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| Veratrum formosanum |
Some plants no matter how hard you try never look in a picture the way they look to your eyes. For years I have photographed this miniature black corn lily from Taiwan in various lights--every time it disappears among the background noise. Till this morning. I was strolling around the garden with my coffee cup and thought "maybe this is the light"--and I think it was!
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| closeup of Veratrum formosanum | |
Other times and other lights when I tried to take a closeup, the camera wouldn't focus worth a darn. But this morning it did...almost anyway!
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| Allium togashii |
If you search the Prairiebreak archives you will find a few pretty good pictures of this little onion: good because they're taken with
Origanum acutidens together, making a lovely contrast. My closeups always were wishy washy--which it's true the plant is hardly a bright colored thing. But it is fetching and a highlight of the late August garden for weeks on end. It deserves a better chance, and this morning at 8:30 I think it was about right!
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| Closeup of Allium togashii |
Wikipedia informs us that this endemic to the island of Shikoku in Japan, around Azuki and "Kankakei", which sounds rather strangely like Kankakee...This is the southernmost big island of Japan: fascinating the onion is so vigorous and hardy on the steppes of Western America!
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| Lobelia cardinalis 'Black Truffle' |
On Facebook I demurred that this should have been called "Milk Chocolate mushroom" instead of it's "correct" cultivar name. Whichever, it's very photogenic in almost any light--but the best light does make it show even better than usual.
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| Asplenium fontanum |
The kicker for me has been this fern, which I've grown for a decade or more and photographed ad nauseum. Always a blur of green and little more...which is what YOU may think this is. If so you are wrong wrong wrong: it's a nearly succulent little mound of intricate charm from the European alps that gives me no end of delight to contemplate. Yes, I should have removed the pine needles...but for once the picture almost conveys the charm of the original...
And this matters for many reasons, as you can imagine. You can list a few if you like!
I looked at all the pictures first. Until I went back and read the post, I did not even notice the pine needles. I think leaving them in place made a fine picture. Think of it as being candid rather than staged.
ReplyDeleteYour photos are always superb. You may not be satisfied because you are looking at the subject in person but for me I will not be complaining about your efforts.
ReplyDeleteYou two are both too sweet! Your following this blog for so long--and your comments have been one of the reasons I keep at it! That and the fact that I can find some of my own pictures more easily when I Google a plant than searching my bulky digital slide library!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy all the different plants that you highlight. Do you have any good book or blog recommendations for an area like Blanding, UT? We are high altitude and dry. My front yard faces south and nothing wants to live there. I can't find any references for the southeastern part of our state. Your help would be so much appreciated! By the way the Denver Botanical Gardens are my favorite place on earth. Thanks for all the work you and all the staff do. Rachel Lyman
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