Mysterious Flower in Ireland

While in Ireland last summer, we went through the formal gardens of a castle by a lake. The gardens were behind the castle and quite a hike uphill from the land. The flowers were beautiful! I took a lot of photographs, some of flowers I couldn't identify, including this mysterious one. This is probably because Ireland is farther north than Mississippi and has a much cooler climate; therefore, flowers that grow beautifully there can't tolerate the heat of the South. I found out that this is the flower bud just before it opens into a beautiful ball of tiny star-shaped flowers.

This photograph was taken on a cloudy day (as most of our days in Ireland were), so the photograph is mostly in cool colors except for the purple flowers in the background. Some of the buds seemed to glow with a blue iridescence. Not knowing the name of the flower, I couldn't easily search for it, so I joined an online botanical group, posted the photo and asked for help. Within one day someone had identified it as Globe Thistle. They don't grow in the Gulf Coast region, but so remember seeing one in Michigan a few years ago, although it was much larger. I wish I could grow them here.

Because I like the flower, I have designed a note card using this image and will place it in the shops where my art work is sold.

How did the photographer get that shot?

Most of my photographs are fairly easy to take, although they may require a bit of hiking to get to the location. Then, as with all photographers, you have to decide on the composition and the angle at which you want to shoot.

A few, however, require stunts or extraordinary maneuvers.
On our trip to Ireland last year, we were driving along the eastern shore of the country from Dublin to Northern Ireland. It was a cold and rainy day (as were many of our days in Ireland, even in August), and we were enjoying the scenery. We saw a beautiful overlook with outpotties, so we thought it would be a nice time to stop, albeit the drizzling rain. It turned out to be more than just a pit stop.
Our plan for renting a car instead of going on a tour bus was that we would be able to stop anywhere and stay as long as we wanted to, so that is what we did. Once stopped, we noticed busloads of youngsters wearing red safety helmets going down a steep trail. Always curious, wanting to see what they were doing, and wanting to see what I might find to photograph, I followed them and went down a fairly steep trail.

What we found was another of those secret spots that you couldn't see from the road. We found beautiful cliffs and rocks going down to the Irish Sea, and a roaring stream that came from higher in the mountains, went underneath a bridge on the highway, and emptied into the sea at the bottom of the hill. I stumbled upon magnificent scenery and some beautiful flowers.
One such flower was a Fireweed growing out of the cracks in the rock.

Sometimes, to get the shot you want, you have to do some weird things, like lie on rocks while shooting. I knew I wanted a photograph of these gorgeous flowers, but didn't want to shoot them from above. Notice how the stems are deep magenta? They were also dripping with raindrops - hard to see in this small shot.
Yes, that is me - my husband took a photo of me while I was shooting the flowers. You have get down low, on the level of the flower.


There I was, laying on a rock with my feet propped up on another rock for balance. It was a bad hair day, what with the rain and the breeze from the water, but we had a marvelous experience, and I loved the challenge.
Fireweeds are beautiful flowers because the stems nearly the color of the flower petals.
Fireweed is a perennial with pinky purple flowers that grows from 0.5 to 3 metres in height. The flowers can range from rose, purple or mauveand are clustered along the top part of the reddish stems. They have yellow stamens. These flowers also grow in the United States, but none quite so pretty as these with raindrops on their heads.