Photography Self-Teach with questions: Wildflower Walk, Part 2

Here's another bit of loveliness from my wildflower walk on Sunday. . . a little flower shot in portrait setting to blur out the rest of the background.  I was a little surprised that the portrait setting worked better at doing this than the macro/close-up/flower setting.  I had assumed going in that the macro setting would be the most successful, but it wasn't.  Does anyone know why? Why is going to be my theme for this post.  I've got questions about what didn't work during this photo shoot.

I had trouble taking shots of fields of flowers.  The first picture doesn't look like much of anything.  The second one is a little better. The third one is the most successful.  So, I'm wondering why these were so hard to shoot.  I had the white balance set to bright sunshine, but I think there may have still been too much light.  It may also have been the fact that I was shooting with my 50 mm fixed lens, which just might not work for this type of shot.  Any suggestions or insights welcome!

 I thought some of the issue might be composition, so I took some photos that had things in it besides the flowers:  rocks; fences; sky.  The composition is more interesting in these photos, but they still lack intensity. The second is my favorite. Again, I'd love feed back or suggestions.

Finally, to end on a more successful note - one last shadow self-portrait.  I like the fact that it looks like I have flowers on my hat!