A couple of lotus blossoms, from a photo a friend posted from his visit to Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens here in Washington DC — check out their Flickr stream here for photos of real lotuses!
The word on the first one reads as “mugon” and means silence. I was at a loss for words to use for beautiful photo, and decided to go with “silence.”
For the second one, I stole some lines from H.D. (Hilda Doolittle): “Take all the garden spills, / inveterate, / prodigal spender just as summer goes.”
etegamist 
Very beautiful. I love the lilac shading… I love just using “silence” to describe it…silence is practically sacred to me. And flowers are right up there, too! Thanks jan for forwarding this post to me!
Thanks for the comment, and sorry for the delay in responding!