Brookside Gardens - May 2013

Brookside Gardens was brimming with greenery and late spring flowers. I was there are on a sunny but breezy spring day. The layers of greenery were everywhere but I liked this scene the best: 

• The shiny leaves of a Southern magnolia in the left foreground then
• Looking over the hedge surrounding the garden to
• The arbor with spent a wisteria vine whose blossoms have been overcome by green leaves to
• The rounded shape of a willow and then
• The trees beyond….and
• The blue sky backdrop. 

Gardens are experienced with as much knowledge and observational energy we care to apply. For me - it is more about the visual appeal of the place and noticing the way plants have changed since the last time I walked around. The deciduous magnolias that were so full of blooms in April are full of green leaves now. Their Southern Magnolia cousins are just beginning to have buds. The beds of tulips are cleared for summer plantings (the gardeners were at work in the dirt while I was there). The almost hidden plants like a single flower standing out in the undergrowth or a hairy fern just unfurling are like finding hidden treasure.

I do not attempt to remember the name of everything I see. Surprising - I have come to recognize many of the plants over the years. I am pleased that I look for - and find - Jack-in-the-Pulpits almost every year but usually they are in undisturbed woodlands rather than gardens. This year there were quite a few at Brookside and they looked like they had been planted!  

Brookside has quite a collection of azaleas and rhododendron and I enjoy every year. Poppies are increasingly popular. The gingko tree near the entrance is a tree I always check; the shape of their leaves, the way the leaves flutter in the slightest breeze, the lighter green in the spring and summer then yellow in fall….it is probably my favorite tree of the gardens.

Enjoy the May 2013 at Brookside slide show!

Adventures with a New Camera Part 1

I am experimenting with my new camera - a Canon PowerShot SX280 HS . So far - the experiment has included only the simplest aspects of the camera: using the zoom of my own position to frame the picture want. So far I am impressed with the results.

At first I expected that the camera would not focus for the close-up flower shots that I have enjoyed capturing with my older camera (a Canon PowerShot SD4500 IS)….but I was pleasantly surprised that it did so well with the azaleas at the left. I like the way the flowers pop out of the image with the light glowing through their petals.

How well would the camera capture ripples in water? I experimented with an Asian-type composition shown below. I like the results but will have to try again on a sunny day to see what the camera automation will handle the glare from water in brighter light.

The big improvement with the new camera was touted to be the ability to capture clear images with the zoom feature. Plants are easy since they are still (if the breezy does not interfere). The dandelion and fiddlehead were good tests. I liked the clarity of both images - and that I didn’t have to expose myself to the poison ivy that surrounded the dandelion!

Images of birds and small animals will be easier to capture with this camera. It will take some practice but the automatic settings are quite good. My initial attempts with some birds and a squirrel are below. The challenge will be to frame the animals in their natural setting - avoiding things like the twig in front of the squirrel’s nose in the image below.

I am going to enjoy this camera! Maybe I’ll gradually use some of the fancy settings too.

3 Free eBooks - May 2013

The Internet has a growing number of online books…and many of them are free. This is my monthly post highlighting 3 that I have enjoyed most this past month.

National Research Council. Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds. December 2012. Available in several downloadable forms here. A new global trends report is published every 4 years following the US Presidential election. It is intended to provide a framework for thinking about possible futures and their implications. Is our future going to be characterized by stalled engines, fusion, gini-out-of-the-bottle or nonstate world…or some combination?

Paxton, Sir Joseph. Paxton’s Magazine of Botany and Register of Flowering Plants. London: W.S. Orr and Co. 1834-1849. More than 10 volumes available on the Internet Archive here. I can’t resist including at least one eBook with botanical prints. Many of the images are quite recognizable - like the azalea at right.

Dobson, George; Grove, Henry M; Stewart, Hugh; Haenen, F. de. Russia. London, A. and C. Black. 1913. Available from the Internet Archive here. Look at this book for the pictures and realize that it is about that time just before World War I when everything was breaking…no one fathomed just how bad it was going to be or what would be built afterwards on the rubble.

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - April 2013

Back in August 2012, I posted about finding something to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and the habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. Here are some ‘little celebrations’ I’ve noted this month:

A friend from 40 years ago. What a joy it is to be in contact with a friend after so many years in different parts of the country!

Tile art. The nature center where I volunteer has started a fundraising effort that involves children making squares of art that will be transferred to tiles. The children and parents have such fun making the images. I can hardly wait to see the walls of these unique tiles.

First spring day. It was a little late this year. Everything was delayed and then suddenly - spring sprung!

New azaleas. We finally filled the bed in front of our house where some bushes had died. The azalea bushes evidently love their new home; they started blooming almost immediately.

Flicker. There was a flicker investigating the forest at the back of our yard. Maybe there will be a nest!

Steak. We don’t have steak all that often and this time we thought it had burned on the grill - but it was very tender - and tasty. Celebrate!

Butterfly. It was pretty cold but there was a brave butterfly on the plum tree. It was the first of the season.

Deciduous magnolias and cherry trees. These are the two early bloomers in our area. This year they peaked together.

Travel plans. I enjoy planning for travel. It’s the preparation of the mind to maximize the experience of where I go. The anticipation is worth savoring.

Dark chocolate. This should be on my list every month. 

The Azalea Project

Every spring there are some major projects for the yard around our house that are unique to the year. This year one of those projects was planting azaleas to replace to bushes that broke under the strain of ice and snow a few years ago. We finally gave up on their recovery and dug them out last summer. When we went to the nursery to buy bushes last fall, we decided to wait until spring and plant azaleas. I had put it on the calendar as a March task but the spring weather has been so cold this year that we waited until last weekend.

Waiting the extra weeks meant that some weeds had started to come up where the bushes had been extracted. After getting the weeds pulled, loosening the soil and digging the holes was easy. The bushes we bought are projected to grow to be 4 feet high and 4 feet wide so we planted the two bushes 4 feet apart. The foliage on the azaleas is still somewhat bronze from winter. Will they bloom this year? Maybe not since I don’t see buds on them right now. I’m taking a strategic view; let them establish themselves this year and then bloom in the spring for many years to come.

There are irises planted to the front and sides of them now. That will give some color during late spring and early summer. Eventually some of the bulbs may have to be moved if they are too close or overshadowed by the bushes.

The day was so nice that I also positioned the stand for a new birdbath - pushing it down into loosened soil to make sure it was steady enough to hold the glass bowl.

What a satisfying way to spend a few hours!

Pink Botanticals

This is the first in a series of posts using color as a theme. The pink flowers include deciduous magnolia, alstroemeria, begonias, poinsettias, azaleas, hyacinths, snapdragons, hydrangeas, freesias, orchids, camellias and dogwoods….so many beautiful blooms. Enjoy the pink show!