Tips for Photographing Flowers

Since I don't want to pretend that I have sufficient expertise in the area of flower photography to post tips, when I stumbled upon this information regarding photographing roses, I thought it might be something that others would find useful. Lots of practial info at the website of the Connecticut Rose Society.

Gardening is Like a Drug

Blackswamp Girl left a comment under my last post and that led me to her blog to see what someone with such an interesting "handle" could be blogging about. Be sure to read her interesting post and the subsequent comments about Gardening and Artistry. She suggests that gardeners are artists. I must admit that I feel like I employ some artistic principles when I lay out my beds and plan my plantings. But I garden first and foremost for the thrill the color gives me. My thrice daily walks to inspect the garden make me smile and make my heart beat faster. The sense of accomplishment/success is also not to be ignored. I guess it is a little strange to think about the physical effort that has gone into my garden, vs what I get out of it. Many people would (and do) question it. But I know that many of you understand because for many of us gardening is like a drug and we are addicted!!!

Looking over the rest of her blog I noticed a beautiful picture of Chasmanthium. That reminded me that I took gazillions of pictures of mine last fall. A few turned out quite nicely, so here is yet another picture of the very photogenic seedheads of Northern sea oats.

Chasmanthium latifolium

Last Winter Was So Different

Last winter the month of January was very rainy. This winter we have a foot and a half of snow on the ground and its been well below freezing for weeks. I even stuck my well-used quilting ruler in the snow and took a picture! It snowed some more right after I took it.

All this snow should be good for the plants though. Last winter the rain in January is what I blame for the demise of my 2 magnificent Centranthus rubras (Jupiter's beard or Red valerian). They have carrot like roots but they rotted. It is a very hardy plants, so it wasn't the cold and since the seedlings around these two were perfectly healthy I could only assume that the rain and resulting ice is what killed the plants.

In December I found this orchard near Kelowna and for some reason there were still loads of apples on the trees. It was a beautiful sight!