Passion

Water lily. Brooklyn Botanical Garden.
(Click picture for larger view)

"Broad water-lilies lay tremulously,
And starry river-buds glimmered by,
And around them the soft stream did glide and dance
With a motion of sweet sound and radiance."
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Sensitive Plant (pt. I)

Have I ever told you how passionately I love water lilies? Yes? Well, once is not enough. This is absolutely my favorite picture of the water lilies at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Why is it my favorite? I think it's the colors that shift ever so slightly as the eye is pulled toward the center; the shades of pastel apricot sherbet blending with pale lemon yellow ice in the outer petals. Then that flash of hot yellow with an intense almost tangerine orange tinge in the background. These blooms floating among the deep emerald green lily pads were breathtaking. No wonder the dragonfly were thick, dancing along the waters surface, pirouetting lightly on these gems.

Submission for Thursday Challenge topic "plants". (end of post)