Heather's Garden

GGW's Picture This Photo Contest: Lighting: A Closer Look

This month's GGW Picture This Photo Contest theme is Lighting: A Closer Look.  The judge, Alan Detrick, gave us a directive to:

"The subject choice is yours but make it a close up or macro image. If you don’t have macro equipment, get as close as you can. Look at your images carefully to make sure the lighting sets the mood."

So I'm going to enter the same exact photo I did last month because I don't have another that fits the theme better than it does.  This backlit astilbe leaf that I snapped a little over a year ago is my entry:

  

I hope I'm not breaking a rule by entering the same photo two months in a row, but it only got an honorable mention last month, so I think it's okay.

*You can click View this photo for a larger size version of my entry.

Seeing The Past In Color

Let's try a quick experiment.  Close your eyes, wait read this sentence first and then close your eyes: Picture a family during the Great Depression.  Was the photo in your mind sepia-toned?  Plain old black and white?  A friend recently posted a link to images by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information.  Reportedly they are some of the only color photographs taken of the effects of the Depression on America’s rural and small town populations.  Click over and check out all 70 of the photos the Denver Post is hosting on their photo blog, but here are some of my favorites.

Garden adjacent to the dugout home of Jack Whinery, homesteader. Pie Town, New Mexico, September 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress:

 

Children gathering potatoes on a large farm. Vicinity of Caribou, Aroostook County, Maine, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress:

 

Children stage a patriotic demonstration. Southington, Connecticut, May 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Fenno Jacobs. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (my mother was in neighboring New Britain not quite a year old):

 

At Beecher Street School. Southington, Connecticut, May 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Fenno Jacobs. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (my cousins grew up in Southington, but I don't think this school was still in existence by the time they came along):

 

And I love the victory garden poster behind the seated girl.  Now close your eyes and picture the depression, have your images changed to color?  Mine have.

Rain Delay

It's been raining here all week.  I want to get outside and get some garden chores done, but everything's just too wet.  I had a friend over today and we went out during a break in the rain to see the garden, I reached down to pull a dead leaf off the strawberry plants and shrieked.  I almost grabbed the praying mantis:

 

Yes, she's clinging to the sides of two of the ceramic pots.  Not the best photo I've ever taken, but she seems to be sticking to the garden along the fence.  Hopefully I'll get another chance when it's not so dark and rainy since this isn't exactly a prize-winning photo.  However, I do hope this is a prize-winning photo:

 

I entered it into RAW's October contest, the theme of which is Purple Power.  Check out the gallery, there are some interesting photos already, strangely, quite a few are bee and flowers pics.  Now back to playoff baseball, ironically not in a rain delay!

GGW's Picture This Photo Contest: Autumn Harvest

This month's GGW Picture This Photo Contest theme of Autumn Harvest isn't a particularly difficult one, but I still had a tough time with it.  I think it's because Charles Mann, this month's judge, provided such stunning photos to accompany his guidelines for the contest that nothing I came up with was nearly as good!    

I read, and re-read the criteria Charles gave us:

"I have chosen AUTUMN HARVEST as my theme.

September and October are my favorite months in the Southwest and just about anywhere else for that matter. In New Mexico, the gardens are lush with grasses and summer growth, the aspen and cottonwoods light up the mountains while towns and villages celebrate the end of summer with dances and festivals. Chile, corn and other colorful produce make harvest time a visual feast, too, with many products of the gardens and fields being used for ornaments as well as for the table.

Often the setting or context makes a rather plain subject take on a special charm... After finding a photo, remember to look at the subject again and try composing both some overall context shots and then framing in more tightly on dramatic details. Most good subjects offer more than one or two interesting photographs.

Remember to shoot both horizontal and vertical composition when possible. Each and every well composed photograph had a unique energy and feeling.

Don’t hesitate to go off track and shoot something you did not come to see. B.F. Skinner famously said “Serendipity is the ability to see something important when you are looking for something else.” Blurring the back drop by opening up the camera to a wide aperture, like f 4, is a way to create context or atmosphere that can contribute to the photo without fighting with the main subject for attention.

Some subjects, like produce or containers, are moveable. Taking the time to create an interesting arrangement is an opportunity to practice another aspect of composition.

Learn to notice the surreal and whimsical things nearby. Sometimes odd juxtapositions or patterns present themselves and make great photo opportunities. Rene Magritte could have painted this scene of levitating chiles on a visit to New Mexico.

Use your wide angle lens to look at a subject from a unique angle. Wide angle photos can take in a lot of information and have the added benefit of an almost infinite depth of field even, at wide apertures.”

But make sure you click over to the GGW post so you can see Charles' beautiful photos.  He gave plenty of information on what he would be looking for, but I could only come up with two photos that I liked that said harvest to me.  The first was a shot of Lee holding the first tomato harvested from our garden this year:

 

But I remember an earlier judge's advice that the photo must stand on its own and I'm not sure this one does without the knowledge that it's the first tomato of the year.  This is a photo* from last week and it kind of reminds of me some of Charles' photos, so I'm going to make it my official entry to the contest.  Plus the low angle of the light and the abundant tomatoes scream autumn harvest to me:

 

Let's see what James thinks. 

*You can click View this photo for a larger size version of my entry.

I Feel Special

My entry in Gardening Gone Wild's Picture This photo contest won an honorable mention!  This month's theme was a tough one "Intent of the Gardener" and I thought this photo (from Buffalo's Japanese Garden written about in detail here) illustrated that the intent of the gardener was to invite me to sit on that bench and view the islands in the lake. 

 

This month's judge, Rich Pomerantz, wrote about my image:

The next honorable mention is for Heather’s Garden’s entry, a lovely, quiet view of a Japanese garden through a foreground pine tree over an inviting bench. Even the white sky (usually a deadly sin for me) is nicely used as negative space to silhouette some of the branches. It’s a well balanced composition, and uses the reflections in the water well. The road in the background started to bother me though, keeping it from an award, but just barely.

