Posted on 09/08/201809/11/2019 by JosBotanical Gardens Collection A Male Yellow-winged Darter captured at the central fountain of the Cambridge University Botanical Gardens Autumn slowly creeping in even though it’s only August Add a natural feel to your room with this portrait style centerpiece of this majestic Sierra Redwood tree contrasting against the pale blue Cambridge sky. This beautiful flower can add contrast to even the harshest environments. Instant eye catcher with a darker outline. Perfect for a darker environment. Its complex branch structure creates a strong depth effect. It’s a clever way to make a room feel more spacious than it really is. The Gladiolus Tristis. A vivid flower that’s certain to attract all eyes to it. This classic Sunflower can really brighten up a space with its strong yellow contrasting with the green backdrop. The main office building on the garden grounds captured with a wide angle lens on a sunny day in winter time. This deep purple orchid was captured in the green house corridor. The contrasts found in nature all depend on a creature’s perception of light. A camera allows you to capture the reflected light and enhance it to show underlying pigments we wouldn’t see with the naked eye. A personal fascination of mine is the occurrence of Fibonacci sequences in nature Shown here again in the form of this beautiful cactus. The Cambridge University Botanical Gardens have a room in the green house dedicated to cacti. The colour and definition of flowers are intricately designed through evolution to maximise their attractiveness to insects who help pollinate them through a concept called mutualism, the insects get nutrition from the process and the plants need the insects in order to procreate. So please think twice before killing bees. They are essential to the pollination process and this also applies to plants and trees that grow for human consumption, so if you care about your food, help look after the bees! This bumblebee was hard at work even at near freezing temperatures. When the snow falls, the gardens transform into a winter wonderland. With the current climate, the snow that falls in Cambridge rarely lasts longer than the early morning rays of sunlight. This particular patch of soil was cooled down over night to such an extent that it could sustain a layer of icy snow to well into the midday sun. A wide angle lens gives a better impression of the grandeur of the green houses, but it still doesn’t quite do it justice. Please make sure to pay it a visit if ever you find yourself with some spare time in Cambridge, UK. If you’re lucky, you might even spot some fish in the aquatic plants section! The novelist John Green mentions in several of his books that the branches of trees in winter divide the sky into pieces. Some see it as cracks in an otherwise perfect blue sky. Some see them as natural division, making the concept of an endless universe beyond, much more tangible in manageable chunks. I see them as ripples of shadow weaving a natural path out from a root, representing all possible choices we can make in life. You can’t focus on all branches at the same time, but you can sometimes take a step back to look back on how you reached as far as you have into the sky of your lifetime.