Cougar Mountain – Heart in Nature

It’s a tiny bit of a stretch, but while hiking Washington state’s Cougar Mountain, I did spy a Heart in Nature, courtesy of a tree hole and some of the Licorice Fern Trail’s prevalent moss.

More pictures of Cougar Mountain can be found on my Flickr site. For more detailed trail descriptions of Cougar Mountain hikes, I highly recommend the Weekend Hike blog.

The New York Botanical Garden – Hearts in Nature

A Heart in Nature post seems to be a fitting followup to a reminiscent wedding post! Ryan and I spotted a few hearts in nature in the Conservatory of The New York Botanical Garden. Enjoy!

Thai Red Papaya (Carica papaya)

Leaf in Tropical Section of the Conservatory

Anthurium crystallinum

Heart in Nature – Bulgaria

Special thanks to Maya Karkalicheva for permission to use this photo. This shot depicts a lake in Bulgaria. Do you see the heart?

Photo courtesy of .:: Maya ::.

For more gorgeous pictures of Bulgaria, I would highly recommend Maya’s PhotoStream.

Heart in Nature: Greek cyclamen

Heart in Nature, Fractal in Nature? Gorgeous!

Nature’s Heart (Photo by macropoulos)

Heart in Nature – Black Walnut

Photo courtesy of spugbrap!  A heart in the shell of a black walnut. I’m currently growing a baby black walnut, but expect it’ll be sometime before I can reenact a photo such as this. : )

Heart in Black Walnut Shell (Photo courtesy of spugbrap)

Hearts in Nature: Flamingos

Courtesy to Creative Commons, here are some Hearts in Nature presented by pairs of pink flamingos:

“Dance of Love” (Photo by Kjunstorm)

“Heart” (Photo by Lex’i’con)

“Dearly Beloved” (Photo by bobdole369)

Heart in Nature – Via Facebook!

Recently Facebook sent me a message that an old co-worker tagged me in a picture.

“Ooooh….that can’t be good,” I thought. I hadn’t seen her in about a decade. Whatever picture she had of me was one I didn’t remember. It had the potential for embarrassment.

As a I clicked on the link, I noticed the picture was in a folder called “Mobile Uploads”.

“Mobile Uploads?!?! Did cell phones even take pictures back then?”

It turns out it was indeed a mobile upload shot. It was a recent one. Not of me, but of something I would appreciate!

Courtesy of ever-lovely Jennifer Maccherone, here’s a great Heart in Nature… via Facebook!

Heart Shaped Knot (Photo Courtesy of Jennifer Maccherone)

Heart in Nature: Knot in Newbegun Creek

Kayaking in Newbegun Creek a couple of weekends ago, Ryan and I stumbled upon this heart-shaped knot. Its appeal wasn’t limited to our eyes– some plants found it to be a rather nice home.

Heart in Nature – Knot (Photo by Ryan Somma)

Hearts in Tire Tracks

Today it is two weeks until my wedding! It seemed like a good day to do a Hearts in Nature post, but I stumbled upon these crazy cool man-made hearts instead.

Photo by lovestruck.

Photo by LydiaL

Photo by LydiaL

Want to see even more examples? There is an entire Flickr group dedicated to the phenomenon – Heart Shaped Tyre Tracks.

Hearts in Nature: Lichen

The November 2009 issue of Discover Magazine featured an excellent article on lichen. When discussing how the fungus component harvests food from a photosynthesis partner, author Gordon Grice shared a quote by Trevor Goward. Goward is the “lichen curator” at the University of British Columbia Herbarium.  He says:

“Lichens are fungi that have discovered agriculture.”

Today’s Hearts in Nature focuses on those busy little fungi farmers who can cultivate some of the most unlikely lots. Special thanks, as always, to Creative Commons photographers.

(Photo by [New Parents!!!] Gare and Kitty)

(Photo by . SantiMB .)

(Photo by cfournie)

(Photo by pet_r)