Nature Galleries

Los Trancos Open Space Thistle Pull July 25 2009 : The native grasses in California were predominantly perennial bunch grasses, which were less inclined to flame on. Today, hillsides and meadows everywhere are predominantly tall, dry, highly flammable annual grasses such as oats and foxtails. Various groups make heroic efforts to try to preserve some of the few remaining bunch grass meadows. One effort is in yanking out the nasty invasive yellow star thistle from Los Trancos Open Space Preserve. I've heard about these efforts for years but never tried it before; this year, I volunteered for the project.

Los Trancos Open Space Thistle Pull July 25 2009

The native grasses in California were predominantly perennial bunch gr ...

Updated: Jul 25, 2009 4:58pm PST

Plants Blooming In My Yard 2009 July 15 : San Jose: I'm going to try to track what's blooming in my yard on or around the 15th of every month, in keeping with the idea whose origin is described here. I don't usually blog about my garden, just show some flowers in passing from time to time. But I do have this photo site and I'll probably load things here. Might or might not bother labeling with correct names.

Plants Blooming In My Yard 2009 July 15

San Jose: I'm going to try to track what's blooming in my yard on or a ...

Updated: Jul 16, 2009 3:51pm PST

Plants Blooming In My Yard 2009 June 15 (27) : San Jose: I'm going to try to track what's blooming in my yard on or around the 15th of every month, in keeping with the idea whose origin is described here. I don't usually blog about my garden, just show some flowers in passing from time to time. But I do have this photo site and I'll probably load things here. Might or might not bother labeling with correct names. NOTE: I missed the 15th of June; this is really June 27.

Plants Blooming In My Yard 2009 June 15 (27)

San Jose: I'm going to try to track what's blooming in my yard on or a ...

Updated: Jul 15, 2009 9:34pm PST

Yard Deities, Flowers, Birds, and Like That 2009 May 16 : I had other plans for today, but I looked out my bedroom window and the hay baling looked so intriguing... must...take...photos...Plus maybe I wanted to prove to myself that I could still take SOME photos with my crappy point and shoot (since my "real" camera and all its lenses were just stolen & don't know when I'll be able to get more). So I wandered around the yard, capturing some of its spring/summer color and many of its denizens.

Yard Deities, Flowers, Birds, and Like That 2009 May 16

I had other plans for today, but I looked out my bedroom window and th ...

Updated: May 16, 2009 3:53pm PST

Yard Flowers Late April 2009 : This was an experiment with different lenses. I think I need to go out and experiment some more.

Yard Flowers Late April 2009

This was an experiment with different lenses. I think I need to go out ...

Updated: May 05, 2009 10:18am PST

Edgewood Park Wildflowers March 28 2009 : Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve in San Mateo county provides a wealth of California native flowers and grasses in a serpentine environment. The weather March 28 proved perfect for getting out and about, so a friend and I took a 2-mile round trip stroll, shooting just about every flower we saw for 3 hours. My dissapointment: Instead of experimenting with a new lens set-up at home, I decided to do it here. I added a doubler to my 100-300mm telephoto. Turns out that the doubler doesn't seem to understand autofocus, so everything was manual focus--on a very long lens--with my hands a bit shaky--and no tripod. EVERYTHING turned out "soft" (a polite way of saying "blurry"). But still, most are at least identifiable, and I enjoyed the day and the flowers anyway. More resources for wildflowers: Calflora, Calphotos, and Steph's photos from the same hike.

Edgewood Park Wildflowers March 28 2009

Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve in San Mateo county provides a weal ...

Updated: Apr 13, 2009 11:03am PST

Almaden Quicksilver Vicinity Feb 14 2009 : According to the radar and online weather sites, we were going to have some nonrainy hours this afternoon, so I and friend Steph headed over to Almaden Quicksilver to see whether we could encounter any early wildflowers. Drizzle drizzle drizzle drizzle. So we just sort of kept driving, occasionally bipping out of the car in the COLD wind for some choice shots and explorations between rain showers.

Almaden Quicksilver Vicinity Feb 14 2009

According to the radar and online weather sites, we were going to have ...

Updated: Feb 14, 2009 9:23pm PST

Guadalupe River Trail Dec 20 2008 with Dogs and more : Photos (c) Ellen Levy Finch. For personal or nonprofit use, include my name and link back to here. For other uses, please contact me. n how many place in the world can you have: A tree brilliant with autumn color, a snow-covered mountain in near-freezing temps, and daffodil stalks rising from the chilly soil? Fall, winter, spring, all together. Dogs and I want for a 4-mile stroll along the Guadulpe River Trail this morning. Temps not over 50, and a chilly nip in the air, but the sun and the birds were out.

Guadalupe River Trail Dec 20 2008 with Dogs and more

Photos (c) Ellen Levy Finch. For personal or nonprofit use, include my ...

Updated: Dec 20, 2008 5:29pm PST

Sierra Azul Wildflower Survey April 2008 : Wildflower identification in Sierra Azul with the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. Many photos blurry, sorry, not checking shutter speed and it was too slow too often. Photos are copyright Ellen Finch. You may use on your personal web site or for nonprofit if you give me credit and link back here. All others contact me.

Sierra Azul Wildflower Survey April 2008

Wildflower identification in Sierra Azul with the Midpeninsula Regiona ...

Updated: Apr 20, 2008 8:09pm PST

Lick and Moonlight Fires :

Lick and Moonlight Fires

Updated: Sep 09, 2007 8:54am PST

Golden Gate Park Conservatory of Flowers Carnivores : If you use photos for personal or nonprofit purposes, give credit to Ellen Levy Finch and link back to here (elf1.smugmug.com). For other uses, including commercial, contact me.

Golden Gate Park Conservatory of Flowers Carnivores

If you use photos for personal or nonprofit purposes, give credit to E ...

Updated: Sep 08, 2007 8:37pm PST

Ellen's Plants : Some photos from San Jose back yard. Feel free to order prints or download copies--if you're going to use on the web, please note "photo by Ellen Finch" and give a link back to here (elf1.smugmug.com). Thanks.

Ellen's Plants

Some photos from San Jose back yard. Feel free to order prints or down ...

Updated: Jul 28, 2006 8:50pm PST

Henry Coe hiking Feb 25(?) 2006--plants : Spring flowers and other vegetative matter. No macro photography this time. Feel free to order prints or download copies--if you're going to use on the web, please note "photo by Ellen Finch" and give a link back to here (elf1.smugmug.com). Thanks.

Henry Coe hiking Feb 25(?) 2006--plants

Spring flowers and other vegetative matter. No macro photography this ...

Updated: Jun 30, 2006 2:57pm PST