Green Gentian

Gallery: FloraPosted July 9, 201184 views14 comments

(Frasera speciosa)
The basal rosette of leaves of this fascinating plant can grow for twenty years, waiting for conditions to be right to send up its' flowering spike. The flower spikes grow as tall as 6 feet and the whorled leaves can be 20 inches long but the flowers themselves are tiny in comparison (about the size of a dime). I chose to showcase just the blooms in this image. Thanks for looking. All suggestions most welcome.

Canon Rebel T1i
1/1250sec (due to wind) f/5.6 55mm
cropped to 50% original

Comments

14 comments

Comment posted by Bill Fach on July 9, 2011 at 10:17 PM

Nancy: Terrific shot. Where did you take this? I've only seen and shot them in Colorado on the west side of RMNP. Fantastic comp and capture. >=))>

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1805 Posts, 26981 Comments

Comment posted by Pat Sampson on July 9, 2011 at 10:20 PM

Fascinating image Nancy. I like the placement of the two blooms very much. The plant in the bg intrudes a little for my tastes but I still like the image. Good control of the whites and a beautiful color palette.

pat

Registered on May 19, 2007, 953 Posts, 15989 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Southard on July 9, 2011 at 10:35 PM

Neat shot Nancy of a very interesting subject.

Registered on July 15, 2007, 258 Posts, 3892 Comments

Comment posted by Derek Yow on July 9, 2011 at 11:31 PM

What an absolutely fascinating flower! You've done very well at capturing it's beauty! I like the two-up comp!
Looks like it could be a tough flower to shoot?

Registered on May 18, 2010, 26 Posts, 655 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Fach on July 10, 2011 at 12:56 AM

Nancy: Not sure you'll revisit my most recent shot but Nathan Buck wrote and article on cramming that explains the technique. Check it out. >=))>

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1805 Posts, 26981 Comments

Comment posted by Bob&Charly Nelson on July 10, 2011 at 10:45 AM

Wonderful isolation of a wonderful bloom Nancy.
Bob

Registered on October 27, 2005, 289 Posts, 4202 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on July 10, 2011 at 3:40 PM

Those are amazing flowers. I like all the details that you've captured especially in the upper flower. I hope these last for a while, so you can get back and try a variety of additional compositions. Isolating a single bloom would be neat, but it looks challenging.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Yeoh on July 10, 2011 at 8:32 PM

Nancy
What a fascinating flower - 20 years is a long time to wait for these flowers!!! Thanks for sharing.

Love the speckled blue petals. If you have the chance to shot this again, doing a stack to get the whole flower in focus would be interesting for documentation.

Registered on September 1, 2009, 588 Posts, 8184 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on July 10, 2011 at 10:30 PM

Fascinating structure to this plant's bloom. Very, very cool!

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Morgan Casey on July 11, 2011 at 9:19 AM

What a beautiful flower. I do wish the petals were sharper but the color pattern and isolation of the two blooms is really nice.

Registered on November 16, 2010, 22 Posts, 269 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on July 11, 2011 at 10:24 PM

Hi Nancy

A fine composition of a spectacular flower, thanks for sharing.

Albert Darmo

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments

Comment posted by Krunal Janani on July 12, 2011 at 6:58 AM

Very intriguing looking flowers indeed
try & clone out the peatal that's coming into the from in LLC if u can

Registered on September 16, 2010, 60 Posts, 1370 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Wolfenden on July 12, 2011 at 9:37 AM

You've really brought out the character of these lovely flowers, Nancy ! They seem so active with all their complex parts. Makes you wish you were a bee !

Registered on May 18, 2007, 1108 Posts, 7647 Comments

Comment posted by Giuseppe Guadagno on July 13, 2011 at 3:18 PM

Beautiful photo of a beautiful flower. I have never seen before this splendid plant. Thanks for sharing.
Take care.

Registered on February 3, 2007, 827 Posts, 5052 Comments