Swamp Lily

This is one of my favorite flowering plants.  I've transplanted a couple of them to the front garden where I can sit on my front steps with the camera on a tripod and shoot away.  The only real issue I have with them is that the lubbers, those giant grasshoppers, simply love the bloom on this plant.  They don't touch the leaves but will eat the bloom within hours of it's opening.  My wife has concocted a number of organic sprays without success.  I use the more direct size 12 approach but they are still winning this battle.  If anyone out there has a good solution to this problem I'd greatly appreciate hearing about it.

Water Lily - Bok Tower

Happy New Year and thanks to all of you who take the time to look at my site.  I'm planning on expanding my travels through Florida this year and will hopefully be posting more.  I'd welcome any comments or suggestions of out of the way places where you have found some remnants of the old Florida.  I took this shot at Bok Tower.

Water Lily

Somehow I've managed to miss going to St Petersburg's Sunken Gardens until today.  What a great place to visit, even a couple of days before the onset of a Florida winter.  It was about 80 degrees with a mild breeze blowing.  I took this shot of a water lily in moving water.  That's usually a recipe for a blurred water lily.  I tried to time the swaying of the lily to get the shot when it reached one extreme of it's travel and paused before moving back in the opposite direction.  I kept the shutter speed just low enough to get a sense of motion in the water.  I like the result.

Swamp Lily

This is another photo taken in our front garden.