leaves

Making photographs can be very meditative.  For a long time, I would get lost trying to capture flowers, plants and leaves.  Among other things, this helped me to learn my photography settings and to shoot on manual without the added pressure of a human patiently waiting on the other end. But, I've always loved leaves, ever since my grandfather taught me about the spores on the back side of a fern.  My grandparents would mail me photos - of their hydrangeas!  And my mother always wanted to be somewhere in the fall where she could wear a red coat and walk through the leaves on the ground.    

Fig leaves.... when I was little, we had two fig trees in the back yard.  

Ivy

Gardenia; the sweetest smell

Magnolia