Berries, Berries, Berries

I have been challenging myself to find things to shoot.  The subjects I most like to shoot are flowers, barns, wildlife and birds.  Now that I live in Idaho, the seasons for these things are very short, well, except for the barns!

Once I really started seeing and not just looking, I noticed the abundance of berries here.  I was quite surprised at the variety and at the colors. 

 

  

And if you look closely, there seems to be a star at the end of most of the berries. 

Some of the stars looked like they were glued to the berry and others were like they were pressed into it.

After some research, I found out the names of most, too.  And I found out that choke cherries come in many colors.  Besides the different choke cherries, I found Oregon grape, kinnikinnick, mountain ash, American cranberry, snowberry, flowering crabapple and Virginia creeper.  I have also seen the black chokecherry and elderberry, but have not gotten a good shot yet.

I am also amazed at the colors.  How beautiful is the Virginia creeper with it's blue berry and bright red stem.  And the Oregon grape also with a blue berry, but a pretty pink stem.  The flowering crabapple has a beautiful yellow berry and red stems.

 

An unidentified berry I love is below  The dainty pink flower and the bright orange berry are so pretty.   Together they can't be bigger than a half inch.

 

  

Once the flower dies, it is a dark maroon.  The berry appears florescent orange and you really see the red stem.

 

The snowberry has always been a favorite.  Not until this last year did I even know it had a real name!  As a kid, we called them pop berries.  We would pull them off the bush, place them on a hard surface and lightly step on them.  They really make a pretty good pop!  OK, it's not a video game, but things were simpler back then!

 

 

A variety of the berries:

 



 

 

And last, when I pull out of our driveway, these blackberry canes across the street always catch my eye.  They are such a beautiful lavender.  I keep trying to get a great photo of them, but you can see the color.

 

 

I am still trying to "see" new things to shoot.  We will be on vacation soon and I should get a ton of flower photos.  Then around Christmas, the eagles come.  I am so anxious for that.