my pictures
grrlscientist | July 7, 2009tags: Heartsease, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day
Heartsease is known by a wide variety of names, including the Wild Pansy, Ladies' Delight, Jump-Up-And-Kiss-Me, and Johnny Jump-Up, Viola tricolor.
Photographed on Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
Native over large areas of Europe and western Asia, this is the ancestor of the modern pansy. I remember Heartsease from watching a live performance of Shakespeare's comedy, A Midsummer's Night Dream in London last year, where Oberon claims that the…
grrlscientist | July 7, 2009tags: lunch, food, Ravintola Helsinge, Tekniikan Museo, travel, Helsinki, Finland
Coffee and Lunch (croissant with cheese, tomato and "rocket",
a tangy green that I've never seen nor heard of before now)
Photographed at Ravintola Helsinge, the cafe on the grounds
shared with the Tekniikan Museo (Technology Museum),
Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 6 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
I am recovering, albeit slowly, from jet lag. This process is made more difficult because my sleep patterns had been seriously disturbed for several weeks before I left NYC, and further complicated…
grrlscientist | July 6, 2009tags: Black-eyed Susan vine, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day
Mystery flower, can you name the species?
Black-eyed Susan vine, Thunbergia alata.
Photographed on Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
The Black-eyed Susan vine, Thunbergia alata, is a perennial climbing plant in the Acanthaceae family. It is native to Eastern Africa, and has been naturalized in other parts of the world.
grrlscientist | July 5, 2009tags: petunias, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day
White petunias, Petunia x hybrida.
Photographed on Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
Petunias are trumpet shaped flowering plants that are endemic to South America. Botanically speaking, tobacco, tomato, potato, and petunia are all in the family Solanaceae. These popular flowers got their name from the French, which took the word petun -- 'tobacco' -- from a Tupi-Guarani language.
grrlscientist | July 4, 2009tags: Seurasaarenselkä, Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland
Looking out over Seurasaarenselkä on Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
It looks like it is going to rain today, so I am exploring the open air market in downtown Helsinki. I am still sorting through and labeling all the photographs I took yesterday on Seurasaari. In short, my walk there started out with very nice weather -- sunny, breezy, warm -- and ended up overcast, but still bright (too bright for good photography, as you can see in the above image) and chilly.
grrlscientist | July 4, 2009tags: buttercups, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day
Creeping buttercup, Ranunculus repens.
Photographed in Oulunkylä, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 2 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | July 4, 2009tags: food, Helsinki, Finland, travel
Lunch: boiled egg and smoked salmon with lettuce, fresh dill, ground black pepper and butter on rye bread (open-faced sandwich). And of course, coffee.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view].
Today's lunch was, as always, delightful. I've yet to be disappointed by anything I've eaten in Finland. (You'll notice that this sandwich has a bite taken out of it -- that's because I forget I want to photograph some of my meals until I've already started eating.)
Dessert: Chocolate brownie cheesecake. And of course, more coffee.
Image:…
grrlscientist | July 4, 2009tags: European Greenfinch, Carduelis chloris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] European Greenfinch, Carduelis chloris, photographed on the University of Helsinki (Helsingin Yliopisto) campus in Kumpula, Helsinki, Finland. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: GrrlScientist, 3 July 2009 [larger view].
Canon Powershot SX100
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 3, 2009tags: Dahlia, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day
Dahlias.
Photographed at Rautatientori in Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 3 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | July 2, 2009tags: Daisy, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day
Daisy.
Photographed at Tarvaspää Café at the Gallen-Kallela Museum
near Tarvon Salmi in Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 2 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | July 1, 2009tags: Dahlia, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, image of the day
Dahlias.
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side on West 81st street at Central Park West. Actor Alec Baldwin lives in this building, by the way.
Image: GrrlScientist, 29 June 2009 [larger view].
grrlscientist | June 30, 2009tags: Ranunculaceae, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, image of the day
Purple Clematis, in the Ranunculaceae family (not sure which species this is).
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side on West 81st street at
Central Park West. Passersby were curious as to why I was crawling into
a shrub, until after I emerged and they saw my camera in-hand.
Image: GrrlScientist, 29 June 2009 [larger view].
grrlscientist | June 29, 2009tags: Dahlia, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, image of the day
Dahlias.
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side on West 81st street at Central Park West.
Image: GrrlScientist, 29 June 2009 [larger view].
On the opposite side of the continent, a friend of mine was murdered by her husband, who then committed suicide. Their teen-aged daughter found their bodies. My friend was very active in the avicultural community, and bred her own flock of rare parrots. If I lived a few thousand miles closer, I would immediately drop everything to care for her flock of parrots as long as…
grrlscientist | June 28, 2009tags: Hibiscus Tree, Rose of Sharon, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Garden, Horticulture, Botany, nature, image of the day
Rose of Sharon, also known as the Hibiscus, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis.
Photographed on Columbus Avenue, between West 81st and 82nd streets.
Image: GrrlScientist, 24 June 2009 [larger view].
grrlscientist | June 27, 2009tags: Dahlia, flowers, Garden, Horticulture, Botany, nature, image of the day
A bunch of flowers for you to enjoy. The big yellow blossom
is one of the many thousands of popular Dahlia cultivars.
Photographed on Amsterdam Avenue, near West 83rd street.
Image: GrrlScientist, 24 June 2009 [larger view].
grrlscientist | June 26, 2009tags: Rainstorm, weather, nature, Manhattan
Hiding from the rain under the eaves.
Photographed on Columbus Avenue, between West 81st and 82nd streets.
Image: GrrlScientist, 26 June 2009 [larger view].
This rainstorm was so severe that it even drenched people with umbrellas .. and flooded the streets.
grrlscientist | June 26, 2009tags: Hibiscus Tree, Rose of Sharon, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Garden, Horticulture, Botany, nature, image of the day
Rose of Sharon, also known as the Hibiscus tree, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis.
Photographed on Columbus Avenue, between West 81st and 82nd streets.
Image: GrrlScientist, 24 June 2009 [larger view].
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is one of many plant genera that can exhibit polyploidy, a condition where its number of chromosomes is far greater than the two sets that come from each parent. Polyploid offspring can have very different morphologies from either parent, or indeed any ancestor,…
grrlscientist | June 24, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Dahlia, Dahlia hybrid.
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side
on Columbus Avenue between West 81st and West 82nd streets.
Image: GrrlScientist, 20 June 2009 [larger view].
grrlscientist | June 23, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Dahlia, Dahlia hybrid.
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side
on Columbus Avenue between West 81st and West 82nd streets.
Image: GrrlScientist, 20 June 2009 [larger view].
grrlscientist | June 22, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Dahlia, Dahlia hybrid.
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side
on Columbus Avenue between West 81st and West 82nd streets.
Image: GrrlScientist, 20 June 2009 [larger view].
Unfortunately, with the wind and rain, this flower made another moving target for my camera.