Soaking Rain - summer on its way

Soaking rains are here today, preparing the gardens for their next display. The weather in New England has been perfect for my plants this spring. We've pretty much had warm, sunny days with a couple of soaking rains each week.

My husband is putting in raised veggie beds for me this week. I have a few flats of vegetables waiting to go in. My daughter and I will buy more this weekend. The early veggies are growing well in my old vegetable bed and I hope we will have a crop soon. This was my first time planting early season produce.

I introduced a friend to Uncanoonuc Mt. Perennials last week. I also dug some plants out of my gardens to share with her. She drove almost an hour for the trip, digging the plants was the least I could do. Besides, one of the best things about having a garden is sharing!

These are right of the camera. It's rare that not even a little tweaking needs to be done. I'm not a huge fan of red flowers. I gravitate towards yellow and purples, but there is something about a red poppy that screams classy at me. Give me a yellow rose, but when it comes to poppies, red is the clear choice. What makes one prefer a certain color over another? What makes one prefer a certain flower color for a specific type of flower?

Iphone photos

Hurrying to a meeting in Marblehead, Massachusetts yesterday, I ran into this scene:

I pulled out my Iphone to capture the beautiful color, prepared to be disappointed with the results...

I was.

I DID capture the reflection of the historic King Hooper mansion in the window, which I didn't notice at the time, but it is appropos because I was on my way to a meeting with the historical society. I didn't capture the beautiful color or the deep rich textures before me.

I've had my phone for nearly a year now and have put the photo feature to great use for capturing family moments. It has freed up space in my purse that was once taken up by a much larger camera and is fine for snapshots. I do miss knowing I have a reliable camera on hand at a moment's notice in any situation, but haven't given much thought to rectifying that. After missing a golden opportunity to capture something wonderful on the sidewalk in a more intriguing way, I found a web site that may help me in the future.

http://meish.org/2009/03/04/how-to-squeeze-decent-photos-out-of-an-iphone/

Let me know if you have some decent Iphone photos. I'd love to see them. Maybe we can get a little competition going!

Crabapple photoessay

There are few things as beautiful as soft spring blossoms.

Spring Shape Up - Rhododendrons Out!

My glasses are covered with sweat drips right now, so I am squinting at the screen. I am covered from head to toe in dirt, but I did wash my hands so I wouldn't mess up the keyboard. I sit sipping a vitamin drink because I am too tired at the moment to take a shower. I need a break after cajoling two bushes into new homes.

First off today, I want to confess my slight distaste for rhododendrons. I don't dislike them per se, but their rubbery leaves are not thrilling to me and I hate playing with my soil to make them happy. My rhododendrons are slowly being moved to my property outskirts. I have spotted a cute walking stick that is waiting for me at the garden center. (Yes, it is at Uncanoonuc Mt. Perennials. I have yet to venture beyond my neighborhood this season for other garden centers. I am lucky in that I have one of the best places around to help fill my passion.) I am moving two rhodies from the front of my house. Why do landscapers always put rhododendrons right beside the front door? In my last house I replaced the front door rhododendrons with smoke bushes. They were beauties and I toyed with that idea here...but here is what I have going instead.

top: before
bottom: after


The rhododendron to the left of the door has been removed and the plant at the front corner of the walkway was moved back in its place. The walking stick will replace the rhododendron on the right of the door. My husband will be happy to have the big bush moved away from the walk so we can more easily shovel in winter.

My house was just painted a bright sunny yellow and I redid the door myself last year with stain and gold leaf. I'm feeling good about this front project...

I am hoping to keep up my regular blogging this year after a sporadic year last year. I was relaunching an old business and slowed down with my photography and garden writing. Thank you to old blogosphere friends who have stuck with me. I hope to catch up on your postings soon!

And by the way, if you happen to get to Uncanoonuc before I do, please make sure you leave a walking cane plant there for me! Time to hit the showers!

