Graceful,gentle,quiet beauty. Copyright 2018 Pamela Breitberg
Each flower, each petal different yet the same. Copyright 2018 Pamela Breitberg
Resilient Autumn bloom. Copyright 2018 Pamela Breitberg
Same but different…
individual
Natural confusion…
Late autumn bloom of a usually spring blooming tree. Copyright 2017 Pamela Breitberg
The rest of Chicago is reacting “properly” to the arriving chills of freezing temperatures while parts of this tree is confused. Most of the SPRING flowering tree is dormant, as is proper for November. But confused by our unusually long, warm days of autumn this year some of it’s branches believe springtime is on the horizon. It is not unusual for perennial plants to have a second, cool season bloom period; but this is the first time I’ve witnessed a second season bloom of a tree.
Relatively same but different…
More Mum images as they open to provide cool colors for cooler days. See “unfolding beauty” from a few posts ago. Just like persons, mum blooms are unique to themselves. They are similar in form and function with unique characteristics including growth stages. Each bloom is approximately one inch in diameter.
Mum bud. Copyright 2016 Pamela Breitberg
Mum twins at separate stages of growth. Copyright 2016
Fall garden closeup of Mums. Copyright 2016, Pamela Breitberg
Asymmetrical mum. Copyright 2016, Pamela Breitberg
Individuals among the masses…
Mass of individual Frost Aster flowers. Copyright 2016 Pamela Breitberg
This cluster of Frost Aster shows the various stages of life of a flower from bud (far bottom left) to withering petals (top right) with mature bloom in the middle.
Mature Frost Aster. Copyright 2016 Pamela Breitberg
Portrait of individual Frost Aster blossom. Copyright 2016 Pamela Breitberg
Like people, each flower, at a given moment is unique in appearance, experience and stage of life. Portraits of individual blossoms show their individuality. One has lost the youthful vitality with its receding brown *carpel and sparse bent petals. The other flower is at its peak with bright golden center and prolific array of petals.
*Britannica defines “Carpel, (as) one of the leaflike, seed-bearing structures that constitute the innermost whorl of a flower. One or more carpels make up the pistil. Fertilization of an egg within a carpel by a pollen grain from another flower results in seed development within the carpel.