Thank you all for commenting on this. his was my first submission and I love getting the feedback. It's more important than the actual rating to me. That's how you learn. thank you.
Composition: Subject Placement, Cropping, Background 8 (border detracts a bit)
Technical: Focus, Exposure, Lighting, Processing 8
Appeal: Is it Interesting, Motivating, Etc.? 10
How well does it meet the challenge: 10
Total Averaged Rating 9
one of my favorites this challenge
Recognizeable with the title. Without the title, I wouldn't have known it had something to do with nature; i.e. a plant of some sort. Great background, and the DOF is nice.