Uncanoonuc Mt. Perennials 2010 catalog

I was honored to be asked to shoot the cover photo for Uncanoonuc Mt. Perennials 2010 catalog. I caught the hydrangea in full bloom last Autumn. Their demonstration gardens are unbelievable and this is just a small taste.

Poppies!

I tried to plant poppy seeds once a few years ago and they didn't take. For some reason, I never went out of my way to try any harder to grow a poppy plant. Then, last year, a pretty lemony petaled one invited me to take it home. I expected it to die. I'm not sure why. (Is there ever a plant that scares you off or one that you are sure will turn your green thumb black?) Well, my poppy came back this spring. And the sunlight in my front yard hits it just right to make that inviting color sing!

Uncanoonuc Mt. Perennials new season photos

I'm heading to Uncanoonuc Mt. Perennials today to hang 4 new photos for the season. These images show a range of seasons at the garden center from spring through August. I chose images that demonstrated the beautiful pairings in the Uncanoonuc Mt. Perennials gardens. I also chose single closeups of flowers using my wide-open macro lens. (My favorite way to shoot images.)

The fairy flowers that seem to dance on the green background are about the size of my thumb and were a sensational purchase last year for my daughter's own fairy garden.

I shot the cover for the Uncanoonuc catalog this year as well. I'll try to get that posted soon too.

Crocus!

Just a couple of images to get my feet wet and back in the garden this spring! Happy sunshine!

Lady Slipper

What a nice surprise greeted me in the woods last week! The elusive ladyslipper made an appearance after a few years absence. It tucked itself away across the yard from where it last made an appearance. I'm so happy to see it again in my woods! I'm so glad it found a home here again despite the contruction of a nearby play area that upset it last time. I hope my maturing garden will offer it the peace it needs to decide to stay around this time.

Symbols of Friendship

Two years ago, my friend Sara bought me tulip bulbs for my birthday. As we sat sipping mojitos, she turned to the page in the catalog with the deep purple, fringed beauties that she thought would look lovely in my garden.

The next spring, I waited expectantly for my tulips to poke their heads out of the ground. They never did. The year following, I again waited hopefully to no avail. I was convinced that the chipmunks had gotten to my birthday present.

Sara moved across the country to California last autumn. She was the doctor who diagnosed my celiac, helped me through infertility, and delivered my daughter. Through a difficult time in my life, she became one of my closest friends. We shared a gardening passion, and had similar interests about environmental consciousness and healthy living. We also shared what was in our hearts. Sara was there for me to cry on, lean on and laugh with for the last 7 years. A piece of my heart will always be with her.

Last week, a lone purple, fringed tulip came up in my front garden. I know now that Sara will always be with me too, no matter how geographically far apart we are.

Waves of Color

This is the first year that my gardens really look like GARDENS and not just plants stuck here and there randomly. After five years of working the soil on this property, plants are starting to fill their spaces. The Japanese Maple is becoming a real tree and not just a stick in the ground with a few red leaves. The strawberry patch has filled out and is laden with white flowers. My 15 rose bushes have established themselves, revealing healthy green stems and shiny leaves that should burst with color in a few weeks.

I am most excited that I am getting waves of color. Proper planning, so far, has ensured that something is blooming in my garden at all times. We started the spring with pastel crocus and anemone. Rather than a small bag of bulbs, we planted dozens of early spring flowers last autumn. Crocus popped up in my three main gardens. I'll be sure to plant them in more spaces this autumn because the wow effect was amazing.

After the early spring flowers came the yellow daffodils and forsythia followed by a splash of multicolor tulips with dots of forget-me-nots and lamium. A lone purple tulip that was given to me as a friend showed its head this year and ushered in the purple azaleas. They soon splashed as background colors to my specimen plants. I have spent a few years moving around the azaleas I first found on this property to place them as backdrops for dramatic effects. Ground cover phlox also serves as a background in my main garden and the purples are dominating at the moment with lilacs ushering in the start of prime flowering season.

And now come the Iris. I have moved them over the years to take up a healthy section of my tiered beds. They are spreading and make a dramatic focus. Watching their progress, I realize that nothing will replace them in that spot when their blooms are spent.

