Archive for October, 2008
Toad Lilies are bulbs that bloom late in the season, adding a little color during that transition period between summer and autumn here in the Northwest. There are several species and varieties, but from the ones I’ve seen, they’re mostly shades of purple, with up-facing blossoms on stems that are about waist high or a little higher.
This blossom was one of many in a lush clump of Candelabra Toad Lilies, Tricyrtis macropoda, along the path at the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden this afternoon.
I was on my way back to the car at the end of the day when I saw gentle backlight coming through the blossoms and decided I had time for a few more photos since I was already going to be late for dinner. I made several variations on the theme, horizontal with multiple blossoms, horizontal with just a single blossom, and then verticals with one blossom. I liked this one with a tiny spider crawling across a strand of silk, although I have another variation with neither the spider nor the silk. Fortunately it was a dead calm afternoon as the light was fading, the flowers are on tall stalks, and I was working close with a 100mm macro lens.
October 08 2008 | Gardens and Photography | No Comments »
I think a little boldness in the garden is a good thing. This pair of old red chairs, from a garden in Eugene, Oregon, establish that bold can be stylish and fun.
I found these chairs along the south side path in a tiny city lot garden jam-packed with plants. The owner told me she has some 250 varieties of roses, but you’d never know it in September when they’re out of bloom. A big eucalpytus stood at the corner of the house by the entrance gate, much taller than she ever expected it to grow when it was planted. This was definitely a personal garden, not one designed and installed by some fancy designer. It grew organically around the whims of the owners over many years. I like that.
The photo is from my Canon S70 pocket camera, hand held on the Garden Writers Association bus tour to Eugene on September 23.
October 04 2008 | Gardens and Photography | No Comments »
Moonworts are among the more primitive ferns. They’re sometimes called grape ferns because of the grapelike clusters of spore-producing bodies seen in this photo. This particular species is Botrychium pinnatum, Northwest Moonwort. It was growing along the Perry Creek trail off the Mountain Loop Highway east of Granite Falls in Snohomish County in July a couple of years ago.
Perry Creek is a Research Natural Area, set aside on Forest Service land to protect both plants and wildlife. In this case, the protection is primarily for the great diversity of ferns found along the first couple of miles of trail. The little moonworts are only a few inches high and easy to miss while hiking. It really takes a trained eye to find them. I was fortunate on this trip to have an experienced moonwort hunter as guide leading a Native Plant Society field trip.
Access to Perry Creek is going to change in 2009 when the road to the trailhead is closed and a new one-mile connector trail is built from the Mount Dickerman trailhead. Whether this results in more or less use of the trail remains to be seen. The published reason for the change is the lack of parking along the end of the Perry Creek road and the difficulty turning around there.
October 03 2008 | Native Plants | No Comments »
As the sun goes down the colors our eyes perceive, as well as what a camera records, changes. These Sitka Mountain Ash (Sorbus sitchensis) berries were along the paved path at Picture Lake last Saturday. I photographed them about 7:00 pm, which was just a few minutes past sunset. However, the sun had descended below the adjacent ridge long before, plunging my subject into deep shade. With a digital camera it’s easy to compensate, but in this case I left my camera’s white balance set to daylight, letting the color go a little blue.
Is this an accurate representation of what my eyes saw? Probably not, but color memory is a fickle thing so it really doesn’t matter. If the color of the berries was far around the color wheel from red then we’d know something was wrong. But since they’re red then we accept the color as more or less correct.
Mountain Ash is in the rose family. The fruits are reportedly edible, sour but becoming sweeter after a frost. I’ve never tried them. One website even talks of making Mountain Ash Wine. I suppose one can ferment almost any fruit so why not this one. The berries are certainly abundant this time of year, more so than the huckleberries for which so many people go foraging.
October 01 2008 | Native Plants and Photography | 1 Comment »
