Peruvian daffodil (Spider Lily Ismene)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Nikon D850, Nikkor 105mm micro

Sacred lotus

iPhone 12 Pro Max, Camera+ 2 app in macro mode, Snapseed 2 app border

Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

My USPS Stamps to date!

I’m working on updating and revising my photography-only website and created this collage as a side project. These are the 11 stamps with my images that have been published since 2014.

© 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2022 United States Postal Service

Columbine and hosta leaves

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Bearded irises in my garden

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Lotsa purple! Siberian irises, Columbine and Spiderwort

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Daffodils!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Nikon D850 / Nikkor 105mm micro

Tulip ‘Lady Jane’

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Nikon D850, Nikkor 105mm micro

Tulips

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Nikon D850 with Nikkor 105mm micro lens

Tulip

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

iPhone 12 Pro Max with Camera+ 2 app in macro mode

My 2022 Global Stamp Debuts!

Today’s the day!

It’s the first day of issue of the 2022 Global Stamp (with my photo of an African daisy) in Kansas City, MO.

Look for it at your local post office, or you can order online here:

https://store.usps.com/store/results?Ntt=african%20daisy…

This round Global stamp can be used to mail a one-ounce letter to any country to which First-Class Mail International® service is available. As with all Global stamps, this stamp will have a postage value equivalent to the price of the single-piece First-Class Mail International first-ounce machinable letter in effect at the time of use.

Global Forever® Stamp for 2022!

The USPS issued their very first Global Forever® stamp in 2013 (and it was a globe, appropriately). The USPS sends mail to over 190 countries, and guess whose photo of an African Daisy is going to be on the 2022 Global Forever® stamp? Drum roll, please…..

MINE!

I just got an email informing me that the news of the debut was released to the public today, so I can share the exciting news here!

USPS Reveals More Stamps for 2022: https://about.usps.com/…/0111-usps-reveals-more-stamps…

You can send 1 oz letters or postcards around the world with one Global Forever® stamp, which currently costs $1.30 and never expires, even if the postage price goes up. For large envelopes (flats) up to 15.994 oz, postage prices vary based on weight and destination.

The African Daisy stamp is being issued in self-adhesive panes of 10. This stamp will be released in Kansas City, MO, without a first-day-of-issue ceremony, on March 14. Sometimes the Postal Store will allow you to pre-order stamps from their website. I think they sometimes put issuances on pre-sale 30 days before issuance, so you might check out their site mid-February: usps.com/shop and then go to Stamps and search for African Daisy.

This is the 11th image I’ve had published as a Forever® stamp. Previously, I had images for: Ferns 2014, Water Lilies 2015 and Kenilworth Park (as part of the National Park Service 100th Anniversary 16-stamp panel) in 2016.

Stargazer lilies

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Thought I’d play with the black velvet background behind this group of Stargazer lilies blooming in my backyard garden this afternoon. I’ve previously done single blooms (mostly of Bearded irises), but wanted to see what the effect would be for an entire grouping of blooms. I shot this image with my iPhone 12 Pro Max using the Camera+ 2 app in macro mode.

Alliums

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Irises at Green Spring Gardens

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Pocket garden, year #2

And so it begins—my second year of creating the “hanging garden of Babylon,” as Michael calls it. This year I added a lot more punchy color with red and pink polka dot plants and geraniums with colorful leaves. I added an Asparagus fern, coleus, white and green polka dot plants, sweet potato vines in three color variations and several ivies. Stay tuned for the metamorphosis!

Bleeding hearts

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

(Nikon D850, Nikkor 105mm micro lens)

Bearded iris in my garden

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. (iPhone 12 Pro Max, Camera+ 2 app in macro mode)

Japanese Roof Iris

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Nikon D850 / Nikkor 105mm micro

Peony ‘Henri Potin’

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

(iPhone 12 Pro Max, Camera+ 2 app in macro mode)

Roof iris ‘Alba’

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

(iPhone 12 Pro Max, Camera+ 2 app in macro mode)

Siberian iris with bumblebee

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. (iPhone 12 Pro Max, Camera+ 2 app in macro mode)

Feed me, Seymour!

This one is, well, um, interesting. It’s got a Little Shop of Horrors “Feed me, Seymour” vibe. I’ll capture it fully unfurled and see if its demeanor changes.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Parrot tulips blooming in my new flower bed

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Bleeding hearts

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. (iPhone 12 Pro Max, Camera+ 2 app in macro mode)

Tulip blooming in my garden

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. (iPhone 12 Pro Max, Camera+ 2 app in macro mode)

Grape hyacinth (Muscari) in my garden

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. (iPhone 12 Pro Max, Camera+ 2 app in macro mode)

African daisy (Osteospermum)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. (iPhone 12 Pro Max, Camera+ 2 app in macro mode)

African daisy (Osteospermum)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. (iPhone 12 Pro Max, Camera+ 2 app in macro mode)

Ginkgo branches

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Sunday sky

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. (iPhone 8Plus, Snapseed app border)

Icarus flying too close to the sun (see him above, left?)

