Crassulaceae, or H&C as you probably know them

I got lucky and caught the Hens and Chicks blooming!

A bit of a recap. You may have seen some of these photos before. Scroll down till they're new to you, the trip is worth it. Some of them you'll almost certainly want to embiggen.

These photos start early this year, playing with the 100 mm lens.

Playing with a close up, and the following one with the tape measure to show you scale.

Then just a few days ago we noticed the questing stalk. Almost looking for prey, don't you think?

There's actually two separate plants doing their thing. This one below is much taller, and much harder to photograph, being that it's tucked underneath the dread Alberta rose. Linda had to put on gloves and hold up some of the canes for me to get any shots of this one.

This one is actually a macro shot, with the 35 mm extension tube on the camera.

This gives you another sense of how small these are.

This is the lucky shot, getting it as the flower is opening. A bit tricky to get the settings right in brilliant noon light, with the inside being quite dark. This is a macro with the 35 mm tube, as are the following.

This is the taller one.

It's such a cheerful little blossom, basking in the sun. I'm not sure if it needs to be pollinated by the bees, but if so, I hope they find it. We've been seeing a lot more bees around lately, and this makes us happy.

I did a bit of reading about these. It turns out that this bloom is the last thing the plant does. It will die soon, and the younger ones will reclaim the space. Their care and feeding is described as "neglect", so they're my kind of flower.