After ten years of gardening on my own, I think I have learned the genius of perennial gardening. Waves of color, planning to include plants that bloom at variant times, spreading and moving plants to create the greatest impact, learning plant habits in blooming times and desirable conditions...that is the joy of gardening. I can almost feel what a plant needs by watching it as it brings its show to my yard and caring for it until it can return with its color the following year.

Signs of Spring

Up come the flowers, out comes the camera. Welcome crocus. I'm just warming up.

Spring Squall and Rushing Away Unfavorable Weather

We headed into the garden for some spring cleanup and very early planting this past weekend. I haven't hauled out the good camera yet...but here are some snapshots of events.

We cleaned up the twigs and branches from the ice storm back in the early winter. Some of the larger branches remain under the snow. We began clearing straw from the gardens. In the first picture you can see the tender bulbs poking through. Some of the bulbs were coming up white, choked from sunlight and chlorophyll production by the ground covering. Chomping at the bit in the 50 degree weather, I ran to the local garden center and purchased some very early to plant seeds. the packages say they can be put in as soon as the ground could be worked. Swiss chard, forget-me-nots, Bachelor Buttons, and sweet pea went into the ground as the weather turned. Wind howled and an unexpected snow squall scared us back into the house. Oh well, I know spring weather is really just around the corner now.

My seeds from Territorial came in the mail today. It's still another couple of months before I can get those in the ground, but I'm prepared.

I'm also eager to write about gardening again. This summer, I will be teaching a class on photographing and writing about nature at the Peabody Mill Environmental Center in Amherst, NH.

Today I'm back indoors with temps hovering around 30 degrees fahrenheit. This is a good day for prepping photos to hang at Uncanoonuc Mt. Perennials. Every year I am lucky enough to get space in the garden centers cabin to hang my work. I'm raring to get into their display gardens again for more camera work.

Every year around this time, my daughter and I chant "Melt Snow Melt!" Won't you please join us? It is very cathartic.

Spring!

I hit the garden today...just a little spring cleanup. The snow has melted from the majority of my beds. I don't think I've ever been out this early in the season before. But I've got big plans this year. My decade of gardening, interviews with fellow gardeners and last fall's publication of my book have inspired me. I feel like I have hit a pinnacle as a gardener. I'm ready to really trust my instincts and to run with my ideas.

I've got two pathways that need a lot of work and this is where I'll start. I've mustered the courage to try the mint in these areas, despite their invasive tendencies. I want pathways that my daughter will smell when she walks on them. I want the scents to trigger her memory all her life. Whenever she smells mint, she will think of gardening with mom.

We returned the fairy objects to the fairy garden today. My daughter has big plans for this garden. Mainly, she plans for the fairies to return. Last year they brought her a shiny pink marble that resembles a star sapphire. They also brought a necklace of tiny sea green glass. She wants the fairies to come back early this year. She worked hard for two hours laying out marble pathways to the two fairy houses that remained standing despite the ravages of winter snows and wind. I'm sure those fairies will return.

And this year, last year's vegetable garden will become a pumpkin patch. This is my third year vegetable gardening. The vegetables will return to the bed they originally occupied two years ago and will also be spread among perennial plantings. A gardener friend of mine lets her vegetables run wild -- tomatoes especially spread to unlikely wildflower beds and beyond. I like the idea of walking among the flowers and finding a surprise edible along the way. We'll see how well planning out "random" vegetable plantings goes.

Growing season spreads before me with grand opportunities. I hope that the snow melts faster!

Displaced Creativity

Groundhog's Day makes me feel like spring is around the corner - even when the groundhog sees his shadow (as he did this year).. and even when it's really not just around the corner (I do live in NH after all and we don't see spring until summertime...)

I didn't get the greenhouse I desired this winter, but I have kept myself busy. I am a home decorator at heart. I try to bring my garden indoors in my design. I hang my garden images, but I also try to use nature inspired color and themes. This winter, I have been redoing my stairwell. Unfortunately, I didn't think to get a "before" image, but here is the after...I hope that it stirs your creativity.