I can't disagree with Rich, that road bothered me too.  In fact, one of the politicians giving a speech at the re-dedication of the garden said he hoped it would be moved soon.  I remember that at least one other blogger wrote about how it almost ruined the garden for him.  I wouldn't go that far, but it really wasn't ideally situated.  Regardless, I enjoyed my visit there and I'm glad Rich liked my photo.  I can't wait to see what next month's theme will be!

Oh Canada!

When we decided that Lee was coming to Buffalo with me, we started to research Niagara Falls.  Everything we read (and heard from friends) told us to visit the Canadian side of the Falls.  Not a problem for me with a valid passport, but Lee's expired sometime back in the 80s and he never bothered to renew it.  We visited our local post office to apply for his new one only three weeks before our departure -- surely it wouldn't come in time.  When a Priority package arrived in the mail the Saturday before our departure I didn't even think it could be his passport -- wrong again.  So I scheduled another vacation day and after our arrival in Buffalo we extended our stay at the Embassy Suites for another night.  Early Monday morning we packed up and departed -- destination Canada.  We sort of missed the turn-off that would get us to Rainbow Bridge and instead went a little further up on the highway (Lee calls this having an adventure...I call it not trusting the GPS) and crossed the border closer to Niagara-on-the-Lake.  Since everyone and their mother recommended we go there, including the border guard, we decided to head there first.  We took a nice route through the vineyards: 

 

And decided to stop for a wine tasting -- at 10am no less!  This was my first visit to a winery and we walked out with 2 bottles of wine and some nice snacks (we paid of course):

 

We drove on and hit Queen Street, the main drag through town.  There's a good reason Jim said he tried to keep any garden bloggers from seeing Niagara-on-the-Lake before Buffalo (he needn't have, they're both beautiful in their own way).  I almost veered off the road:

We quickly found a parking spot and promised ourselves we'd spend no more than an hour walking around.  That was going to be a tough promise to keep:

 

Lee patiently posed for me so I could show you how enormous the baskets on the streetlights were:

 

 

Can you see the man sitting on a bench on the right?  The plantings were insane: 

 

There were so many spots we would have loved to sit and grab a bite to eat, but we had a pretty big breakfast and it was barely 11am:

 

Seriously, the street is nicer than any part of my garden:

 

We mostly window-shopped because we had already thrown off the vacation budget by spending an extra night.  I, like most literate English-speaking women my age, am a huge Anne of Green Gables fan and have been since seeing the mini-series on PBS as a girl.  I squealed in delight when Lee spotted this one and pointed it out to me:

 

Each sight was more delightful than the last:

 

Seriously, could it be more charming:

 

It's only a few blocks long and yet not the same thing over and over:

 

Then we got to the hotel portion:

 

This is the Prince of Wales hotel and we want to go back and stay there some day:

 

It's like garden porn, isn't it:

 

Apparently this section is maintained by a contracted company and not the town, but I don't care:

 

I so wanted to have tea, but again, not hungry, and we still had the Falls to visit.  We had to be on the road home by 2pm or we'd be driving through unfamiliar territory in the dark:

 

Loved this fountain:

 

We'll be back again some day, hotel, don't worry:

 

This is for my friend Vanessa who recently reminded me of a certain party during our college years.  We will meet up to celebrate Canada Day again soon, I promise:

 

I covet these huge containers: 

 

I loved the purple fountain grass here:

 

Lee actually drew my attention to this huge stand of flowers crawling with bees.  I thought it was lavender (smelled like it), but my boss declared it to be Russian sage, and on-line photos seem to back her up.  Regardless before returning to the car (across the street by the yellow umbrellas) I decided to try and get some good shots of the bees:

 

I got tons, but these were the best of the bunch.  I was pretty happy with this one:

 

Better, but distracting business in the upper left corner:

 

Even better, but still that busy corner:

 

A little unbalanced in the composition, but interesting in flight photo:

 

This is looking pretty damn good, but it's not all that interesting:

 

Ah, this is the one.  Not even cropped:

 

And with that accomplished, we drove down to the Falls via the Niagara Parkway.  And a beautiful drive it was.  How could I not turn off when I saw a sign for a Floral Clock:

 

It was immense:

The back door was open so we walked in and saw the mechanism underneath.  So clear it was built in 1950 seeing this:

Even here by the gift shop the containers were beautiful:

 

And apparently my fascination with fish and water features from the previous day hadn't yet passed: 

 

But it was so pretty, how could I not photograph it:

 

As soon as Lee's passport arrived he started talking about visiting Canada.  For some reason he got on a kick of having all his food with maple syrup.  Imagine his delight upon finding this in the gift shop by the clock:

 

We drove on and finally caught our first glimpse of the Falls from the road.  Neither of us expected to be so awed.  We're kind of jaded travelers and thought we'd be underwhelmed.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  We had to keep driving and pay $20 to park about a mile away, but it was totally worth it.  My photos weren't exactly impressive, but I came up with three that aren't too bad:

 

I like how the Maid of the Mist seems like a toy here, and the American side of the Falls is dead ahead:

 

That's the Bridal Falls on the right and I have no idea what the building on the left is:

Lee and I were absolutely enchanted and we plan to return some day and really have the full Falls experience.  Ride the Maid of the Mist, walk behind the Falls, and whatnot.  But we won't stay in the row of tacky hotels here full of kid-friendly activities, but instead in charming Niagara-on-the-Lake clearly built for adults. 

