Blue Phlox Wildflowers, Germantown, Ohio
On a mid-April day, I wandered slowly along the trail that follows Twin Creek in Germantown MetroPark. A few blue phlox (Phlox divaricata) were blooming, but it was early yet, so there weren't many. The hardwood trees above were still bare as a forest of bones. The action was on the ground, which is always the first wave of greening. Then come the shrubs, and finally the trees.
But back to the greening forest floor. Eventually I spotted this clump of blue phlox. It was on the very edge of a small side drainage. This served to set it off against the out of focus green grasses and forbs below, in a way that would not occur if it had been on flat ground. Nice. Notice how the still-wrapped petals on the left side of the image are are coiled in a kind of spiral tube. That would be fascinating to watch them open in time lapse photography.
As usual: shooting with slow, fine grained film for maximum detail, I had to wait for a good while with camera in position on a sturdy tripod, until the momentary pause between breezes allowed a sharp photo. I often take several exposures, because one of them is probably going to be sharper than the others. This image was my favorite of this series. Eventually I decide that I've gotten the best I'm going to get at that time, and am ready to move on to the next natural treasure.
Photo location: Germantown MetroPark, Montgomery County, Ohio.
