June 2010

Walk in the Hoia forest-wildflowers

This is the view from my place and up there, that inviting forest is the famous Hoia-Baciu forest. Why famous? I'll tell you at the end of this post.
Situated on the outskirts of Cluj-Napoca (my town), the Hoia forest is a much appreciated recreation place for locals on weekend days.
Also, at the edge of the forest is housed the Open Air Section of the Ethnographic Museum, which is a reconstructed peasant village with 150 typical dwellings and wooden churches.

Hoia forest-view from Grigorescu neighborhood

Crossing the Hoia hill through the so called "Turkish cut" the forest is a twenty minutes walk from my place, so last Saturday, I headed to the museum to take some pictures.
Once up, in front of the museum, I've changed my mind and took left at the junction, on the road to the forest, to take some wildflower pictures.

There were many people out there, enjoying the sunshine and making a dense smoke with their grills (I so much hate that).

So, after waiting for the wind direction to change and get rid of the smoke, I managed to capture a few daisies and wildflowers, on a cleaning. Here is this beautiful Common Daisy (Bellis perennis) field.

Some more lovely wildflowers:

The flowers are my contribution to Macro Flowers Saturday and Today's flowers and Scenic Sunday.

I tried to go inside the forest for some more photos and I did, but just about 10 meters deeper.
I tried to capture some strange mushrooms, I took about ten shots but I couldn't focus.
All the time I was looking around and backwards to be sure that I still can see the people in the cleaning .
I, myself couldn't understand why am I so afraid in the middle of the day.
Finally I had to come out of the forest.

It often happens to some of us that we hear strange and scary stories our whole lives about something. So scary stories that you shut them out of your mind.
I can swear that I've totally forgotten all stories when I began my trip.
Back home, it took me a week to think about it and to find the answer for being so scared to go deeper in the forest.
There is no answer, now I remember. It happens to each and every human, entering the Hoia-Baciu forest.

From ancient times, villagers found themselves assaulted by unexplained feelings of nausea, anxiety, feelings of vomiting, headache and even skin burns occurred to all who have stepped in the forest.. They don't like to talk about these things but they advice everyone not to go there.

The Hoia forest is connected with the Baciu forest, mentioned as Hoia-Baciu forest but also as the "Bermuda Triangle of Romania". The forest is considered one of the most active spot in the world regarding apparitions and various unexplained phenomena like light observations of various shapes and colors, strange shadows, voices and human faces.
Esoteric specialists from around the world, teams of famous scientists from Germany, France, the United States and Hungary managed to capture on film immaterial or material structures and forms appearing in front of curious, whether it was night or noon. Some are seen with the naked eye and some only on photos or videos.

I hope I didn't scare you too, with my story.
This post is too long already, so I save the rest of the story for the next post, for those interested.

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Catalpa tree-trees flowering in June

Catalpa (Catawba) tree is the last tree to grow leaves in the spring and now, in middle June, it is in full flower.
Catalpas, also known as Cigar trees are medium-sized deciduous trees growing to 12-18 meters (39-59 ft) tall and they have large heart-shaped leaves.

They are planted as ornamental trees in parks and roadsides having trumpet shaped flowers, white with yellow stripes and purple spots inside. The flowers grow in panicles of 10-30.

In autumn they develop 20-50 centimeters (7.9-20 in) long bean pods, hence their nickname (Cigar tree). These fruits often stays attached to the tree during winter and even next year.

There are two species of catalpa, Southern Catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides) and Northern Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa), which are very much alike but the northern species has slightly larger leaves, flowers, and bean pods.

The flowers are very beautiful; here is a close-up of a catalpa flower:

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Old garden roses

The rose, the queen of summer flowers is to be seen in every garden or even near the sidewalk.
We should be used to roses, they are such common flowers and still irresistible.
I can't resit not to stop and admire them each time I see roses on the streets, even when I'm in a hurry.

These are probably not old garden roses but some hybrid tea roses. There are so many rose hybrids, I find it impossible to identify them by name.

These orange-yellow roses are gorgeous. I always lose the sense of time when I start taking photos of flowers.

Cityscapes with reflections

Cityscapes with reflections for Weekend reflections.
The fountain in the Avram Iancu square was not working and I thought I can capture the surrounding buildings' reflections in the water. Well, the fountain was off but the wind wasn't and on the trembling water surface my reflections are not as clear as I would like them to be.

There are some beautiful rose gardens on both sides of the cathedral, reflecting in car windows.

This is the real image of the garden.

Visit Weekend reflections for many beautiful photos.

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Orange-apricot roses-climbing roses

This time of the year roses are the most beautiful with just the new, fresh flower heads and rose buds but no wilted ones.

Pink rain lily-Zephyranthes grandiflora

This gorgeous pink flower is the Rain lily or Pink magic lily (Zephyranthes grandiflora) a genus of bulbous species in the amaryllis family.
A few days ago I saw these beautiful pink flowers on the sidewalk, in front of a pharmacy, among roses.
There were only two of them, one open and another, just a bud. They have no foliage yet, just this gorgeous pink flower head at the top of the stem.
I've never seen these beautiful pink storm lilies before. Truth is, I pay much more attention to things that I overlooked earlier, before I started taking photos.
These beautiful pink flowers look like a crocuses but why in June? So I started researching; here is what I've found out:

Rain lilies (Zephyranthes grandiflora) bloom numerous times throughout the summer and autumn, always after a rain that follows a dry period.
This must be the explanation, we've had a lot of rain lately.

More interesting is that Rain Lilies are so named because they bloom only with rain, they won't be fooled by ordinary tap water. Although regular watering is beneficial to foliage growth.

What I like best is that Rain lilies can be grown in pots on the porch or deck in summer where they flower gloriously after each rain. Crowding several bulbs in a pot they will reward you, several times a year, with a spectacular show. Their green, grass-like foliage forms a nice wide clump and each clump can have up to 20 flowers open at once for an absolutely stunning display.
In winter the bulbs need to rest, so no watering during winter time.

Oh boy, I had a hard time to identify this beautiful flower and to separate the correct information form the erroneous one like this:

"The Zephyranthes are a genus of bulbous species in the amaryllis family that are indigenous and limited to the Western Hemisphere, being an entire American species of Amaryllidaceae."

Well, nobody is perfect but some are really ignorant.
Guess what? God shared these spectacular, pink fairy lilies with the eastern hemisphere too.

What an amazing, divine gift!

Join Macro Flowers Saturday and visit other contributors' amazing flower macros!

Visit Macro Monday for many fascinating macros of all kind.

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Red rose bushes-climbing rose

Blaze climbing rose bushes are the hardiest of all roses. No wonder, these old fashion red rose bushes are the most popular of all climber roses.
These vigorous, mild-scented, climbing rose bushes are the only roses that survived after the more than two weeks constant rain and hailstorm, this spring.

This crimson red rose bush spreads itself easily on a fence or covers walls decorating a facade. It develops into a graceful climber with attractive foliage and arching canes carrying a wealth of double, deep red blooms.

A romantic, red rose cloud on a dark green foliage welcomes the visitors at the front entrance of this house from the next picture. The roses atop the trailer reach 3m (10 ft) in height but the individual canes are much longer.
While the flexible canes of the climbing rose are carefully trained vertically, its lateral stems are trimmed back to stimulate flowering atop the trailer.