Buffalo? Why? the end

Sunday dawned hot and sunny...not the best conditions for photographs or really for this gardener either.  Lee opted to stay at the hotel and relax as I headed off.  No buses that day, so I hung around the lobby to see if anyone needed a ride.  Many opted to walk the 2 miles to Lancaster Avenue to see more Garden Walk Buffalo gardens, but I did manage to find a touring buddy for the day, Dee of Red Dirt Ramblings and boy was she a fun buddy!  First stop was Gordon and Brian's house since I had skipped the rainy cocktail party there on Friday.  I came away with the strangest photos that don't really tell you much about their beautiful garden:

 

What was I trying to capture here?  The baskets of flowers on the fence maybe?  Since it was raining so hard on Friday afternoon they issued an open invitation for Sunday morning for any who wanted to come visit.  I was glad I didn't miss seeing their beautiful space:

 

It was about 10am and they'd hosted a party the night before.  I can't imagine I'd like 10 bloggers showing up to my garden bright and early, but they were very gracious hosts:

 

And it was one of the few places I actually saw vegetables growing.  In containers no less!  On the driveway, but hey, you take sun where you can find it:

 

I loved the cucumber growing up the support:

 

Brian told us about another garden nearby that we had to see.  He gave us directions, but I don't think I was fully awake yet either and asked him to hop in the car and guide us.  Somehow I think if we found the correct street we would have spotted this one without him:

 

Poor Jennifer was still in her PJs and getting ready for a family gathering that afternoon, but like everyone else in Buffalo she ushered us into her garden with a friendly smile and a hearty welcome:

 

There were so many focal points my head was spinning and this was still the front garden:

 

I love this fountain along the walk to the back garden.  Look at everything she has going here:

 

Loved the honeysuckle covered entrance to the back garden:

 

Oh yes, you know I had to sat down for a little while in those comfy chairs.  This gave me a chance to chat with Jennifer and learn more about her garden:

I was fascinated by her beautiful pond:

 

And her gigantic fish.  I asked if they overwintered in the pond.  Jennifer told me she had a pond in her basement and a 'greenhouse' with lights for the plants that wouldn't make it through the winter.  I said the power company must love her -- she agreed:

I commented that her garden must be a lovely place to have a party, she showed me that her charming pergola had strings of lights permanently attached, though they're not turned on in this photo.  Ready for her parties to go late into the evening:

 

It was tough to leave such a beautiful spot, but I had promised Brian a ride back to his house (since we had all but kidnapped him) and Lancaster Ave awaited.  Dee had to be back to the hotel by 1pm, so we didn't linger too long in any one place.  Many photos have been shown by other blogers of Jim's charming home and garden (plus all my photos were over-exposed with the darned sun right overhead), but I was particularly taken by his window boxes: 

 

We only sat for a moment and then moved on to the rest of his street.  All the gardens were beautiful, but once again with bloggers everywhere I only took a few photos and enjoyed just being in the gardens instead.  Apparently Sunday was a day of water features for me:

 

If you don't like your view, change it:

 

The homeowners made these containers and everything else in their garden:

 

This was their amazing water feature -- we all loved the moss:

 

And then it was back to Jim's for lunch.  I think everyone has posted a photo of this sign in front of Jim's house, but it's worth doing so again for one last giggle:

 

I got Dee back to the hotel in time for her shuttle and then headed back to Jim's.  I spent a lovely hour or so sitting and relaxing in his garden.  I rescued a few gardeners from their long, hot walk back to the hotel and we sat in the lobby with a drink for one last visit.  Lee and I opted out of dinner with the group that night and had room service instead followed by dessert at The Chocolate Bar (we'd passed it about 15 times during the weekend since it was practically next to the hotel).  Two chocolate martinis and a piece of chocolate peanut butter pie negated the entire weekend's exercise and Lee had the biggest banana split I've ever seen in person.  It was the perfect end to what surely will be known as our first trip to Buffalo because I am sure there will be more!  Many thanks again to the organizers of Buffa10, Elizabeth and Jim, for an extremely well run event. 

Buffalo? Why? continued

Saturday dawned bright and sunny.  Once again Lee and I opted to drive and once again we set out before the buses.  Another good decision because we got to the Erie Basin Marina University Test Gardens a good 20 minutes before the rest of the group and got to wander around in solitude and enjoy the beautiful, large containers:

 

And we made friends with gardener Stan Swisher who happily showed us around until the rest of the bloggers showed up.  He grows test plants for plant companies and reports on how they do in his climate.  Plants seen here will be on the market in 1-2 years.  He even gifted us a rock to take home with us to our garden after we mentioned that our main crop in CT is rocks.  He called it a turtle rock and I'll post when we decide where it will live:

 

But it's so much more than a place to test new plants, Stan and his staff have really put together a beautiful garden for all to visit:

I especially enjoyed the containers.  Someone commented that they needed a thriller, but I disagreed.  I like the low, tight theme carried out through the garden:

You may have caught a glimpse of the water over Stan's shoulder in the photo above.  We sat on a bench along the water and stared at what Jim told us was Canada in the distance.  And a lovely lighthouse that was definitely in the U.S.:

 

Off to our left wasn't too shabby either.  Poor Lee had done a day and a half of garden touring at this point, so I took pity on him and we walked down to the battleship:

 

Turns out it's part of the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park.  I didn't get a good photo, but there were planes, a u-boat, a tank -- all sorts of boy stuff in addition to a pretty impressive sub:

 

We went inside the museum too, mostly so Lee could use the restroom, but also to enjoy the AC for a minute -- it was hot outside!  I loved the mannequin sporting a jet-pack.  I'm pretty sure it was a female mannequin with a van dyke painted on to butch it up:

 

Then we were all off to the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens.  I'm pretty sure everyone looked up and shot this angle of the beautiful glass dome as we walked in:

 

Lee and I struck off to the right and went through the fern house before anyone else in the group:

 

This was by far our favorite house:

 

Loved the dinos:

 

And we're both suckers for a water feature, especially one with a waterfall:

 

A really tall waterfall:

 

I know it's a croc, but I keep thinking "Hungry Hippos" when I look at it:

 

Watch out!  He's on the loose:

 

This was both Lee's and my first visit to a botanical garden and we were both a little giddy.  He kept calling out to me, touching things, and smiling:

 

He wasn't happy when he read this sign as we moved into the next house:

 

He said afterward that he kept wanting to touch things:

 

Whereas I walked carefully down the very center of the aisle:

