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.
Walking around the Yakima Arboretum’s crabapple collection is a real treat. I made three trips there this Spring. One day I noticed a young lady walking around and taking closeup images of the crabapple blooms with her i-Pad. Her partner was patiently sitting on a bench waiting for her to finish. The next day I came back again and saw the same lady taking more photos with her i-Pad. And, her partner was sitting on the bench again. Beauty attracts photographers. If it weren’t for “social distancing” I would have asked her if she was just enjoying the beauty of the garden like I was, or was she doing some special project.
The beauty of the majestic ancient crabapples in the Yakima Arboretum has inspired me over the years. It is one of the largest crabapple collections in the country. Almost all of the trees are very old. Some are on their last leg. Over the years the Arboretum has not added new trees to take place of the ones which are past their healthy prime. This will be one of the challenges that the Arboretum will address in the new Master Plan. Anyway, the grove still inspires me to the point that I have decided to create a small crabapple grove of my own in the “lower 40” of Heatherwood. One dark pink crabapple was planted in the garden by the previous owner. It anchors the northeast corner of our house. This spring we will plant a white weeping cherry to complement it. On the “lower 40” we are planting a mini-collection of seven different crabapples to frame in our meadow area. Some are blooming now, so we can get a glimpse of what is to come in the years ahead.
Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra) have always been one of my favorite spring flowers. It was one of Dad’s as well. I can remember when I was just a little tyke, Dad would grab me and take me out to see the first blooms. I can remember him planting the Bleeding Heart in our small garden at the “little house” up at the ranch. When we moved into the “City” (Selah, WA), we built a rock garden in the back yard by our patio. A Bleeding Heart was one of the first plants Dad and Mom planted.
After I was out on my own, it was many years before I planted my own Bleeding Heart. I planted one in our first house in Seattle. our house in Bothell, our house in Fairfax VA, our house in Kent, our house in Woodinville, and our house in Fountainville PA. We were in Fountainville for 17 years where our Bleeding Heart grew into a rather large plant. It provided a beautiful contrast among a bed of pachysandra under a blue atlas cedar. It was the highlight of the spring bloom in its own corner for Karen and me.
The first plant I planted when I moved back to Selah was the Bleeding Heart. I did not have a good shade location to plant it, so I planted it next to the house in a little corner between rhododendrons and sword ferns. It is making its home there, but it is a little hidden. As we finish our Japanese garden, I will find a place for it where it can shine.
Over the years, I have photographed our Bleeding Heart from many different perspectives. I have made several greeting cards using it as the subject. They always come in handy for that special greeting to someone that means very much to me.
Our first flowering plum blossoms peaked out yesterday. Their blooms really say it is Spring. The rest of the trees start to come out soon after the Flowering Plum. Our driveway is lined with these plum trees. When they are in full bloom, it is a beautiful sight.
These plums are planted only about 8-inches from the edge of the driveway. Their branches encroach and rub any wide vehicle that enters. In addition, they drop their fall fruit all over the driveway creating quite a mess. I have made the hard decision to remove them after they bloom this year. It makes Mary and I very sad. They will be replaced with Green Vase Zelkova’s planted a save distance from the driveway.
I really wish that the plums would have been planted in a spot that considered their mature growth patterns. As we develop Heatherwood, we are planting trees spaced for their mature form even though it will take years for them to fill in.
I have been to Longwood Garden’s orchid display dozens of times. On a recent visit I wandered through looking for a different way to capture the beauty of the display. I thought a double exposure of some orchids rotated about 45 degrees might be interesting. I added a little Topaz Impression to achieve the final result. It is a bright image to start a bright new September. Have a good one!
I enjoy experimenting from time to time. It inspires me to look a little deeper.
I needed a little change of pace and started reviewing some photographs from an earlier wildlife photography trip. In my review, I found this “fellow” just waiting to be processed and displayed.
Lesson Learned: It pays to go back and review old images from time to time.
Fuji X-T1, XF18-135mm @ 47mm, f/11, 1/40 sec, ISO 800
I need a change from the “winter white” landscape here in Bucks Co. So here is a bright sunny day image from St. Augustine. The color of this old building with the wood shutters caught my eye. The tree on the left helps frame the window and lessen the distraction of the corner.
