St. John's Wort-Hypericum Hidcote - Flower pictures

From a great distance, I could see this yellow carpet at the horizon and I knew , there is something to photograph.
It is a delightful Hypericum Hidcote (St. John's Wort) plantation, attracting the eye (and the bees) with it's bright yellow blossoms.
There are many different species of Hidcote.
This one is the Hypericum 'Hidcote'- St. John's Wort.
And bellow is the Hypericum calycinum also called Creeping St.John’s Wort.
These stamens are like a firework in the middle of the flower.
Bees love these flowers too, as the tips of the stamens are packed with pollen.
The bright-red fruits are the exact color I missed from the photo above.

See more yellow shrubs and bushes:
- Yellow Canary bird rosa
- Forsythia bushes

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Wild rose pictures - rose hip tea

I took the first two photos in June in the Botanic Gardens where they have many species of wild roses of all colors. The flowers of these species are much bigger than the common wild rose flower.

The flowers are gone now and we are waiting for the rose hips.

Here in Europe it is very popular to make rose hips into jam, jelly, syrups or tea.
We just have to wait till the first frost as the hips are best picked immediately after that.
My favorite is the rose hip herbal tea.
Dried, the hips keep well, and will always be available in winter.
Rose hips are extremely high in vitamin C, so the tea is acid-tasting, but not as sharp as lemon juice.
Dried rose hips need to be boiled about 15 minutes till the hips expand, split, to make a tee of them. So this is not an instant tea.
I usually leave the rose hips in cold water over night and in the morning boil them for a few minutes. The resulted tea has a pinkish color and an excellent taste and smell.
Try it!

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Yarrow flower (Achillea millefolium) collecting - Sunday trip

On our Sunday trip to the nearby forest we decided to collect some yarrow flower for a herb cure. It was a good opportunity to take some photos too.
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), also known as milfoil, is beneficial in removing heat and toxins from the system through increased perspiration, so every year I make a short, two weeks cure of infusion.
Yarrow grows everywhere and seams to be good for almost everything. Both flowers and leaves are used and have a bitterish, astringent, pungent taste.
I was interested to find out more about the benefits and effects of this plant, so here is what people say the yarrow is good for (be aware that these are not medical recommendations):

Yarrow tea can induce sweating and help to reduce fever. It is a good remedy for severe colds, flu, coughs as well as sore throats.
Yarrow can also be used as a stimulant for the circulatory system, purify the blood and helps in healing varicose veins, hemorrhoids, phlebitis and thrombosis.

It's antispasmodics quality relieves spasms or abdominal cramps and also acts to lower blood pressure and reduce bleeding.

Stimulates the flow of bile, and purify the blood cleaning the skin too.

Yarrow tee preparation

is the same as most infusions or decoctions.
The infusion is made with 1 tsp. dried herb to 1 cup boiling water, steep for 10 min. It may be sweetened with sugar or honey but You have to drink it warm.
For inhalation fresh yarrow flowers may be added to boiling water and the aroma inhaled to cure hay fever and mild asthma.
A decoction of the whole plant is employed for bleeding piles, and is good for kidney disorders.

It is not recommended to be taken over a long period as yarrow can produce allergies and the skin can become more sensitive to sunlight.

Over the centuries, milfoil has been use for many things in the folklore, even for divination in spells.
Read about it at Botanical .com.

Another very useful fruiting plant, widely grown in many parts of the world, but not known in America, is the sea buckthorn shrub.

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Reflection on water

I love reflection photos and I'm always looking for reflections.
On the water or on the windows of a building, where ever they are, they make wonderful images.
Here are some of my reflection photos.

Most of the time we don't even realize that they are there. We don't see them.

Check out these reflections in winter time, with the same bridge.
The camera sees better and gives us these wonderful images and colors of reflected reality.

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