This is the dark and rainy season in the Northwest, so it’s a good time to get caught up on captioning.  That’s a good thing since I have a backlog of around 5,000 images to edit and caption from mid-September to now. I didn’t have time after my Kelowna trip in September before going to Oklahoma and then immediately to Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.

Captioning is a somewhat tedious process that requires identifying as many of the plants in each photo as possible, checking proper names and spelling, and entering the data both in my master database and in the metadata fields associated with the digital image files themselves. My record for number of photos captioned in a day is around 600, but most days I don’t hit that figure.

One of the challenges is simply forcing myself to stay in my seat in front of the computer. Sitting for long periods is tiring and definitely isn’t good for my body. But there’s no way to get captions written without sitting and concentrating on the task.

Rainy days in the garden can yield intensely rich and saturated colors. Last Friday I went up to VanDusen Garden in Vancouver, BC, which is one of my favorite public gardens. After a lengthy strike which closed the garden (as well as libraries and halting garbage service) for 12 weeks, the garden was once again open. The weather forecast for the day was mixed and I hesitated about going out. But I checked the weather radar and it looked like the biggest part of the rainstorm had already moved through.

Soon after I arrived in the garden it started to rain, so I pulled out a plastic rain cover for my camera and continued working. Some of the fall foliage was past its prime, but there was enough lingering to make it worth my time to explore and photograph.

The photo above was made during a break in the rain, but under heavily overcast skies. It’s one of my favorite Japanese maples in a grove along the shore of one of the ponds in the park. I’ve photographed it many times, in most seasons, and under many weather conditions.

Working in the rain is certainly more challenging than photographing in “better” weather. Keeping the camera dry is the big issue. An umbrella works, but can be hard to hold while setting up the shot. I’ve used a cheap plastic grocery bag, but inevitably the camera still gets wet. Currently I use inexpensive rain covers from Optechs. My camera still gets a little damp, and changing lenses is slightly inconvenient, but overall this clear plastic cover works pretty well. I hang it up on a doorknob to dry when I get home.

Besides keeping the camera dry, another issue in the rain is low light levels and moving subjects. Raindrops make plants shake, and rain is often accompanied by wind. Like any windy situation, there’s often a brief pause between puffs of wind so I set up and wait. I think the results are worthwhile.

I’m not sure why I never thought about it before, but I realized the other day that autumn is our shortest season.  Not according to the calendar, but in the way we perceive it. When we think of fall, the thing that comes to mind is brilliantly colored foliage, like the burning bush in the photograph above. However, the time span when any individual tree or shrub is in its colorful glory is disgustingly short — often measured in mere days and almost never more than a couple of weeks.

For the serious leaf-peepers who make the pilgrimage to catch the best color in New England, the Appalachian hardwood forests, or the aspens in the Sierras there are websites that track the color change. The timing of the season depends on several factors, including recent rains and whether there’s been a frost. It’s hard to predict far in advance.

I am in Spokane and vicinity for a few days to catch what I hope will be the peak of color in gardens on the east side of the Cascades.  This afternoon I stopped at Finch Arboretum on my way into town and photographed a handful of specimen trees in the low sunlight. Golden rain tree, catalpa, honey locust, crab apples, and some of the maples were all putting on a fine show.

Tomorrow is predicted to be cloudy and possibly rainy, which will give a very different feel to the gardens I plan to visit and photograph. I actually hope there is a little light rain, but no wind, to accentuate the colors.

This morning I visited the incredible garden of Aaron Baker and Michael McMahill in Oklahoma City as part of the Garden Writers Association annual symposium tours.  What a pleasant surprise upon exiting our tour bus to encounter this delightful small garden in the middle of the continent. Everywhere we looked there were tasteful touches of whimsey, appropriate integration of art and humor, good choices of plants, and an abiding good taste. Aaron and Michael were gracious hosts as busloads of garden writers trouped through their private back yard on an otherwise quiet Sunday morning.

Touring gardens with hundreds of other garden communicators presents special challenges to the photographer.  Particularly, how to keep parts of bodies out of the frame and staying out of the way of other photographers in the group. Inevitably some degree of compromise (and a lot of patience) is required. Some photographers give up and don’t bother, but I find that the level of excitement and enthusiasm from working at a “speed photography” pace can pay off with some nice images.

The vignette in the photo above is just a tiny bit of the garden. Here a collection of containers with tropical-look foliage frames a pair of chaise lounges.  Just out of sight to the left was a bubbling hot tub sunken into the deck and behind that a covered outdoor dining room. In the front yard the couple had placed several unusual gourds and pumpkins among succulents and other foliage plants to begin to give an autumn feel to the garden. The garden was a wonderful example of what creative people can accomplish in a small space and without extravagant sums of cash.

I’ve spent the day photographing in four Kelowna, BC gardens. It’s definitely a transition time — not quite autumn but yet it doesn’t look like summer any more. The weather played a role, but more significant is what’s happening with the plants. Foliage is just beginning to turn in a few places, but Kelowna is still probably a couple of weeks away from the best color in the trees and shrubs.

These grasses were photographed late this morning at Elysium Gardens on the south side of Kelowna. In the foreground is Calimagrostis acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ and on the right is Miscanthus sinensis ‘Purpurascens.’ The gardens at Elysium had several other grasses artfully placed and generally towering over other foliage in the perennial beds. With sunlight alternating with clouds the grasses made a striking sight.

Several Hydrangea paniculata were showing a nice pink in their aging flowers, contrasting with variegated summer phlox and ‘Diablo’ Ninebark. Joe Pye Weed rose above Goldenrod that was just finishing blooming and Frikart’s Asters were scattered about with their large pale purple blossoms.

You only have another week to catch the display at Elysium, as it closes for the season at the end of September. If you haven’t visited, you should make plans to, whether next week or next season.

The other gardens I photographed today were also repeat visits from the summer. Rob Bruce, who had glorious roses in June, had a more subdued garden today. The unique plant was an annual vine in the pea family with large purple pods, but Rob couldn’t recall the name of it this morning. Nick and Teresa Manduca had a very nice clump of Autumn Crocus in the rock wall along the path in their side yard and an Autumn Clematis in full bloom along the yew hedge by the driveway. John Noble’s collection of Japanese Maples haven’t started to turn yet so the garden was quite subdued, particularly as it started to rain while I was working.