 

Loved this Echinocactus: 

 

Don't know what this was, but the orange flowers were striking:

 

I tried for a good 2 minutes to get the best photo of a flower on a huge opuntia cactaceae:

 

I can't decide which of these I like better:

 

I didn't catch the name of this house, but I imagine it was something like the Japanese house:

 

What else could it have been:

 

I liked how there were containers outside the clear windows here:

 

This was a space between houses, but it was so beautifully purple I had to snap a pic:

 

It's tough to see above, but I was very taken with this unusual begonia and if I find one in a nursery I will be buying it:

My mom keeps telling me how great staghorn ferns are.  Yes, mom, they're fantastic, but they wouldn't survive the winters up here outside of a greenhouse:

 

Here's some info on how to grow a staghorn fern.  This one was was over the door to the next area.  It must be on a mounting block, surely it can't be growing directly on the wall:

I think the next area was labeled the wedding house or something like that, but it was also the spot where bloggers were having professional portraits taken.  None of those for us, with Lee unshaven and me with my hair in a ponytail and sweating profusely.  But that's someone being photographed to the left of the beautiful fountain:

 

On the other side of that grouping we found a cute little bench under an ivy-covered arch where we sat for a while:

 

Beneath the ivy:

 

We just wish the fountain in front of us was filled and running:

 

People kept coming by and apologizing for disturbing us.  Like after 14 years together we'd be stealing a quiet moment to make out!  Update: Looks like Frances snagged a decent photo of us sitting beneath the arbor.  We eventually wandered on and found this charming tableau:

 

There were 4 of these fountains with water running down the chain -- I so covet them:

 

Lee made a few moves on the checkerboard.  But look at that chandelier:

 

A little bit farther on we found the source of the chamber music we heard while hiding on our bench.  I really thought it was a recording until I saw the quartet:

 

They weren't just there to entertain us, apparently a wedding was just about to start.  Can you imagine a more charming spot to pledge your troth?  Maybe we'll renew our vows some day:

 

Through yet another doorway we found a tropical garden:

 

Complete with orchids hanging in the trees:

 

We had seen every part of the interior so we moved outside.  And found a charming children's garden in back of the main buildings.  I was so tempted to kick off my flip-flops and wade through this pond.  I wonder how many children do so:

 

There were many touches for kids, but my favorite was these two little wheelbarrows.  I can just picture kids wheeling soil around:

 

After a group photo (which I'm still dying to see), we headed off to the next stop.  Lockwood's Greenhouse was very nice, but we have similar places in CT, some less than 15 minutes from my house, and frankly I was surprised by the high prices.  Most of it was pretty run-of-the-mill for us, though other bloggers were awed by the variety and quality of selections (apparenlty they don't have anything like this near them), but these cute little terrariums did catch my eye:

 

Aren't they charming?  A little out of my price range, but perhaps I'm finally inspired to make one of my own for my office:

 

A lovely picnic lunch was served here, but Lee and I were far more interested in skipping the afternoon's events and heading back to the hotel.  I loved the idea of an English tea in the woods, but my last words to Lee before we left were, "It's not like they're going to have home-cooked scones and clotted cream."  Boy was I wrong.  Once again I link to Pam of Digging and her excellent summary of the afternoon's events.  But not knowing that, we had learned the day before that Taste of Buffalo was taking place right outside of our hotel.  Seriously, this was the view from the front entrance when we returned from Lockwood's: 

 

We joined the throngs heading down Delaware Ave:

 

I was so amused by the cops on Segways I had to take a photo.  We saw them (or others) later that evening speeding down the street near the restaurant at which we dined, but here they were all smiles:

 

Just down the street we spotted placards advertising the opportunity to shake Senator Chuck Schumer's hand.  We had to walk by him to buy tickets for food and I managed to snag a pic just after he and Lee shook hands.  He made a really cheesy remark about beer commercials and a perfect day:

  

We found Mayor Byron Brown to be more genuine the previous day at the dedication of the Japanese garden, but of course I was biased since Mayor Brown complimented my clothing (we stepped aside so he and his party could enter before us and I made a comment about being under-dressed in comparison to his group).  At this point we were absolutely loving Buffalo and amazed by all the odd experiences we were having.

Buffalo? Why?

That's the reaction I got every time I told someone that we planned to spend our summer vacation in Buffalo.  A long complicated explanation about blogging, gardening, and Niagara Falls usually followed.  "Okay, hope you have fun," was the most often heard response.  WE DID!  The whole trip kind of felt like this photo--out-of-focus, off-kilter, but awesome all the same:

 

I came home with over 600 photos and I didn't even take any on the first day of Buffa10.  60+ new people, temps in the mid- to high-90s, and standing in Elizabeth's garden after all these years of viewing it on-line rather threw me.  This reluctance to take a photo is a trend that continued through the garden portions of the trip.  I just kept thinking, "There are at least 50 other people taking this same exact photo," and I wouldn't snap.  Luckily, Pam of Digging summed up her impressions of the first day much better than I could mine, complete with photos.

I've spent ages trying to cull my photos down into just the best, most relevant, or unique while still trying to cobble together an accurate narrative of our experience in Buffalo, but really I think the only way for me to do it is just to show you our trip in photos in chronological order.  It's going to be silly long (split up over at least 2 posts, probably 3), but I can't come up with a better way to do it.  I've already said I'm a separate-from-the-pack kind of gal in one of the two quick posts I did from Buffalo and that we opted to drive our car rather than ride on the bus.  I might have missed some camaraderie, but throughout our trip I was glad that's the choice I made.  First thing on Friday we all set out for Buffalo's Cottage District.  An overcast morning with a light drizzle off and on provided the perfect light for taking photos of these beautiful little jewels (mostly on the same street).  I think I took this because I was amazed by how much the gardener had done with the narrow passage between the houses:

I was clearly drawn to beautiful window boxes all morning:
 

Another striking window box.  What are they feeding these plants?  I admired this home's use of color: 