Don't despair those in the northern hemisphere! We'll be in the garden soon!

Flowers and Tradition

I have written in the past about flowers and tradition. It amazes me how interwoven flowers are with many of our celebrations. Yet, I think that most of us do not give much thought to this. With Valentine's Day approaching, I think it is appropriate to explore this phenomenon in more depth and in upcoming weeks, I hope to come back to it a few times. But today...I am going to focus on how special flowers can make an occasion for a child.

This past weekend, my five-year-old daughter performed in her first play. "Don't forget to get her flowers," another stage-mom reminded me. "The kids love flowers. They get very excited." And it's true. Don't we all love to get flowers? But why does this little tradition excite even a five-year-old? Wouldn't just taking her out for an ice cream (as my parents did) or hot chocolate (as we do here in New England because it is so darn cold right now) be enough?

Here are my thoughts... #1 getting flowers seems so very grownup. #2 the bright colored flowers are special in themselves and remind the little ones of the "specialness" of an occasion. #3 having something tangible to remind us of a special occasion for a few weeks keeps the excitement going just a bit longer.

I wonder, are flowers just appropriate to give to a little girl - especially a little princess-type girl who has just performed in Cinderella? Would a little boy like to get flowers too? (I'll leave this to mothers of boys to answer for me.)

In the past, I have given my daughter flowers for Easter, for trips to the Farmer's Market as "just because" the flowers were fresh and beautiful gifts, and for ballet recitals. Flowers are interwoven into our lives mainly because of my deep love for gardening. My little one understands that it is important to hold nature in high regard and to cherish the bright living jewels it gives us in the form of flowers. But I think this appreciation has also come outside the garden -- from the traditions we are slowly establishing that weave plants into her life. I hope that she will always see a bouquet of flowers as something special, to include in special occasions, to show pride and love.

My Bit of Winter Sunshine

I am one of those people affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder. When winter comes to New England, I just want to sleep through the season. I drag myself out of bed and follow some steps to shake off the winter blues. In addition to regular exercise (I find yoga most helpful,) I take vitamin D supplements and use a sunlamp.

My sunlamp is one of my most prized possessions. It is about ten years old now. It's a large box, about the size of a small suitcase. When I turn it on, the room takes on a surreal glow that is a bit eerie. I sit about 3 yards from the lamp while I do my computer work and slowly feel myself begin to perk. It's not exactly like gardening in the sunshine, but it is a close enough facsimile of sunshine that I can close my eyes and pretend I'm really at the beach if I want. Behind my eyelids I see that telltale glow that one gets when sunbathing.

During warmer months, I sit out in a sunroom that look out at my gardens. This time of year, I move to an interior room where I won't see the snow. The room is painted a warm sunshine yellow and my sunlamp warms the color further. The color reminds me of sunflowers.

My sunlamp is also useful for still life picture taking and unusual portrait taking. It rakes subjects with a warm light and help create unique shadows.

I hope that I"ll never have to go back to my life without my little box. This morning, as ice once again pelts my house, I sit here with a cup of coffee, listening to my five-year-old giggling as she plays a computer game. I let the sunshine absorb me and transport me to my garden sunshine happy place.

A Winter Test

My "green thumb" was tested last week during the New England ice storm. I am primarily an outdoor gardener, but I have a few prized houseplants that I have nursed to healthy heights. In the past, I have purchased houseplants to get me through the winter - to add a little greenery to the white and gray that surrounds us in New Hampshire this time of year. Every year, after a month or so of care, I slowly forget my houseplants. I stop watering them. I stop feeding them. I stop talking to them, stroking their leaves, and moving them around the house to cheer them up. But one plant in particular has not cared how I treat it. My peace lily is about four feet across. It was given to me by my friend Sara when I moved to this house four years ago. It is a symbol of our friendship. It is also a symbol of nature's strength because no matter how it is treated it thrives, giving up beautiful white flowers in my most tiresome winter moments.

