June is lovely, and…
I’ll enjoy the sunshine and warmth, but…
May is my fav month.
Before the month disappears I’ll post photos from May. Above, moss-covered rocks line Tanner Creek. Wahclella Falls, at the Columbia Gorge, Oregon.
A tiny wildlfower, Vanilla leaf (Achlys triphylla). With it’s candle-like inflorescence and boldly cut-out leaf margins, it always stops me in my tracks. The leaves smell lightly of vanilla when dried and have been used to repel insects and scent rooms, and for tea.
Another early spring flower, the Salmonberry, has the interesting habit of producing flowers and berries at the same time – that is, it keeps on making flowers for a while, so on any given branch you may find buds, flowers, and ripe and unripe berries. This stylized image is mostly out of focus but you can still see a berry behind the characteristically nodding flower.
Last year’s dried fronds intermingle with this years’ fresh green ones. The maidenhair fern’s ladder-like pattern is retained even as the leaves shrivel. Wahclella Falls trail in Oregon.
This photo of a creek in a local park was out of focus. Instead of tossing it, I emphasized the softness and added more glow to it – I think it conveys a lush, springtime-in-the-woods feeling.
We’re a long drive from the coast, but islands and water abound in Puget Sound. When you have a yen for a beach, just take a ferry to an island. Above, Foulweather Bluff near Port Gamble, Washington. We had a wonderful day there but got caught on the return trip in a terrible ferry traffic jam. We had to wait for two ferries before we could board. Smart people don’t let that happen! 😦
Speaking of wonderful days, here is another photo of the beautiful, painterly atmosphere of Wahclella Falls in Oregon.
Near home, a native iris in bloom and bud at a wetland park.
A domesticated flower this time, at the Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle. I don’t have the patience to figure out what it is. So sweet though.
On a roadside people trample the unseen beauty of cottonwood seeds collecting into a thick carpet. A tiny wildflower struggles through. Our native cottonwood trees make an abundance of lovely cotton – May snow – and I enjoy the spectacle of it, mounding and drifting along curbs and unnoticed places.
Three black and whites. This is maidenhair fern – again! I can’t get enough of it.
Beach grass blowing across a fence in Oregon.
Sword fern reaches towards the light among red cedar trees at Foulweather Bluff, in the woods along the trail to the beach.
bluebrightly 
You’ve done your neighboring state proud. We seem to share a love of the month of May. There’s nothing quite like it.
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No there isn’t. I barely scratched the surface of Oregon and look forward to making it back. There are just too many places to go to out here though!
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A wonderful series of images Lynn. The greens are just gorgeous!
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Thanks so much, yes the greens are very intense in these parts! They call Seattle the Emerald City – reminds me of a certain island in your part of the world…
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Fine set!
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Thank you very much.
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Beautiful series, Lynn….such amazing greens in that Pacific Northwest.
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Very powerful greens, that’s for sure! thanks!
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That’s a great ode to May. Beautiful images.
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🙂 I could go on and on, if I weren’t so busy with the day job.
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So very many good, good images in this one collection I wouldn’t even know where to begin….seriously. Super-duper nice work, Lynn! By the way, what do you mean when you referred to that image as “stylized”? Are you talking about your DoF or a technique you applied in PP or something completely different?
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Thanks so much – stylized was used loosely, just the look being unfocused mostly, yes, the DOF mostly. Today we went to Barclay Lake – suitable for these somewhat older knees – and there were so many great wildflowers. Lots of totally cute kids and dogs, too. You’ve probably been there?
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They are all fantastic. But the last one is my favorite. It’s light is just right and b/w was a very good choice here, pronouncing the fern.
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Thanks for noticing – I too was happy with the last one and thought it was good in black and white. That fern is common in the forests here so that’s a scene you can see regularly. But you don’t always catch it with the camera!
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Thanks for the explanation, Lynn. And about Barclay Lake…… I’ve never been there. I’ve had it in mind for a few years to do with the boys since it’s one of the classic walks in that part of the Cascades.
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Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. The softened creek photo looks very painterly.
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I love, I love, I love may. I was born in May.
As always, your images are gorgeous and delight the eye and soul!
Thanks Lynn!
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An excellent selection – as ever! I find it difficult to express a preference, so I won’t!
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You really immersed yourself in this green lushness Lynn , and who could blame you … a real treat seeing your close encounters with the natural environment like this !
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Oh, you are an artist with a camera! Happy sigh. I’ll add this to your other post that I am saving to remind me how beautiful it is out there. May is my favorite month, too 🙂
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Tender and true.
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Lovely!
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