This is the same house and I just adored this grouping of coleus:

This next property has been written about by many people who attended Buffa10, but it's so amazing I can't leave it out.  My first look at Ms. Ellie's garden:

Hanging on her fence:

 

Lee gets credit for spotting this fantastic touch:
 

The path curves through Ms. Ellie's garden so it's impossible to get a shot of the whole thing:

But maybe close-ups will convey what a special place it is:

And of course her trash can has a floral motif too (credit to Lee again for poking me):

Directly opposite her wood pile and trash can she had this awesome table with potted herbs on top and tools and gloves aplenty below:
 

I mean, common on, how does she get her garden to grow this way?!  And note how tiny her house is:

 

I won't say her garden spoiled the rest for us, but we did compare each garden to hers for the remainder of the day.  I love the colors of this shot.  I wonder if neighbors consult before painting their buildings a new color:

I can't remember neighboring houses that clashed.  And there are a lot of colors every where you look:

I so wanted to walk into this garden, but they had it roped off:

I love the grass between the paving stones under the table:

The containers they put on the fence and all the sculptural pieces...well this was one of my favorites:

Look at all the colors here, but I took the photo because I thought these borders were probably the most like what I have in my garden and I loved them:
 

Lee and I finished up pretty quickly here and this was the first time (but not the last) that I was really happy that I had my car.  We left about 30 minutes ahead of schedule for the Japanese Garden at Olmsted Parks' Delaware Park.  I think this was the best thing that happened to us all weekend.  We ended up spending a full hour here without the rest of the crowd (they were running late), but Lee and I loved the solitude to really enjoy the garden: 

It was instantly inviting:

 

I snapped away with abandon:

 

The side of the path:

Around the path:

Back up the path:

 

And then down at the lake, the island...oh the islands:

 

UPDATE: I've chosen the above photo* as my entry in Gardening Gone Wild's Picture This photo contest.  This month's theme was a tough one "Intent of the Gardener" -- I believe the intent of the gardener was to invite me to sit on that bench and view the islands in the lake.  This month's judge, Rich Pomerantz, gave some great information on what he wanted.  I think this photo has a unifying principle (the Japanese garden), puts the viewer in the scene, only has that one slight unwanted element, doesn't try to include the whole world, and has good application of the photography basics.  Let's hope he agrees! 

Here's the same view from in front of the bench, on which I certainly would have sat if it wasn't soaking wet:

 

We walked around the lake to another bench:

 

And shot some more photos of the islands from there:

 

Including this one, my favorite:

 

After a lovely lunch we called it a day.  Pouring rain and exhaustion from the previous day's drive made me opt for a quiet afternoon.  And the whirlpool tub in the hotel was calling my name.  A peanut butter cup, Coke Zero, and last year's Star Trek movie on the laptop equaled one very happy Heather: 

 

And there's still another day and a half to share with you!  Are you starting to see why Buffalo?

*Link to full-size original: View this photo

GGW's Picture This Photo Contest: Best Ever

This month's GGW Picture This Photo Contest theme of Best Ever has been driving me nuts for the better part of the last two weeks.  One photo?  My best ever?  Oh that's just too difficult.  Joshua McCullough, this month's judge, deserves a special place in hell for this one.  Well, maybe that's a bit over-dramatic, but I really didn't like this theme.  Usually I read the announcement and I know instantly if I already have an image I want to submit, or an idea of what I want to try and shoot.  Not this time.  So I agonized and looked back over my archives.  I came up with about 5 photos that I really like, 3 of which have been honorable mentions in past GGW photo contests. 

I read, and re-read the criteria Josh gave us:

"We are all learning and growing and marking our progress each day, each moment, with the aspiration to be more aware, more knowledgeable, more fulfilled. And there is no way to still that understanding to one moment in time, one frame. The way we see that frame changes as our perspective does. And what a great thing to be able to look back on that past frame, or out into the world as our current perspective leads us and judge that for what it is now to us at this moment. And that is what I ask of you for this months contest, to give me your best ever. That’s right, the BEST FRAME YOU HAVE EVER CREATED. Your favorite. The one that means the most to you, that conveys what skill you had to bring to bear at its creation and now as you ascertain what it expresses. Your BEST EVER!

In keeping with the GGW scope (and I suspect most of our interests) I ask that it remain garden or plant related. No people portraits or cityscapes. And I will not be able to read the stories behind each image. The image itself has to stand on its own.

I hope that no one will be intimidated by such a grandiose challenge. Even if tomorrow you make a better image or if you come to look with disdain at this selection in the future you will have already won the greatest contest for yourself, to have questioned everything and answered that for yourself, here, now, at that moment. And though I will select my winners for all our enjoyment and gratification this is about you and your photos. Please share your best with us.”

And I kept coming back to one line: The image itself has to stand on its own.  This photo of the late afternoon sun turning an astilbe leaf into a piece of stained glass does just that.  What you don't see in the photo is that I was perched on a tree root on a 45 degree angle in a full squat, that my camera battery was almost drained, the sun disappeared 2 seconds after I took this picture, or the impossibly ugly background I had to frame out while still getting the sun backlighting the leaf.  For all those reasons I think this is my best so far:

I hope you agree, spawn of the devil -- I mean, Josh.

Honored

My mom asked me to make sure to post as soon as GGW announced the winner of this month's Picture This photo contest.  You'll recall that the theme was Green World, the judge was Rob Cardillo, and I entered this photo of a Cinnamon fern fiddle-head:

 

Well the results are in!  Rob structured his comments a little differently than the past two judges, but I think I can legitimately claim an honorable mention.  He had these lovely things to say about my photo:

The delicate furriness of an unfurled frond in #16 at Heather's Garden is set perfectly against a pastiche of soft earthy tones.  The background makes this simple image stand up and sing.

