I like them all, but right now that waterfall strikes my fancy. Beautiful photos once again!

[barondave.livejournal.com]

The first shot is spectacular. And I'm not an insect person at all.

Without seeing the original I can't comment on how true the colors are, but the shot in question looks fine.

The turtle in the last shot looks downright world-weary, like the turtle who was on Noah's Ark, telling his story to Dr. Dolittle.

[nightshade1972.livejournal.com]

Maybe TX bees are easier to photograph because they're bigger?

:-)

[guppiecat]

Nice. :)

[mplsfish.livejournal.com]

I imagine all or most Texas honey bees are africanized. The only thing stopping that process is the freeze line. But there was a hive here at Theo Wirth that I suspect of getting africanized and then killed off over winter. They were very aggressive unprovoked which is not normal around here.


That bee and flower look like they really love eachother.

[guppiecat]

Are you likely to have bees again next year?

[mplsfish.livejournal.com]

So much depends on where we end up moving.