Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: berry

(+2 insets!) (Bigger is even better!) :) I want to make sure I have time to post this so I'm just posting a quick note to go with my pictures today! We are about to leave our wonderful campground, Bullard's Beach State Park and we had a wonderful stay! We will be heading about an hour north for a three day-stay at our next campsite. Unfortunately, that was the longest we could get for the time slot, but after another four days at a different place, we'll be back for another four days. Heh, I know that's not the same thing as seven uninterrupted days but sometimes you don't have a choice in these things! Today's Pictures I had a very nice time creeping around with my macro lens and got bunches of really neat pictures. Along the way I found these marvelous bushes covered with red-cloaked, round black berries. I thought it was very interesting that the berries grew in pairs…and so when I discovered the name of this plant was Twinberry, I had to laugh! Perfect! While I took photos, I couldn't help focusing on my favorite part--the beautifully shaped, red bracts surrounding the berries. Upon investigating online, I learned they are called involucre , and is part of the botany name of Black Twinberry, "Lonicera involucrata" . (These plants also have a red version, naturally called Red Twinberry ) I was also fascinated to learn that these berries are a kind of honeysuckle! The plant grows like a bush, which threw me off because I thought all honeysuckles are vines. However, when I learned it was in the honeysuckle family it all made sense do me. The honeysuckle that grows on our property has the very same berries, except that they are red. The leaves are the same too, and looking at pictures of the flowers, they are also quite similar. It's so fascinating to see the various species of a plant group, isn't it? So, as I took pictures, I took turns concentrating on the berries and then the lovely red bracts. Then I saw a lovely red flash…and gasped in surprise! Would you just look at that? Bracts that appeared to be a lovely red butterfly with perfectly shaped berries to represent a thorax and head! Seriously, what are the odds?! :D This picture just HAD to be my main image today! I'm also including some other views of these pretty berries--a pair to admire and a folded-over bract that looks like a red bat! :) I hope you like them! I wanted to give everyone hugs for all of the attention you've been giving my pictures, and for the lovely comments and stars. I appreciate you all so much. I was able to visit some of you finally and it was great to see what you've been sharing with us here on ipernity! Here's hoping everyone stays safe and healthy in these crazy days! Here's more information about these berries that I found very interesting: Twinberry, also called bearberry honeysuckle, is in the honeysuckle family. Twinberries are very common in the Cape Lookout State Park at the base of Netarts Spit. Unlike their cousins, the climbing and pink honeysuckles which are twining vines and can occur in our area, the twinberry is an erect shrub that may grow to more than twelve feet high. Its paired yellow flowers each have a five-lobed, tubular corolla. The flowers are subtended by a pair of large, green bracts that turn red as the fruits mature into pairs of shiny black berries. These berries are bitter and considered inedible, but their juice has been used as a dye. Its leaves are opposite, they have petioles, and they are rather shiny on top. They drop off in the winter. There are two varieties of twinberries, the coastal Lonicera var. ledebourii, occurring in coastal Oregon and California, and the mountain Lonicera var. involucrata, found in all western and the lake states. From Netarts Bay Today Explored on 7/14/20; highest placement #1.

I found these berries the other day while searching for mushrooms, and every berry was dripping with water droplets! I wanted to get closer but if I touched anything that wiggled the berries, the droplets fell off the berries! However, because my camera takes 21 megapixel images, I was still able to crop in for a nice composition! :)

