A Pleasant Surprise

by Bruce Bley

Title

A Pleasant Surprise

Artist

Bruce Bley

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Recently I was on my way home after a morning rain and stopped at one of my favorite friends flower beds to take some pictures of her beautiful irises. I was not sure what they would be like because of an early morning rain, but to my surprise I loved the droplets of water on the petals of the irises. This burgundy iris was one of my favorites of hers not only for its color, but how the flower began to glisten as the sun was trying to illuminate the bloom. I love capturing the detail in my subject matter giving the viewer a closer look at what they might be missing. I think I have done that in this photograph.

Iris is a genus of 260-300 species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species, as well as, being the scientific name, iris is also very widely used as a common name for all Iris species, though some plants called thus belong to other closely related genera. It is a popular garden flower.

Irises are perennial plants, growing from creeping rhizomes (rhizomatous irises) or, in drier climates, from bulbs (bulbous irises). They have long, erect flowering stems which may be simple or branched, solid or hollow, and flattened or have a circular cross-section. The rhizomatous species usually have 3-10 basal sword-shaped leaves growing in dense clumps. The bulbous species have cylindrical, basal leaves.

The inflorescences are fan-shaped and contain one or more symmetrical six-lobed flowers. These grow on a pedicel or lack a footstalk. The three sepals, which are spreading or droop downwards, are referred to as "falls". They expand from their narrow base, which in some of the rhizomatous irises has a "beard" (a tuft of short upright extensions growing in its midline), into a broader expanded portion ("limb"), often adorned with veining, lines or dots.

I hope you have enjoyed this photograph and will share it with others. You can see more of my work on my homepage in the various galleries I have created. Thank you for visiting and please come back.

Uploaded

May 25th, 2015

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