So the Frozen Tundra Isn’t Really Frozen Year Round?

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to go back up to Green Bay, where my family lived for almost 13 years. In addition to great conversation with good friends, I went to the Green Bay Botanical Garden on another of my photo safaris. It was a nice, cool, windless day (otherwise known as a perfect day for taking pictures).

It surprised even me when I realized I had never visited the garden when we lived in the area, except to see the annual WPS Garden of Lights over the holidays several years.

Here are a few of the photos I took while meandering through the garden with my good friend Ann.

Do you have a favorite photo in this slideshow?

Photo Safari at Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, Summer 2012

Our family recently moved from Lakeland, Fla, to Springdale, Ark. We were hoping to escape some of the oppressive heat of Florida, but alas, no luck — yet! (I know . . . it’s HOT everywhere this summer.)

One of my favorite things about living in this part of Arkansas is the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, which is just two miles from our new home. I’ve visited the garden weekly since we arrived. It’s gorgeous, with a nice variety of flowers, and not overly manicured. I love the layout of the garden also; there are several meandering paths leading through the garden, with many places to sit and relax along the way.

Here are a few of my favorite photos of the garden I have taken so far this summer. Don’t be surprised when you see a photo or two of a rooster mixed among the floral photos; he’s quite photogenic.

Which photos are your favorites? I’m partial to the pink water lilies.

Floral Photo Safari at Bok Tower Gardens, 9-11-2011

Rather than staying inside, glued to the television like many chose to do today, my husband and I made the short drive to one of our favorite places in Florida, Bok Tower Gardens, and spent the morning in nature.

It was the quietest, most serene day I have ever experienced at the gardens. We rarely saw other human visitors, and those we saw were generally silent. Birds chirped. There was occasional rustling in the brush; I pretended it was all squirrel noise (even though I know for sure there was at least one harmless black racer snake).

We walked slowly through the gardens, taking it all in. Twice, we were serenaded by the carillon in the Singing Tower.

For us, it was a peaceful, fitting way to spend 9-11-2011.

Here are a dozen of the photos I took with my Fujifilm Finepix S1800.

Bok Tower Gardens Floral Photo Safari, Spring 2011

One of my favorite places to go to stroll, think, pray and take photos is Bok Tower Gardens in historic Lake Wales, Fla. Yesterday, the one-year anniversary of the passing of my mother, I made the 45-minute trek from my home to Lake Wales. Here you’ll see many of my floral photos from this spring.

If you’d asked me, I would have said I had taken a hundred or more photos yesterday. But as I was downloading them into Picasa this morning, I realized I took fewer than 50. I must have been strolling, thinking and praying more than taking photos. And that’s just what I needed yesterday.

I miss you, Mom.

A Look Back at My 10 Favorite Floral Photos of 2010

As many of you know, I love to take macro photos of flowers; since I can’t grow a thing, it’s my little contribution to the gardening community. All of these photos were taken with either my Canon Powershot SX110IS or my Samsung Epic 4g mobile device.

Here’s a look back at the 10 floral photos I took in 2010 that I liked the best:

Image Credit: 2010 in Flowers, by Barbara Nixon

In 2011, I intend to do even more floral photography. Since I carry my Samsung Epic 4g with me everywhere I go, it’s easy for me to snap a picture of a perfect (or not-so-perfect bloom) and share it with my friends.