2 more pictures in a note above! :) It rained last night and this morning it was crisp and cool with the sun shining brightly to welcome the new day. I was very excited to look for mushrooms, but once I got out there, I realized it was too soon yet. We will need more rain and damp mornings before my little friends begin waking up again! :) However, there was a lot of magic in the air, which was fragrant with wet meadow grass, and I began creeping around quietly, looking at everything through the eyes of my inner child. First I looked under a piece of wood and found a sleeping baby lizard there! Cooing softly, I replaced the wood carefully so I didn't disturb my little friend. Then I explored the edge of the woods that meander up our hillside and found a deer trail heading up through the trees. Stepping along the narrow trail, I noticed the sun peeking over the ridge line and making the leaves glow. Seeing an uncommon tree with leaves starting to yellow, I spent a few moments looking for some special leaves to take pictures of. Then I spotted a wonderful, thick, wild honeysuckle vine curling around a branch, and started to take pictures. I wanted to move a vine out of the way and pulled it down to reposition it, and suddently gasped in surprise when I saw what was at the end! "OH WOW!! LOOK AT THE BERRIES!!" I said out loud in excitement, and instantly abandoned the vine wraping around the branch. You know, when you live out on a rural piece of property, there is always something new to discover, and though we've lived here for about 8 years now, I've never seen these berries before! I took some pictures and was playing around with different angles. Just then, the sun moved a little higher, and a beam of light shone through the trees and right through the berries! I was stunned at how pretty they were with the sun making them glow like Christmas tree ornaments! How amazing it is to discover such beautiful sights. There really was magic in the air this morning, and I'm so happy I was there to find these berries, glowing warmly in the morning sun! :) Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 535 – c. 475 BCE) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor. He was of distinguished parentage. Little is known about his early life and education, but he regarded himself as self-taught and a pioneer of wisdom. From the lonely life he led, and still more from the riddling nature of his philosophy and his contempt for humankind in general, he was called "The Obscure" and the "Weeping Philosopher". Wikipedia: Heraclitus Explored on September 19, 2013. Highest placement, page 2 (#33).

This image was taken during the month of October, 2011.

I don't know what kind of berry this is, but I found many of them growing on Mt. Davidson, as I made my way up the trail. This image was taken during my trip to San Francisco during September 12-15, 2011.

These beautiful berries covered several bushes outside one of the thrift stores we visited and I couldn't resist taking pictures! And of course I can't help but think about my 365 pal, Red Stiletto , who's taking 365 pictures of RED! All day long I kept seeing fun red things!!

The other day I was up on our ridgeline taking pictures of fall colors and I found this group of drying poison oak berries glowing in the afternoon sun. I would say this is one of my better images! :D I've uploaded three more pictures today--I usually post only two, but I found another view of the Foothill Clover where it's standing up and thought it deserved a view! :) I've also posted some macaw pictures and the 150th Flower of Spring & Summer!! :) Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

I love to find leaves that get caught on the way down to the ground, because they usually make really interesting pictures. When Steve and I went to the Palmerton Arboretum last week, we found lots of great leaf shots! This leaf was stuck in an evergreen bush covered with bright red berries! :)

(+ 2 inset images) The Palmerton Arboretum has a wide variety of trees to appreciate, and I loved the many-lobed leaves of the Horse Chestnut trees I found growing there.These trees are also covered with countless prickle-covered nut fruits which look like something from another planet! Horse Chestnut Trees are native to southeast Europe and are commonly cultivated in parks around the world. They have beautiful pink flowers which turn into horse chestnuts. They get their name from the similarity to the true chestnut combined with the false information that the nuts cured horses of chest ailments. In fact, these nuts are poisonous to horses! Horse Chestnuts are also known as conkers, which is the name of a children's game played by two people. After threading a pair of strings through two nuts, each takes turns trying to break the other's conker. Here is a fun video to show you what Conkers is all about! :) The Game of Conkers . If you would like to know more about these trees, Wiki has a very nice page here: Wiki: Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)

The wonderful blackberry, a beautiful flower which results in my favorite berry! Many hate this bush because it is so hard to remove when unwanted, but for people like Steve and me, blackerry blossoms have us dreaming about the upcoming berries and the yummy treats! All my life, my family has loved blackberries. My mom and I used to go blackberry picking near our summer cabin in northern California, and mom would make the most amazing jams and jellies, pancakes, pies and cobblers! Steve and I were very happy to find that there are blackberries growing on our property, and every year we enjoy a bountiful harvest from July through September! All hail the great blackberry! HUZAH!! HUZAH!! HUZAH!!! :D This species is native to Armenia and southwest Asia. It was introduced as a cultivar in many places around the world and immediately spread all over. It's a very common species in the Pacific Northwest, where it can be found wherever there it a source of water, especially along creeks and rivers. If you would like to know more about this yummy berry plant, Wiki has a great page here: Wiki: Himalayan Blackberry (Rubus armeniacus)