Signs of fall #2

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. (iPhone 8Plus, Snapseed 2 app border)

Signs of fall #1

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. (iPhone 8Plus, Snapseed app borders)

My Garden Photography Workshop at River Farm

Yours truly is leading a garden photography workshop on Saturday, October 17, at River Farm, home to the American Horticulture Society!

What I’ll be teaching can apply to everything from a DSLR to a point-n-shoot to your smartphone.

The workshop is 1:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., with a lecture and hands-on guidance photographing in the gardens at River Farm. (I just attended a botanical illustration workshop a few weeks ago, so I know the social distancing/mask wearing is in effect there.) The event will be held exclusively outdoors under their big event tent. Their address is 7931 E Boulevard Dr, Alexandria, VA 22308.

If you’re local and want to attend, learn more in the link below!

https://connect.ahsgardening.org/river-farm-events/2020/garden-photography-workshop—non-members

Runnymeade Garden Club

When my friend Elizabeth recently mentioned the flyer (on Facebook) that I sent out to residents when I started the Runnymeade Garden Club (eons ago), she described it exactly as I created it—little colorful squares with photos taken around my garden and in the neighborhood. I just came across the front and back covers of the brochure I distributed around the neighborhood. I have no idea what I did for the inside of the piece–will have to locate the file. But for now, here are the two covers. On the back cover, you’ll see a tabby cat in the lower righthand corner—that was my sweet boy, Jasper. I hosted the garden club for about four or five years (I don’t remember exactly how long), then needed to step back for personal and business reasons—I put a lot of time, effort and money into this wonderful group of “Weedettes.” It was just what I needed during those years, and I made many wonderful long-lasting friendships as a result.

Hibiscus

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. iPhone 8plus, Camera+2 app in macro mode

Orange Jessamine (Orange Jasmine)

Orange Jessamine (Murraya paniculata)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.  iPhone 8Plus, Camera+2 app in macro mode

Morning glory blooms

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Daylily

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. Nikon D850, Nikkor 105mm micro

 

Rudbeckia

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. Nikon D850, Nikkor 105mm micro

 

Tiny Daylily

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. Nikon D850, Nikkor 105mm micro

 

Crocosmia

Crocosmias are part of the Iris family. Originally from South Africa, the name comes from the Greek words for “saffron” and “smell.”

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. Nikon D850, Nikkor 105mm micro

Bumblebee on Coneflower

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. (Nikon D850, Nikkor 105mm micro)

Daylilies

For this shot, I diffused the light shining directly on the daylilies, but allowed the bright dappled sunlight to filter through in the background.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. Nikon D850 / Nikkor 105mm micro

Daylilies

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. Nikon D850 / Nikkor 105mm micro

Daylily

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. Nikon D850 / Nikkor 105mm micro

Hydrangea blues

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

 

Stargazer lilies

My huge cluster of stargazer lilies put on quite a show a few weeks ago! 18 blooms across four plants, and so fragrant that I could smell them from the front porch! 

Shot with my iPhone 8Plus

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

“Hosta seeds” (NOT)

A few weeks ago I shared a post about some unusual color hostas available from a FB ad. I took the bait and paid $12.95 (including shipping) for “200 hosta seeds” from a company called Garden Gate (apparently NOT affiliated with the magazine of the same name). My hostas in the backyard garden are gorgeous this year, so I thought, why not add some new varieties–and with those colors (which I admit seemed a bit suspect, but I was smitten already!) would mean color in the garden when nothing else was blooming. Plus, hostas are perennial and easy care plants. I’ve never seen a hosta seed and didn’t know whether they grew from seeds in the first place. Win-win, yes?

I then read reviews saying you will NOT get 200. You will NOT get actual hosta “seeds.” And there is no hot pink hosta in existence.

So I promptly wrote to PayPal and told them what I thought of this company. I was refunded just a few days later. Then today, I just got these “hosta seeds.” Not 200, by a stretch. But since they’re FREE and I’m curious by nature, I’m gonna plant them and let you know what transpires. (They look like tulip bulbs or something smaller. Someone commented and said they look like garlic cloves, which they do. No garlic smell, though.)

Also, the box was already open. Guess whoever tampered with the box saw “hosta seeds” and considered it a bust. Wish me luck on whatever these are. 😜

Just counted them….24.25 “hosta seeds.”

Blooming in my garden: Oriental lily ‘Stargazer’

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.
iPhone 8Plus, Camera+2 app in macro mode