Yikes, it’s time for Bloom Day already, and I’ve hardly begun tidying up for spring. There are plenty of areas that probably would look stunning, if only I’d had the time to spruce them up a bit. Unlike the shoemaker’s children with their dearth of footwear, the gardener’s own garden has plenty of plants, but they’re nowhere near as neatly cared for as those she gets paid to look after. So here’s the big picture of the current reality at Hayefield House: Continue Reading →
The ideas of March means many different things. Even in my yard, which is the last place the snow melts for miles around. Just lucky I guess. One thing that means is that we have an abundance of microclimates, since some places warm up about the same time as the rest of town, and some places much later. Still it’s the overall momentum of winter that really drives what happens in mid March and this year winter has had BIG mo. So today is more a day of waiting, when the garden is pregnant with the promise of spring. So, we’re expectant, you might say. And the buds look ready to deliver. Above is an almost-in-bloom bud of a ‘Dawn’ viburnum (Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’), one of the first shrubs to bloom at Clatter Valley and wonderfully fragrant, but not yet. Continue Reading →
February would usually prove to be a difficult month for me to show anything in bloom except for a few house plants. But being in Israel for the winter, I’m surrounded by blooms. January and February normally have temperatures in the 30s-50s range. But this winter, the average temperature has been in the mid-60s, with the result being that some early spring specimens are blooming. Continue Reading →
What took my breath away this month are the cut flowers and fresh veggies (some organic) sold in markets, road side stalls and garden centers throughout Israel. Here’s a glance of what I saw yesterday at a market. And just to make you salivate a bit, I’ll translate the prices for you into dollars!
Gerbera daisies priced at 19 shekels for one dozen. Price exchange in U.S.: $4.75 per dozen. Continue Reading →
No matter what kind of garden you have or what kind of camera you work with, the single most important thing to remember when you take the picture is to ask yourself why you are taking it. What do you see ?
I have given several presentations recently about taking pictures in the garden and recently put my advice to work in my own garden – then went one step further to “enhance” what I saw. The camera always lies anyway, so why not embellish the story…..
My fall shrub border
It is a great time of year in my front garden. I plant lots of things for fall color and the miraculous symphony slowly proceeds, all by itself, from September through December. This year I cut back my low hedge of Lavender ‘Fred Boutin’ earlier than usual, to keep it more compact next year. The daffodils (already beginning to bloom elsewhere in my garden) appreciate the extra room resulting from an early lavender shear. To anyone not living in Northern California the absurd notion of having autumn, winter, and spring all at the same time seems incomprehensible. But true. Anyway, the neat, gray lavender border became a foil for all the color which is now peaking and I wanted to capture it in the camera.
