“December Rose”
Heatherwood Late Autumn
The roses are still blooming. It is hard to believe it is December! We deadheaded the roses late this year in mid-October. As a result, the roses didn’t get the message to stop putting out new growth and flower buds. We still have several emerging flower buds and new leaves on our roses. With the warm weather forecast, I predict that we will still have new roses blooming through mid-December.
Pruned Roses
Heatherwood Spring
As the old saying goes, “When the forsythia blooms, it’s time to prune the roses.” Before I learned this bit of advice, I tended to wait too long to prune our roses. Now, I have an automatic alarm clock right next to our rose garden to remind me. The timing has been perfect.
Throughout the year, this is one of my favorite scenes. In the spring, the freshly pruned roses compliment the flowering star magnolia and our forsythia tree. In the summer, I overlook the colorful roses with the birch trees as a background. In the fall, the changing color of the birches and our neighbor’s apple trees add to the remaining roses. In the winter, I enjoy the contrast of the stark rose canes with the bare white limbs of the birches. And all year along, our neighbor’s white fence and pasture provide background interest.
Spent Rose
Heatherwood Winter
Nothing is perfect … nothing is permanent … nothing is complete. Wabi-sabi is a characteristic concept of our Heatherwood garden. I find beauty in every aspect of imperfection throughout our garden. This spent rose was a beautiful red flower in its prime. The summer flower’s fleeting beauty transitioned to these stems and rose hips in the fall and winter. In nature the hips would release the seeds to the ground. Its life is incomplete as the seeds create new plants.
I admire the beauty of this rose stalk and hips every day as I sit and read and look out our family room window. They fascinate me. I do not have the heart or desire to prune the winter roses to make them look neat. I just simply enjoy them as they are. There is plenty of time to prune the roses before the spring growth.
“Fall Roses”
Heatherwood Fall
The roses are hanging on to their last burst of color. They have provided five months of beautiful enjoyment. It is now time for them to rest. The following is Mary’s perspective:
Fall Roses
As the end of the summer comes,
one last gasp of velvety red hangs quietly from the stem.
The season of roses gave us color and imagination
with every gaze of the thirteen rose bushes planted here two years ago.
Some made their way inside, but most lost their petals
in the summer winds and carpeted the ground with red, pink, yellow, and white.
Now the cold nights are here, and the fall sky grays dully
during the shortening days.
Here, two red blossoms hang on, sharing their last gasp of fragrant beauty,
delicate yet defiant of the nature of things.
The uncut rose hips signal a winter nap to get ready for next year’s bloom,
and their cycle reminds us of the ebb and flow.
Thank you, little roses, for teaching us that the difference
between the end and the beginning is simply a little time to get ready.
Mary Graf, 2020
Yellow Rose
Heatherwood Rose Garden
Our rose garden is still full of color. However, most of the blooms are past their prime and are a little tattered. It is hard to find a full crisp fresh rose without a few defects in the petals. So with my macros, my focus is on color, shape, and lines. I am continuing to work with creating “softness” with some of my rose images. I combined two images, one in focus, and one out of focus and blended them together to achieve the above result.
So here’s a little brightness for your day! There is always something in the world to celebrate.
“Soft Beauty”
Heatherwood Rose Garden
As I was photographing in our rose garden, I came across these two roses snuggled together. I remember thinking, “How soft and peaceful.” In post processing I tried to enhance that feeling.
There are so many interesting things to focus on in our Heatherwood garden. I have a difficult time really working a specific image since there are so many other distractions all around me. I tend to hop from one flower to another flower, vignette, or view constantly. When doing so, I tend to fall into a “photo-snapping” mentality and loose my contemplative creativity. I really need to work on this.
“Reflection”
Today is a special day to reflect. Life’s timeline is multidimensional. The past, current, and future intermingle. As I look back and reflect on loved ones who have passed, a warm, peaceful, and grateful feeling comes into my heart. That feeling transcends into a contemplative outlook of what is yet to come.