northern Indiana woods

an assortment of brightly-coloured algae reflect in the steam rolling off a large hot spring.

almost looking like someone dropped a jar of jelly, this is actually a closeup photo of a dark red Asiatic Lily. toward the base of each petal are two tiny rows of fleshy-hairs that when magnified, look like dripping jelly. one of the hair rows is the dark red feature going diagonally across this shot, and a glimpse of the second row in the upper-left corner. the 'hairs' in this shot average 0.0087 inches in height, so 115 of them lined end-to-end would equal an inch.

vanda orchids growing in Hawaii rain-forest

Such a strong blue is a rare colour to be found in butterflies which makes the Blue Morpho an excellent find. This vibrant blue is very visible to their predators and so they rarely rest with their wings open to display these alluring colours.

early morning at the top of Bryce Canyon

this was captured at the International Rose Test Gardens in Oregon where they have thousands of well cared for roses.

ruffle and stripe details on a giant Bearded Iris