“Spring Trees, Flowers, and Meadow, Applecross” — Spring grass, wildflowers, and trees in a meadow at Applecross, Scotland.
This scene on the western Scotland coast not far from Skye was a pleasant surprise. We were on a long drive to the village of Applecross, and our route had taken us through a lot of typical country — rugged coastal areas, broad valleys, high peaks with a dusting of new snow. But out here a lot of the country seemed rocky and rough with few trees. But as we came to a bridge over the River Applecross, suddenly everything was green, the broom flowers were yellow, and there were spring-green trees.
“Trees, Stream Bank” — Trees and spring grass along side a creek, Applecross Bay, Scotland.
Perhaps I have already mentioned that we experienced a lot of “gray” weather during our May visit to northwest Scotland? In fact, the locals told us that it was colder, wetter, and grayer than usual for this time of the year. We even saw new snow on some highlands peaks, and we had at least some precipitation just about every single day. That weather, along with early May time frame meant that we did not see a whole lot of lovely green landscape. But there were a few exceptions, including this spot at Applecross Bay.
“Desert Gold Bloom” — Desert gold wildflowers in bloom, Death Valley.
You often hear the expression that there is a “carpet of wildflowers” in a landscape. That description was apt in quite a few areas of Death Valley National Park when we visited in late February. To be clear, much of the landscape of this desert park sill looked like… desert. But in places there were wildflower blooms of impressive size.
“Desert Star Bouquet” — A bouquet of tiny desert star (monoptilon bellioides) flowers, Death Valley.
We stopped in southern Death Valley to photograph big fields of desert gold flowers along with pink/purple sand verbena. Because they are large plants, the colors from both of those were visible from a distance, especially so in the case of desert gold. As we looked for good photo opportunities for those flowers we started to notice the myriad other small plants and flowers underfoot, including the desert stars.
