Araucaria araucana or Monkey Puzzle (or Chilean Pine) to be precise.
The Monkey Puzzle Tree at Ness Gardens is probably the biggest and best specimen I have ever seen. For a shot of it in full have a look at this link.
While it is quite spectacular in full I find the detail much more interesting with the twisted rope like branches and succulent spiky leaves. I also like the alien seed pods which were only growing on one side of the tree. There is so much going on in this tree.
Yesterday I went to Ness Botanic Gardens. I have lived in this area for almost 25 years and have never visited the gardens before so in hope that the weather would stay favourable and that there would lots of flowers to see I headed out with my camera and my 100mm macro lens (in truth I had all my gear but only used the one lens) and went wild...
Although it was quite cloudy and cold it was a nice day. It having rained heavily the night before everything was fresh and green, if a little squishy under foot.
At first I couldn't decide which pictures to start with but thought that as I had posted pictures of water splashes for the past two days I would lead into my selection from Ness with these beautiful water droplets on succulent leaves.
I like the first image with the tiny bubbles glittering in the large droplet but my favourite shot is the second one with the smooth round droplet and with the bokeh the droplets in the background appear like fairy lights.
These two pictures are of plants that were right next to each other in the shelter of a stack of cut timber.
My eye was caught by the bright white flowers which stood out in the forest where there was so little brightness but then I was struck by the intricate structure of the second plant where all of the petals have fallen exposing the delicate stems and succulent buds.
Just one picture for today.
I get really excited when I find a heart in nature. They can appear in some really unexpected places, like this one. This is a very small succulent which was growing in a gap on a slate wall in Beddgelert. Although it is quite large in this picture in reality it is just a few milimetres across. It would have been so easy to miss. I am so glad I didn't.
#nature's hearts #succulent #Beddgelert #Macro photos
