My Time with Salsify - Take 1

Playing soccer with my kids, I happened to notice a very large looking plant with a fluffy head.   My son saw this also and thought was a giant dandelion.  Coming from a farm I knew that the plant in question was Salsify or commonly referred to as the Oyster Plant.  These weed looking plants are actually grown and picked for their roots which apparently taste like an Oyster, hence the name.  I for one have never tried Salsify, but was fascinated by its fluffy seeded exterior.

Having attempted many photos of dandelions over the years, the larger fluffy head of the plant presented numerous opportunities to get the ideal picture I have wanted for a very long time.  So yesterday hunting butterflies, I picked a plant and brought it back for some one on one time.  It was a windy day and the seeds do blow away quite easily so I attempted to contain it in a plastic bag.  The bag did damage part of the fluffy, but I was able to manage.  With help from my curious assistants, a handy spray bottle and eye dropper, we made some pretty interesting images.  Feel free to click on the images to see them bigger on my website.

I have made a couple available for download if anyone would like a wallpaper.  The are sized for a 16:9 computer screen.  Follow this link and you will be taken to the page for downloads.

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These two were my original attempts to photograph the Salsify in the field, but wind and other weeds made it difficult to get on the proper level and get some good closeups.  I also did not have my tripod with me so anything super close was going to be blurry.

We finally got the Salsify home and started taking some photos.  Without the misted water on the seedlings, the Salsify look like a dandelion seed covered in spider webs.  Water drops give the photo life.

For this photo I tried refracting a photo of a brightly colored dandelion photo I made a couple of years ago.  I couldn't get the photo close enough to get a good refraction, but it did leave some nice colors on the water drops.

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