Dragonfly Photography at Americus Garden Inn

I've had so many people ask me how I get such great photos of the dragonflies.  I am going to share all of the photos I took on one walk today around the garden of 3 different dragonflies.  You can tell me which photo you like the best.  This first one, I really liked the way the green, blue and amber were highlighted by the purple queen foliage.

This is the first photo of this skimmer I took, not knowing how long I would have to take another photo or two.  Not a great angle, but, it gave me some idea of what kind of dragonfly it might be.

A slightly closer shot and you can see the amber spots.

This angle highlights that a chunk of wing is missing.

Here, you can see the wing spots or "stigma" very clearly.

The dragonfly stayed still long enough for me to continue taking photos from several different angles.

This shot shows the tip of the abdomen, indicating this is a male.

I just love the iridescent wings.

Once I saw this photo, I knew what this is.

This is a spot-winged glider.

Did you know that dragonflies can move their wings independently from one another?

Last photo before it took off.

As I walked by the pond, this dragonfly put on a little show for me.

Notice that this dragonfly is in the opposite position of the glider above, meaning the abdomen is in the air.

There was a lot of glare and I wasn't sure if the incredible blue of the abdomen and the green eyes would come out.

Notice the piece of wing that is missing, the wing spots (stigma) and the slight amber color on the forewings.

This is the angle that almost everyone sees Goofy.

The colors really pop in this shot.

Although this is closer, the colors are not as vibrant as the prior photo.

This is the best one of this dragonfly, in my opinion.  What do you think?

Thank you so much for visiting the Americus Garden Inn blog and allowing me to take you on a dragonfly photo session.  When you come stay with us, I'd love to do this with you in person!

Love,

Susan

Berries, Bees, and Buds

It rained last night and when I wandered the garden this morning I realized the nandina are covered with berries. (Remember to click on the photos to enlarge.)

There was this beautiful cauliflower mushroom growing on the stump by the school house. Last year we had one that became enormous. From what I have read, it may be edible. Don't worry. I won't be serving it for breakfast. The Mexican petunias responded to the rain by blooming profusely.

The hollies by the pond are loaded with berries, too.

We have 2 fig trees in our garden. The Celeste fig is the one that had the figeater beetles all over the fruit. There are only a few immature figs left on the tree. The other tree is a brown turkey fig, which I photographed today.

If you look closely you can see that it is full of figs and, so far, there are no beetles.

The vitex tree is like a bee magnet. We have watched the bees fall asleep on the branches, but, never have I seen them fighting over one particular bloom. One of the bees was ready to challenge me - see the bee in the center of the photo hovering!

Now, see it on the left. There were 4 bees fighting over these flowers.

In this photo, they are jockeying for position.

And then, all was quiet. It was really interesting to watch.

Thumbelina (one of the neighbor's cats) brought us a lubber grasshopper as a present. I regifted the lubber to the spider in the sago palm. You can see that she has wrapped the "present" - she is in the center and the lubber is below her.

I looked more closely and saw something familiar in the web (remember to click to enlarge).

In an earlier blog post I had mentioned the egg cases on one of the sago palms. Well, now I know who they belong to.

I went over to the pond to check on the tadpoles and was greeted by this dragonfly doing a headstand.

Then, I saw there were 2 others behaving in a similar fashion. Must have been gymnastics time.

We have had many guests ask what the identity of the plant below is. It is "purple queen", with purple foliage and light pink flowers.

The oleander is blooming through the canna lilies and is offset by the white crepe myrtle.

Through all the heat we have had, the Mickey Mouse plants continue to thrive and add a splash of color to the garden.

A lot of the flower beds could use some dead-heading, but, when it is so hot outside, I just can't go out there. This bed of black-eyed Susans is in full bloom.

To finish, a beautiful water lily from the pond.

I hope you enjoyed the garden tour for today. We would love to share it with you in person. Wishing you a beautiful day.

Buds, Berries and a Dragonfly

This dragonfly insisted on posing for me. You can see its sweet face. Here is the side view.

The vitex tree is full of buds.
I was looking at the nandina buds and realized there were clusters of bright red berries hidden in the foliage.

The oakleaf hydrangea blossoms have started to change color from white to pink.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted this photo of the sago palm which had just shown signs of life.

Can you believe this is the same sago palm today?

Absolutely unbelievable!

Wishing you a fabulous day.

Breakfast and Gardens in Americus

Our guests are sleeping in this morning, so, I thought I'd share what we are having.Delicious chocolate muffins
followed by tropical fruit medley with fresh blueberries from our garden.
Smoked turkey strata accompanied by banana buttermilk whole wheat pancakes.

This crinum lily is in the front of the house.

The first dragonflies have just appeared. Do you see the dragonfly in the photo?

How about this one?

The gardenias by the entrance just started to bloom and the fragrance welcomes you to our home.

The first "little business" daylily of the year.

The oleander on the side of the house has really filled out.

There appears to be fruit on the persimmon tree.

One of the salvia plants in the garden.

Another photo of the salvia.

Wish you were here with us enjoying breakfast.