Hyacinth Close up

Okies! So My Mother sent this Giant Hyacinth over to my lovely wife, as a little Easter / Get well gift. I decided to get out my close up filters and do a little playing to find out what these dudes will let me get away with.
Before I get into what I learned, let me first tell you there was no cropping done on this photo at all. This flower has blooms that are about 1/2"diameter.
What I actually learned.
My lens, which is the 18~55 kit zoom that came with my D-40x is about 2 inches away from the flower itself! Normally, I cannot focus any closer than about 17 inches with this lens. Yes, this would have been a much better shot had I used a bit of artificial light, and a tripod. But that wasn't the point of the playing I was doing. The Close up filter kit I used I got from Ritz Camera, and was only $30. The kit included a +1, +2, & +4. For this shot I put all three on which gave me an effective +7.
I know it would be cool to be able to spring for a $600+ Macro lens.... but considering I don't have that kind of change laying around, I believe these will be fun to try out on the bugs, and flowers this spring and summer.