peppers at the arboretum

Hi all.

I'm doing the rounds of some local parks as I have a new camera and need to practice. (first dslr :-) I thought I'd share photos in case anyone is interested.

I was at the arboretum last weekend and the herb garden is looking good. It was waaaay too hot to spend much time there in the middle of the day, but anyway.... the pepper row is loaded. Before you know it, fall will be here so now's the time to visit if you have chile-envy....

Photos are here: http://flickr.com/photos/ki/sets/72157601925888779/

There are some practice type photos in there as well, so bear with me... The peppers start with the black stuff after the columns - click through the rest of the set. I wish I'd taken more photos of more peppers but the sun was pretty intense.... I didn't even make it to the herb area....

Thanks for the lovely photographic tour of the National Arboretum. I really enjoyed your close ups and attention to detail. Beautiful bees & butterflies visiting a large variety of colorful flowers, exfoliating bark on trees, ornamental grasses blowing in the breeze, a riot of super hot peppers just waiting to be picked and long enticing vistas to explore. What a wonderful way to spend the day! Keep practicing with your new camera because I'm thoroughly enjoying your pictures. With the changing seasons, there will always be new plants to photograph. Thanks so much for sharing them with us!

Lots of great pictures there. We all should have taken the day off from whatever today and gone there, it was such a gorgeous day.

Nice shots! I like the crepe myrtle trunk (or crepe myrtle-like trunk?).

Those shots remind me that the Arboretum is a great place to go for a scenic run. If only my feet worked. ***sigh***

Looks like you got the hang of that camera preeeeettttty quickly! :-)

Thanks for the comments. All of a sudden I am taking photos of bees and butterflies - just to see if I can :P If anyone can give me names for them, I'd really appreciate it. One is the butterfly in the first post, and here is the bee that is all over the place. Surely this is not the bee that is said to have "disappeared" this year?

I haven't figured out how to focus on wispy things like spiders' webs and fluffy seed....

I think your Butterfly is a Tiger Swallowtail.

Oh, I meant to comment on your picture of the Chinese peppers I love the colors you get on one plant, ? are the eatable?

hi, thanks for the id.

It took ages for me to figure out that "ornamental" in capsicum-speak means pretty to look at, and that many ornamental peppers are edible, not poisonous. lol. Reportedly a very hot pepper.

It's compact-growing too, so I'm thinking of trying it either on the balcony or indoors. It's so colorful!

I see that this site has the seeds http://ushotstuff.com/Seed.Source.htm

I looked at Parks site and T&M did not carry the ones you saw. Maybe a seed swap is in order. Don't want 10 plants. I'll add it to my "want" list.

Hi again Ki - hows the Hoyas going? :-) Now that you have new camera I challenge you to take pix of ALL your plants at home - I happen to know you have a "few" :-)

"Hi again Ki - hows the Hoyas going? :-) Now that you have new camera I challenge you to take pix of ALL your plants at home - I happen to know you have a "few" :-) "

very cute.

I have been taking photos of some of them, but I will not be doing them all. lol.

I was very happy to be able to capture the glitteryness of these leaves..... Smithiantha Texas Freckles.

Edited because I can't get the quote box to work....

This message was edited Sep 16, 2007 10:16 PM

and I can do artsy f----y photos like this of Haworthia maughanii. Nice to be able to hide what's behind it.

oh, before you get sick of me....

The hoyas are doing GREAT! thank you sooooooo much. I'm really liking Lao II and rigida and all the rest. (Some have new homes, though.) The only hoya I have in bloom right now is tjadasmalanguensis. This photo with my p&s....

Great photos of the Arboretum! One place we haven't visited, but it's on our "list" :)

Gorgeous Key!!! You do such a great job!

Beautiful photos, Keyring.

Keyring: What camera are you using?

glad you're enjoying the photos.

The new cam is an Oly Evolt E-510. Keeping in mind that it is my first slr.... I love it. It's on the 4/3 system, which has its pros and cons, but for me the best part is that the body *and* the lenses are smaller and lighter.

FYI, I snapped some shots at the Herb Garden at the Arboretum today ... these are terribly amateurish shots compared to Keyring's, but if you like salvias, you might want to take a gander here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/781809/

Those were a delight to view! Is your shutter finger sore ;-) ? Thanks for sharing! Live the pink and blue combos. And nice to see the honey bees hard at work.

thanks. i might try to get back with the family befor cold weather, just to go down thru asian collection to the river would be a great walk. they must have about a hundred scented geraniums in those pots, i liked that too.

nice photos, Wrightie! Love the salvias! It's almost a shame that they moved peppers into the old Salvia bed.....

I was there again a week or two ago, but didn't make it to the herb area. But, I did stop by the asian hill. Trycirtis is in bloom (some were about to bloom). http://flickr.com/photos/ki/sets/72157602313541679/

Keyring, your photos are very impressive. One day, I *will* buy a good camera and take some photography lessons.

I have uploaded more photos to the Bonsai forum. Some of those trees are 200-300 years old. Amazing. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/781940/

Sally, according to the radar map, it looks like you're getting some heavy rain at the moment? Still drizzlypizzly here.

we had a brief downpour, then stopped, t hen good but short heavy shower, now quit again...At least it somethun.. boy I wish the ground could soak it up as fast as it comes down. Yesterday, coming home at 3 pm, had about thirty seven big fat drops, then nothin at all !

I saw the bonsais in person few wks ago went with a friend with good plant knowledge, it was so great. Cannot pick a favorite. The groves are cool. I noticed my twenty yr old rosemary has rooted a couple of fat stems. Next spring I will try to pot them as pseudo bonsai. if they live they could be pretty cool.

Well, as of now, those showers were all the rain, maybe 1/4 inch. Soil bone dry under the top moist part. Radar now looks like critter will get rain, not here.

by golly, as of second edit i hear rain and plenty of it

This message was edited Oct 19, 2007 7:54 PM

This message was edited Oct 19, 2007 8:33 PM

wrightie, great Bonsai photos! Used to have a large collection when I lived in Maine - split the collection with ex-husband and moved them to Virginia only to lose every single one of them :( I wasn't familiar enough with the weather here, foolishly thinking I could leave them outside all winter - bad mistake! I got bored one hot afternoon this summer and potted up about a half dozen little trees to experiment with, hopefully this time I'll be successful with them!

rcn- ouch! what a loss. better luck this time!

wrightie- 3/4 " here. anything there?