The night’s reflected brilliance

Captured on a photowalk through the Denver Botanic Gardens:

The night's reflected brilliance

Every year in December, the Denver Botanic Gardens puts on a “Blossoms of Light” show — it’s always a great display, although generally also a bit cold. But if you bundle up and carry a spare battery in your coat’s inside pocket, you’re good to go!

Oh yes, and don’t forget a tripod too — this is a 2.5 second exposure (at ISO 800 for minimal noise). Fortunately there are plenty of turf areas along the paths, so you can set up a tripod without blocking traffic or damaging the plants. But no commercial photography (i.e., stock shots for Getty) unless you want to fork over a $350 fee to the Gardens…

An odd looking thing…

On a recent weekend jaunt to the mountains, we wandered through the Yampa River Botanic Garden in Steamboat Springs. Quite a few things were in bloom, including this unusual item:

An odd looking thing...

It’s Alpine Sea Holly (Eryngium alpinum); never seen one of these before…