He also wrote about his judging process:

Once I settled on a handful of finalists, I reviewed them again, looking more critically at their technical qualities and craftsmanship and chose the winners. As a last step, I went to back to everyone’s blogs to see who you all were and explore the context of each image.  I was surprised at how much gardening passion and personality I found: it made me wish I was a more active blogger. However, I was even more surprised to spot images on some sites that I found more compelling than the ones that were entered!  Oh well.

I couldn't help but wonder if mine were one of the blogs with more compelling photos to which he referred.  Oh well, thank you, Rob for your very kind words.  I am honored.

GGW'S PICTURE THIS CONTEST: GREEN WORLD

Gardening Gone Wild is once again hosting their Picture This photo contest and this month's theme is green world.  Since I was lucky enough to get honorable mentions in the last two contests, my expectations are probably artificially high.  So once again I was torn between two options.  I like this photo I took of the seedling tray last week, but I don't think it's my best work:

But ultimately I decided to go with a photo from last summer of an emerging cinnamon fern fiddle-head:

I hope this month's judge Rob Cardillo likes it!   

I'M LIKING THIS TREND

This feels like bragging, but imagine me saying it in a very humble way...for the 2nd month in a row I got an honorable mention in GGW's Picture This photo contest! 

Saxon Holt had this to say about my photo:

"I am sure glad Heather at Heather’s Garden sent in her lupine photo.  She demurred about a second choice, but this wins our second Honorable Mention.  While I might have used a reflector card to add a bit more light to the bottom leaves emerging from the soil, the exuberant emphasis is clearly the still opening leaves – like bursting stars awakening."

He makes a very good point about the reflector card and from what I've read any white piece of paper would work, so I think I'll pick up a package of white index cards next time I'm at a store.  In case you don't remember the photo:

 

Make sure you go by GGW to view the winning photographs and the other honorable mention photo.  Saxon Holt gives some very good critiques, which I always find very helpful and I've learned a lot from reading his frequent posts on garden photography on GGW.

I'm beyond excited still and bouncing around the house.  It's so gratifying to receive positive feedback from a professional.  Hearing compliments from friends and family is nice too, but isn't your mom required to think you're the best at everything?

GGW'S PICTURE THIS PHOTO CONTEST: AWAKENING

Gardening Gone Wild is hosting their Picture This Photo Contest and this month's theme is awakening.  Hot off my honorable mention winning photo from last month (which still thrills me beyond belief), I just had to enter again!  I went back and forth right up until the deadline trying to choose the right photo to enter.  This shot of lupine starting to emerge was the best I could get of my just waking garden, so it's my official entry.  I like how it's dwarfed by the blooming crocuses in the background which gives a sense of scale, is vibrantly colored, and sort of reminds me of palm trees:

This backlit shot of the row of blooming crocuses (I'm sorry, I just can't use croci) with one in focus (VPH called it unreal looking) was a close also ran:

Well I like them both, but let's hope this month's judge (Saxon Holt) likes my entry more too!

 

 

 

SPRING CLEANING

Let's be honest.  We in the Northeast wish that the beginning of spring really came with the springing ahead of the clocks.  But in reality we know that there's at least one more cold snap lurking just around the corner and it often comes with a March or April snow storm.  I can't tell you how many of our Easter Sunday photos were taken in our pretty little Easter dresses and bonnets as we shivered with teeth chattering. But Mother Nature is giving us a few spectacular days this week to really get our hopes up that spring is actually here to stay! 

There have been a few garden days this week and there are little signs of spring all around the garden.  I tried to get a photo to submit to the GGW's March photo contest -- the theme is awakening -- but didn't find anything I love so far.  An emerging strawberry plant :

 

A blurry shot of my bleeding heart...containers do warm up faster:

 

I was very excited to see the tarragon growing though it didn't make for much of a photo:

Nor did the creeping jenny:

I think this may be my entry.  The lupine is so small it's dwarfed by the crocus, but I think it almost looks like palm trees at first glance:

 

I found a few things that made me laugh.  One container of carrots that we left in the soil looked like this (that's a rotting carrot):

But the other yielded intact carrots!  I don't think we're going to try and eat them, but it was fun to pull them out:

 

Then it was time to actually plant!  The CT oldtimers tell you to plant your peas on St. Patrick's Day.  However, it's never been even close to warm enough for me to want to be outside on St. Patrick's Day before.  I had to go to the office on Wednesday, so I was a day late planting, but I think within 24 hours still counts.  I opted for 3 different types:

I wondered how long a row of peas I was planting so VPH (who was keeping me company) paced out the row.  He said 15 feet, so about 5 feet of each of the 3 pea varieties went into the 2 inch deep trench 2 inches apart.  (I don't follow most spacing recommendations on seed packages.)  After taking this photo I carefully filled in the trench, but I didn't water because the soil was sort of damp already, the overnight temp was supposed to get close to freezing, rain is in the forecast in a few days, and most importantly, I haven't replaced the broken hose nozzle yet:

 

Moving inside, I like this shot of the forced forsythia branches in the living room, but I'm going to keep trying, and maybe even break out the tripod:

 

The full effect really brightens up the room:

 

This time of year I get the urge to clean and redecorate.  Usually it's because it's not warm enough yet to go outside to clean and redecorate the garden!   I got a lot done this past weekend during the non-stop rain.  First up was hanging some photos in the kitchen.  Do you know how to hang a grouping of frames one on top of the other?  Pick where you want your first frame and hammer in your nail.  Then you're supposed use a string level, but I don't have one, so I grabbed an extra dental floss from the medicine cabinet, popped out the spool/cutting device and slid off the spool of floss.  Then I tied a loop in the floss and slipped it on the nail (important that you don't tie the floss to the nail because it will be a bitch to remove without pulling the nail).  The wax floss will not unroll on its own despite the weight and gravity, so you can just unroll it to the length you need.  Then I used a tape measure to mark 2 more nail holes on the wall behind the string 15 inches apart (your distance will vary depending on the size of your frames and how far apart you want to space them):

And voila -- perfectly straight evenly spaced photos (that dresser doesn't belong there, but we haven't figured out where it's going yet):

And then of course I had to find a home for my honorable mention-winning photo, which actually printed very nicely on my home inkjet printer and gave a lot of color to the living room despite being a winter photo:

To the left side of the above photo you can see an open box on the table.  I have a small problem with bed linens.  I just love nice sheets and a pretty duvet.  So I splurged a little and bought a queen-sized 500 thread count set of sheets, a new duvet, and a 8 towel set (because we really need brown in the new bathroom instead of our old pink towels that matched the pink bathroom).  But I got it all for less than $90, so I'm hardly counting that as shopping at all!

