Blazing Stars 2013

Last weekend I went on my annual pilgrimage to Jennings Environmental Center.  Yes, every year around this time the Blazing Stars (Liatris spicata) are in bloom. They are out of place in Western Pennsylvania, as they naturally grow on the prairies of the Midwest.  But many years ago a receeding glacier cut a prairie through the area where Jennings now stands and it became the only area in Pennsylvania where the plant grows naturally.

They grow in profusion and among all the other prairie plants, so the challenge photographically is to isolate them and provide a non-distracting background to the image.

Here is this years contribution.....