Color Me Surprised

Loyal readers will recall that I am a Master Gardener and proud of it. As such, I spend a lot of volunteer hours helping the members of my community learn to grow. But, every once in a while, hidden perks emerge. Case in point, recently our state's Master Gardener organization announced a state-wide photography contest, with the winners' photos being showcased in the 2009 Indiana Master Gardener calendar. A maximum of three garden photographs could be submitted by each Master Gardener and the winners would be announced after the annual State Master Gardener Conference in late September.

As I love to take photographs of plants and nature, this sounded like something I needed to pursue. So, grabbing my camera, I headed out to the garden to find some opportune photo ops.

This is a Christmas Cactus, which oddly enough blooms around Christmas time. I took many many 'blind' shots of this flower before finally ending up with a good shot. Since this plant's blooms hang down, I had to place the camera on the floor and just start taking pictures, all the while hoping to get a decent shot.

The contest required that I name my photos, so this is called "Color in Winter". This photo won third place in the Blooms category as well as the People's Choice Award in Blooms.

"A Moment's Rest" features a bee sitting on an Echinacea flower. This photo won second place in the Blooms category.

And finally we have "Study in Contrasts". The photo depicts Dill Weed flower buds against variegated Canna leaves.

This photo won first place in the Abstracts category.

Looking over the list of winners, it seems that I was the most prolific winner of the group. I am surprised - and amazed. And now that I am finished blowing my own horn, I will return you to your regularly scheduled blog.