Let's Grow A Waterlily In A Pot...

The 'Let's grow a waterlily in a pot' project began in a few weeks into Spring... 

The temperatures in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand 
range from -3 degrees celsius in the winter to 27-32 degrees in the summer.

So the summer in my region is amply hot enough to grow water lilies.

The first thing to do is select a pot...
Plug the holes in the bottom with a waterproofing sealer.

As this pot was not glazed on the bottom, 

I used my gloved hands to spread the sealer covering the bottom in a thin layer.

Put aside for 24 hours to dry.

When completely dry seal the inside of the pot.

I used the same silicon sealer that I used on the bottom.
Leave for another 24 hours.

Fill the pot with water.

This is the cross your fingers bit.

Leave to stand for an hour to check there are no leaks!
If there is, find the leak points and seal again with sealer.
Leave to dry.

When the pot is watertight, 

move to the position where it will permanently live,
remember that the water lily will need at least 6 hours of sunlight a day.

Refill pot with water, 

Proceed to the next stage 

which is potting the waterlily.

I found a gorgeous tropical blue waterlily at Bunnings.

(Have you worked out I do a lot of shopping at Bunnings?)

The tropical blue water lily is my absolute favourite!

So I potted it up into heavy loam soil, 

and sunk the potted lily into the bottom of the pot,

It sat 12 inches exactly below the surface.
Within 3 days the  first leaf was floating on the surface.
After three weeks of leaf growth,
a bud...

That turned into a beautiful flower...
and then there was another bud....

Buds...

and flowers...

The photograph fails to show the true blue of this lilly...

But this one is probably the truest.

So PRETTY!!!!

And did you know that water lilies are perfect picking flowers?

The bud colour hues are intense...

That colour fades into a gorgeous soft blue mauve.

 Growing a waterlily in a pot was such a success
and you guessed it - 
incredibly SIMPLE!
So much so,
next season I may grow another...
Maybe in a pot twice as large as this...
A miniature water lily might be nice!

The summer sun was so bright by the end of the photoshoot,
the last photograph was completely unaltered by photoshop,
Snapped as is in the moment...
so here is a little water lily POP ART 
- just for you.

Vintage Chrysanthemum Printables...

In love with vintage?

In love with Chrysanthemums?

Here are some fabulously gorgeous vintage images from the 1890's just for you!

Simply click 'save as' to your computer,
print and use...
Note: These images are for personal use only.
If reshared on a blog, elsewhere on the Net, or privately, 
please link back to:
 http://miabellapassion.blogspot.co.nz/2015/01/vintage-chrysanthemum-printables.html 

Aqua Baby Budgie Love...

Today I'm sharing a little bit of bird love with ya all!

Cleaning out my enhanced photographic cache yesterday,

 I came across this photograph of a sweet baby budgie.

I'm loving the aqua colouring.

What's not to adore?

Aqua is one of my all-time favourite colours!

I hope you enjoy this pic too...

In love with Whiskers, and Macro Photography...

This is my very first attempt at macro photography...

and believe me, so much skill is required.

It is most definitely NOT as easy as one may think 

even with a specialty macro lens attached to the camera body.
But I am hooked!

My steadiness of hand is non existent!

And to get a windless day where I live is nigh impossible!

(wind and macro photography do not work well together.)
A tripod, aperture changes, a few online lessons and a whole lot of practice
may be the next steps in my Macro photography journey.
The dewdrop and flower subjects were complete fails 
(lets blame the wind!)

However Shanti-Rose was the most forgiving model, 

as I photographed her beautiful cat face and whiskers.

 In love with whiskers,
and Macro Photography...