Earlier this week, I posted my 25th free garden wallpaper. In honor of this fantastically important milestone that I’m sure you all care very, very much about, I decided to pick out my five favorites (hey, I like square roots, OK?) to use for our pond photo roundup this week. I promise that this isn’t just so that I can use some of my own photos in the Roundup. I mean, that’s not to say that I’m not that vain, it just doesn’t happen to be why, this time. Either way, here you go, people: Photos!
See, I’m not even starting with one of my own photos, so there! This was our second free garden wallpaper, and was, in fact, the image that inspired me to start doing these wallpapers. It’s still one of my favorite photos in the whole world ever. Even better, the lotus pictured has a really interesting story, having sprung accidentally from a bulb that had lain dormant for thousands of years in Japan.
Ancient Lotus Wallpaper
Image Credit: Tanaka Juuyoh
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About this Wallpaper
OK, now we get to my images, which makes me happy. Another pink lotus, too. It’s not a coincidence that three of these five images I selected are of pink lotuses. They’re some of my very favorite plants, and they photograph beautifully. They also have a great balance of visual interest and simple elegance that makes for really good wallpapers.
Offset Lotus Heart Wallpaper
Image Credit: Bill Dubert
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About this Wallpaper
Here’s another that isn’t mine (see, look at how not-vain I am!). Now, when I posted this image the first time, I went on at great length about how I’d chosen it as an excellent example of how filters and shadows can be used with reflective water in unusual light to take what could be a difficulty and turn it into a strength. Let’s be real, though; I made a wallpaper out of this lily because it’s really, really pretty.
Pink and Yellow Water Lily
Image Credit: SuperFantastic
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About this Wallpaper
If I had done this feature a month ago, I probably wouldn’t have included this image. However, my opinions of these wallpapers tends to change over time, and I’ve really fallen more and more in love with this one. Also, I found out the other day that my mother has been using this as the background on her iPad since it went live in October, which made me smile.
Reflected Pink Lily Wallpaper
Image Credit: Bill Dubert
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About this Wallpaper
Here’s the last of the pink lotuses. This photo was directly inspired by the work of Tanaka Juuyoh (the photographer who captured the first of these wallpapers), and has been one of my most popular images. Like I said, pink lotus blossoms just photograph so beautifully, and feel so effortless and perfect in images.
Angled Pink Lotus
Image Credit: Bill Dubert
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About this Wallpaper
Remember how I said that I’d picked my five favorite wallpapers? Well, I kind of lied. This is image number six here, but I didn’t include it because it’s one of the best or most popular. Really, I just absolutely love this image (in fact, I’m actually planning on ordering a print of it for my home soon). I love how it shows the organic, changing nature of a pond, how a water garden is, at it’s best, nature just barely contained by human works.
I probably think too much about desktop wallpapers.
Metal Fish Overlooking Waterfall Wallpaper
Image Credit: Bill Dubert
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About this Wallpaper
As ever, check out our Free Water Garden Desktop Background Gallery for more wallpapers, and like our Facebook page for lots more photography and other water garden-related material!