What are your spring cleaning rituals -- inside or out?

I WON...I WON...I WON

Well actually I got an honorable mention, but it feels just as good!  This photo:

Garnered an honorable mention in the GGW Picture This photo contest.  And to think I almost didn't enter at all because I was getting tired of not being chosen!   The judge, Roger Foley, had this to say about my photo:

The next photo taken by Heather of Heather’s Garden can cause a double take. The wet, fluffy snow stuck to these branches mimics early spring blossoms against the vivid blue sky. The impact of a photograph becomes turbo-charged when metaphor is invoked.

Thank you so much, Roger!

Back to more mundane matters...we hit the farmer's market this morning, but it was rather disappointing.  We came home with crab-cakes (because really who wouldn't?), kettle corn, and 2 avocados.  I guess the season has changed down here or the terrible frosts hit them hard, but the tomatoes were awful.  Not a one of them even smelled like a tomato.  I had to buy vine-ripened ones at the grocery store.  They had tons of strawberries at the farmer's market, but we just weren't in the mood.  It was silly bright out and horribly crowded (hate the season in FL) so I didn't even break out the camera.  In fact I haven't taken any photos in the week since we left CT.  So all I have to share with you are the 2 pics from the same session as the photo above that I liked. 

This is the frame of the double lounger covered in snow:

 

Does that little black dot on the snow bother you too?  I switched angles because it was driving me crazy:

 

Ultimately the theme of winter light made me opt for the blue sky photo.  But I'm holding the other photos for submission to a contest with an appropriate theme.

GGW'S PICTURE THIS PHOTO CONTEST: WINTER LIGHT

Once again Gardening Gone Wild is hosting their Picture This Photo Contest and I have to say that the timing of this one wasn't ideal for me since February in CT was grey and didn't really lend itself to the theme for this month's contest: Winter Light.  I remind you that along the shoreline in southern CT we tend to get a lot of snow that melts the next day and most days my garden is brown and drab at best.  We had a good amount of snow over the past few weeks, but the sun just didn't want to come out. 

I tried a few times for interesting photos, but didn't love any of the results (pardon the smaller than normal image size, but we're "borrowing" wifi and the normal size was taking forever to upload):

And then during a snow storm:

I like this photo of the trees on the west side of the house.  If there was any sunlight it would have been coming from the right at this time of day:

And manipulating this one of the hydrangea yielded interesting results, but not worthy of entry into the contest:

 
 
The following morning the sun came out for about 20 minutes (no lie) and I immediately grabbed my camera, slipped my feet into tall boots, pulled my coat over my PJs, and ran outside.  I got a few nice shots of interesting shapes in the snow, but after much debate this is my entry into the GGW Picture This Photo contest:

 

I love the cotton fluff quality of the snow in the tree above my head with the sun coming through in spots against the blue, blue sky.  It's not a perfect photo, some of the branches could be in better focus, but I like it.  I hope you and the judge do too!

COMPLETELY REJECTED

On the whole I enjoyed the IMAGES show.  It was very arty with very little naturalistic work.  More importantly I'm loving my new prints hanging in the living room.  The birdfeeder, clematis seedheads, and fiddlehead fern are quite lovely here:

The center photo should be about a centimeter higher and I didn't pull out the nail that is where the 2nd photo down should hang with three similarly oriented photos in a row.  Part laziness, and partly because I'm sure I'll go back to 3 landscapes at some point (or maybe find a third portrait-oriented photo to hang). 

This photo didn't get anywhere in the Globe RAW January "What's That?" photo contest:

Viewing the 40 finalists that the judge chose, I think I might have done better with the amaryllis petal after all (only cropped square):

 

I'm guessing the judge thought my entry was a wicker basket.  It's not wicker and it's not a basket.  It's actually the shade on my favorite floor lamp (from IKEA no less):

 
Well I decided to be pushy and emailed him directly (that's what happens when you list your email address on your website).  I sent him both photos and asked for constructive criticism.  And very nicely, he responded right away and we had a lovely email exchange.  Once again the conclusion is that if I want to get serious about photography I'm going to have to get better equipment.  Tell me something I don't know.  Someday when and if I ever have money again.

COURTING REJECTION

I was pretty excited when I entered the GGW Picture This Photo contest in January thinking I finally had a strong contender with this photo:

 

But a few days before the deadline a photo similar to mine, and quite frankly better, was submitted by Through Laura's Lens.  Sure enough her photo won a silver medal award.  I don't know much about her because it looks like she might have created the blog just to enter the contest (or at least that was her one and only post to date).  But her profile gives the following description:

I capture images of exquisite natural light and the colors, patterns and textures of our beautiful world. I have been honored with local, national and international awards at art shows and online, and have held numerous solo shows.

Well no wonder her photo is so much better than mine!  For the rest of the honorees (most of which were also stronger than mine) you can visit GGW.  I'm not sure I'm going to enter their contest again.  I'll have to take the perfect photo for the theme and even then, the single juror system is so subjective. 

So when Skippy's Vegetable Garden wrote that she was entering an on-line photo contest run by the Boston Globe for amateurs, I was hesitant to put my work out there again.  Plus the contest wasn't exactly an easy one:

The deadline draws near for the January contest, in which we asked you to take unusual shots of familiar items (or not so familiar) in such a way that most observers would scratch their heads.

This was a challenge; not only does your photo have to be taken this month, but the style of photography may be a first for many of you.