Last year, I made a concerted effort to change my houseplant habits. After reading a book called "Growing Me" by Judith Handelsman, I had a new-found respect for my potted greenery. My houseplants have grown immensely in a year. Plants that languished without care for years, took on new life, blooming and slowly creeping out of pots. Last winter, my peace lily flowered multiple times instead of just once like it has in the past.

Last week, we lost power for four days. As my house grew colder than the outdoors, I watched my peace lily whither. While we stayed warm in a family member's apartment, I left my houseplants behind. On day three of the cold, we gathered the cats from the house and brought them with us. The houseplants were still left behind. On day four (before the power returned) my husband and I came to the house to check the temperatures of the pipes and otherwise make sure the house was safe. I walked past the peace lily. It looked awful and cried out to me "Goodbye, Melissa." I responded, "I'm sorry, I can't help you! Please try to hold on!" It was heartbreaking.

A very good friend of mine lost all of his tropical fish when we all lost power. Last year, we watched his tanks getting built into the basement walls when he had the room finished. With pride, my friend added coral and brightly colored beauties to the aquariums. Last week, we went to their house for dinner the night the power went out. They have a gas stove and we don't, so a simple meal was prepared in a darkened kitchen. Our kids played "watch the monster!" They ran into the basement with flashlights and asked me to join them, making shadows on the walls for entertainment. I turned my light to the fish. A clown fish bobbbed up and down. "Help me!" He cried. "I'm sorry, I cannot help you," I replied. He was gone the next morning.

When the power returned to my house. Most of my plants, with the exception of the ferns (surprisingly) appeared despondent. "I am so sorry!" I thought as I looked around the room while the heat slowly rose. I stuck a finger in the soil of each pot. They were still slightly damp, but very cold. I walked around the house a couple of times that day, feeling the life of my houseplants, but unsure which way they would turn. The next morning, the peace lily had two leaves perked up. "I'm going to give you just a little water buddy." Over the course of the day, slowly, each plant perked up. "I thought you were goners guys. Thanks for coming back!" I felt the life in the house again.

Living without power for a few days brings a heavy heart. Sure, we had a place to go, but we obviously missed the conveniences of modern living in our own space. But among the worst of all, trudging through our empty, lifeless house was terrible. There were no sounds , no refrigerator humming or heater pumping. Beyond that, there was also no pulse - by that I mean there was no feeling of this shell being our home. Large tree limbs had fallen around us. The rooms were dark and we were unsure when that would change. The houseplants stood as a symbol of mother nature's test and of a slowing pulse of life.

Over this past weekend we received about two feet of snow. While I was shoveling walkways this morning, I thought about the plants under the snow. I could feel their pulse. They are resting up for their spring duties. The snow serves as a blanket, unlike the deadly ice before it that despite its twinkling brilliance served only as a threat of nature's threatening powers. It is my goal this winter to keep feeling the pulse of nature. I want to feel that cosmic thread with my plants, wherever they are and in whatever stage of life they are maintaining this time of year. As I do every year, I will get through this test. Maybe if I am more clever, I can learn to enjoy this season.

Changing Light

Autumn sunlight allows the photographer to create truly unique images. In the northeastern United States, the golden hue the sun provides when it is low in the sky provides an incomparable warmth for pictures. This time of year is my favorite for capturing portraits.

Observe the effects of how this light highlights hair and boosts the glow of complexions. Mind how the light boosts colors and molds form.

Use the colors from nature to add interest to your backgrounds. Use a wide-lens aperture to take advantage of light and blur the background for softness and interest.

Shadows in fabrics and around facial features makes it seem as if you can reach out and touch the subject.

All seasons we must use directional light for the greatest effect. Light should be guided by a tree line, porch or other object. Light coming from all directions is less appealing, making the subject flatter and duller.

Light flowing through the garden and other natural spaces has the same affect on natural subjects as it does on humans. Now is a good time to take "portraits" of the season last flowers, leaves that are clinging dearly to trees, and other elements of the landscape.