As I have mentioned in previous posts, San Angelo, Texas is home to the largest international water lily collection in the world. Fans of the beautiful water plants and blossoms come here from all over the world to see and study our flowers. Ken Landon, the curator is the man behind all of this, obtaining the plants from other countries so San Angelo can keep on having the best and the biggest.
The Chamber of Commerce presents an annual festival to show off the gardens and today was the day. A new species that was developed and bred by Mr. Landon, was presented to the city, and by proclaiming through the state judicial system, it has been named the Texas State Water Lily. Our State Representative Mr. Drew Darby was the man behind that effort. The species’ name is Texas Dawn. It is pictured below.
"Texas Dawn" - State Water Lily of Texas
While I was at the water lily gardens I strolled around and got these images of some of the other water lilies.
Blossom from San Angelo Water Lily Collection
Blossom from San Angelo Water Lily Collection
Blossom from San Angelo Water Lily Collection
Blossom from San Angelo Water Lily Collection
So is not to take up a lot of space with EXIF data, suffice it to say that I shot all images with my Canon EOS 7D. I used my Canon f4-5.6 IS 100-400mm zoom lens. Basic exposures were with Aperture priority, at ISO 400. I processed bottom four images with PhotoMatix HDR pro, then fine tuned in Photoshop.
Also while there I met a young budding photographer Amanda Berrie. David Tarver, another local wildlife photographer was there, as were my old friends from the San Angelo Visitors Center.
I hope you enjoy the images. Click on any of them to see enlargements.
Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller 
These are beautiful! I had no idea they came in so many colors 🙂
Now I know why you moved from MI to TX – more photo ops!! 😉 Texas is now officially on my bucket list!
Make it fast before I kick my “bucket” and I and Ann will show you around. 🙂
The Lilies are awesome! and the photography too!
Thanks you, Mahesh.
Wow, it doesn’t get much better than this. I like the first one the best!
Beautiful 🙂
Thank you very much, Teresa. I appreciate you. 🙂
Bob,
You have the magic touch to show beauty and color!
H.J.
Thanks a lot, H.J. 🙂
Wow, they are gorgeous. I am especially drawn to the second image (the first pink-ish flower you posted). I like the subtle contrast and the way the background looks like a painting. If I ever make it to Texas, I’m adding the water lily collection to my list of must-see things 🙂
Thank you again, Shelly. I took three bracketed exposures of that photo and blended them all using PhotoMatixPro for HDR processing. Just an experiment but I agree, I think it looks great. I hope you guys can make it here someday, and Ann and I will show you around. 🙂
These are beautiful!
Thanks a bunch, Karen.
So delicate and pretty! I rarely see water lilies, so this was a real treat! The bottom two look lit from within and almost translucent.
Thanks, Karen. I am glad you liked them. There are literally hundreds of different blossoms here. Some bloom at night, and some bloom at day. So it depends on what time you view them, what you will see. Thanks again for commenting.
absolutely beautiful…the colors are so rich…
Thanks a bunch, Syl.
these lillies are gorgeous, full and colourful! c
Thanks, Cecilag.
Thank you, Toby.
Beautiful!