My Passion(flower)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

I photographed this beauty in my garden this morning. I love the “bokeh” in this photo (especially the light coming into the back fence).

And I know you’re wondering what in the world “bokeh” is, why you should seek it out, and how you can create it in your photos, so check out the following links:

Here’s a simple explanation about what “bokeh” is on the Your Photo Tips site…

…plus more details on bokeh from The Online Photographer site

…very well researched and tested information (with lots of examples) from Rick Denny

…and finally, bokeh easily explained by Ken Rockwell.

WAIT! Learn how to create it in Photoshop using Layer Masks at Beyond Megapixels.

There are more than 500 known species and several hundred hybrids of passiflora. Most are vine-flowering, although some are shrubs, and a few are herbaceous. Just nine species are found in the U.S. and Southern Asia has the most native species–17. The most common species in the southeastern U.S. is the Maypop, Passiflora incarnata. Its edible fruit is sweet, yellow, the size of a chicken’s egg, and few pests bother it. It is the larval food of a number of butterfly species and important to local wildlife. Carpenter bees are important pollinators of maypops.

For more information on passion flowers:

Passiflora Online is a comprehensive website with growing tips, FAQs, plant ID, hybrid and species images, pollinators, and much more.

Plants in Motion has videos of a Passion Flower in bloom at also short clips of bees visiting the flowers.

Tradewinds Fruit has a great database of Passion Flower blossoms. Click on the “related species” section on the left of the site to see a wide variety of Passion Flower plants.