First lilies of the year

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First lilies of the year

May 30, 2020 by Mike Powell

The irises in the garden of my neighbor Cindy Dyer have mostly faded, but her lilies are starting to flower. I believe that this beauty is an Asiatic lily, the second lily bloom of the season in her garden with many more to follow.

I captured this image late one morning this week as the rain was beginning to taper off and the colors were wonderfully saturated. I also love the multiple raindrops on the flowers—these are a few of my favorite things.

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring | Tagged Alexandria VA, Asiatic lily, Canon 50D, Canon 60mm, Cindy Dyer, lily, Runnymeade | 19 Comments

19 Responses

on May 30, 2020 at 8:03 am | Reply thetinypotager

Perfect – the rain really brings out the vibrancy of the petals 🌿
on May 30, 2020 at 8:09 am | Reply Jan Williams Photography

Lovely.
- on May 30, 2020 at 8:31 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Jan. My travel is still a bit restricted so I derive a tremendous amount of pleasure in monitoring and photographing the garden of one on my neighbors, who is also a photographer.
on May 30, 2020 at 8:44 am | Reply Reed Andariese

Very Nice Mike! Still waiting for our flowers to bloom! Enjoyed seeing your image!
- on May 30, 2020 at 9:49 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Reed. Consider these to be previews of coming attractions. The last few day it’s been feeling more like summer than spring, with hot, humid weather and temperatures in the upper 80’s.
on May 30, 2020 at 8:57 am | Reply SaaniaSparkle 🧚🏻‍♀️

Nice blog
on May 30, 2020 at 9:51 am | Reply Louis Dallara Fine Art Photography

Beautiful capture
on May 30, 2020 at 9:51 am | Reply Peter Hillman

That is one beautiful lily, Mike! My mom always used to love lillies and growed some in her garden.
on May 30, 2020 at 10:49 am | Reply joyroses13

Very pretty! Now the “My favorite things” song from Sound of Music is going through my head. 🙂
- on May 30, 2020 at 11:06 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I suspected that a lot of people would catch that Sound of Music reference. I love the movie and the music from it.
  - on May 30, 2020 at 11:21 am joyroses13
    
    It is my all time favorite movie!! Have seen it countless times, the music is wonderful!
on May 30, 2020 at 12:00 pm | Reply mitzybricker

Beautiful capture, Mike. Ours are blooming as well.

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on May 30, 2020 at 12:42 pm | Reply Dan Antion

I think WordPress ate my comment. I like the colors of the flowers and I love raindrops. Nice job, Mike
on May 30, 2020 at 3:01 pm | Reply sv-anui.com

Beautiful Mike. I could not resist zooming in to see the rain drops and the markings on the lily. Great details.
- on May 30, 2020 at 3:48 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  As you know, Chris, this is not my normal subject matter, but it has been reassuring to know that I can find beautiful subjects to photograph by merely visiting my neighbor’s wonderful garden. I have probably photographed more flowers in the past few months than in the past few years combined. 🙂 As for the details, no matter whether I am shooting with a telephoto lens or a macro lens, I am generally focused on the details.
on May 30, 2020 at 5:50 pm | Reply Ms. Liz

Gorgeous photo Mike!
- on May 31, 2020 at 6:08 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Liz. A few more of these lilies are now open, but I will probably wait until some others flower before I take some more photos of them.
on June 5, 2020 at 8:10 pm | Reply krikitarts

I did the double-click enlargement, and the combination of those deep, rich tones and the perfection of the raindrops make for a really scrumptious image!
- on June 6, 2020 at 7:40 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Gary. I have taken to posting images larger than necessary specifically so folks have the option of clicking to see the details. In this case, I think I was actually focusing on the raindrops themselves to try to get them as sharp as possible.