Yup, the sticking point for me was your photo has to be taken this month.  So I spent a few days looking at everything around me for a subject and a viewpoint that would leave most observers scratching their heads.  I tried the amaryllis and though you couldn't really tell what kind of petal it was, I think it's pretty obviously a petal and it wasn't that interesting an image:

Here's the photo I went with, but I can't tell you yet what it is...just in case I do get chosen for the top ten:

 

And on Sunday I entered five matted prints into the Shoreline Arts Alliance's annual juried photography competition: IMAGES.  You may recall I entered last year, but none of my photos were accepted.  There are about 50 fewer entrants this year, so at least the odds will be better!  I entered five photos in all.

Warning:

Funny story...I was showing my photos to some ladies in their 60s at the IMAGES submission and when they saw the above photo they laughed and asked if it was real.  Confused, I said yes and explained how it was a label on an old wooden crate that I was using as a planter.  They said you're probably too young, "drop acid," how funny.  Duh!  Why did I never see that?  I came home and told VPH who said that's the first thing he thought of when he saw the label on the crate and my photo of it.  Just another example of each viewer's life experiences coloring their perception.

Spring:

About 50% of the people who see this photo have no idea what it is.  An easy way to figure out a gardener (or a gourmand) from a non-gardener.

Soaked:

One woman thought this was an aquarium.  I'm not so fond of the rectangular reflection on it which I never noticed until I saw the print of the photo.  I have no idea what it's a reflection of, but I now find it distracting.  Hope the jurors don't. 

Winter:

 

This photo looks so much better printed out than on my monitor.

Seuss:

 

I can easily excuse those who don't know that these are clematis blooms gone to seed.  I wasn't sure what they were when I photographed them.  This is another print that just looks awesome printed and matted.

Keep your fingers crossed for me! 

UPDATE: I didn't get into IMAGES. The official press release states: "The jurors examined 750 prints, submitted by 131 photographers from across the state carefully selecting the works for exhibit based upon creativity, photographic excellence and ability to evoke reaction.  The daylong deliberations resulted in a show featuring diverse subject matter, superior technical expertise and artistic merit.  There are 116 images representing 70 photographers."

I'm going Friday night to see the show and I'm sure I'll have some comments afterward.  I will say that I know that at least one of the winners has work in the gallery of one of the jurors, so I find it hard to believe that the juror didn't recognize that person's work and abstain from judging, but who knows?  I think I'll take next year off from submitting and go help with the judging process instead and try and see exactly what the jurors are looking for in submissions.  Maybe make friends and have someone critique my portfolio at the end of the day.

PICTURE THIS PHOTO CONTEST

I've been so bad about keeping up with reading my favorite gardening blogs.  It seems like I check Gardening Gone Wild just after their Picture This contest closes each month or just before the new subject is posted.  I just happened to look today and found out I have a few hours before the deadline for this month's subject: The End of the Line.  Unfortunately I'm not really in the mood to pour through all my photos -- this FL sun has really sapped my energy. 

But I mustered enough energy to glance back into my archives and I quickly came across this one from December 2007:

It was a little tea rose that a friend picked up at the grocery store and gave us when she came over for dinner.  I think roses are beautiful, but I'm not interested in the amount of work they require.  Still it was pretty resilient and bloomed very late into that gardening season.  And it was an interesting photo subject during that season's first snow.  I doubt this photo will be honored, but I'm too tired to find something better!

WELL I STILL LIKE THEM

My photographs were not chosen.  A few stats for you:

172 photographers entered

49 photographers chosen

1073 photographs submitted

82 photographs will be hung

As I wrote to a friend earlier this evening, "It's a very arty show and my little flowers and bugs didn't move them."  And I'm in excellent company among the losers, several of whom have previously won 1st honors and been exhibited yearly for 15+ years.

I'm not heart-broken since I knew it was a long-shot.  However I will walk around the show on Friday evening looking for any photographs that aren't better than mine!

TAKING A DEEP BREATH AND GOING FOR IT

Much of my free time over the past month has been spent obsessing over the juried photography competition -- should I actually enter and if so, which photos?  I like my photos, I'm proud of them, but are they really art?  I finally decided that not submitting would be chickening out and I really had no excuse not to try.  It helped that the woman who runs the program emphasized repeatedly that the 3-person jury changes each year and some years the accepted works are predominantly color, some years black & white, sometimes edgy, and others softer and pictorial.  She's been surprised by some of the accepted works in the past and astonished by rejected ones -- bottom line not being accepted doesn't mean your work sucks. 

So that took a week.  Then I asked readers, friends, family, colleagues, and finally complete strangers which of the calendar photos I should enter.  I whittled the possibles down to 5 photos for a variety of reasons (why was I the only person who liked the bee on the white dahlia the best?):

 

I loaded all 5 onto a thumb-drive and threw myself on the mercy of 2 lovely gentlemen at the print shop.  I needed their advice on which 3 would print the best and at what size.  They invited me behind the counter and together we critiqued my work.  We all agreed that the rain covered dahlia (upper left above) was lovely, but quite ordinary -- it could have been snapped by anyone anywhere anytime.  We all liked the sunflower (upper right above), the color, shape, the perceived motion, but the blurry bee on the left detracted from the photo.  Then there were 3:

 

We're expecting yet another storm on Wednesday, so I won't be able to pick up the prints until Thursday -- $28.  Since they're an odd size (8 x1 0.5), I will be having 11 x 14 white mattes custom cut for them on Friday -- $50.  An artist portfolio to submit them in -- $15.79 (and a prayer that overstock.com delivers by Friday).  Entry fee -- $20.  Is it wrong that I keep thinking how many plants that would have purchased in the spring?  But I'll buy some inexpensive 11 x 14 frames next time Kohl's has a sale and if the photos aren't accepted or are accepted but don't sell there will be some new art in my living room.

Cross your fingers for me that it all comes together and this year the jury's into bugs and flowers!