Home of the Practically Perfect Pink Phlox and other native plants for pollinators

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

I Wish I Was the Photographer My Wildflowers Deserve



Then I could show you how beautiful the back yard looks in full Prairie Phlox bloom.
How lovely the columbine looks next to it ...and look over there at the Iris cristata peaking out from below.

I planted the phlox but nature sprinkled the seeds here and there and this tapestry is prettier than any I could have chosen. Would I wear the red and yellow of columbine with the pink of phlox? Probably not, but they look stellar together. Mother Nature sure knows how to dress for the occasion.

Gail

22 comments:

  1. You are the photographer! Whether you have professional pics or not is not important! It is your passion for the garden. That is what we blogger share-not only pictures but yours are great!

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  2. Tina,

    You are a doll....they aren't bad photos but I never seem to be able to get the lighting right to capture the colors!

    Didn't you say that you didn't like p pilosa or had a problem with it?

    Gail

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  3. I have problems with phlox paniculata, the garden phlox. It grows nicely in the spring then fizzles out and disappears. Each year I dig it up intending to dispose of it, but then it comes back when I get weak and replant it somewhere else. Then of course it fizzles out. sigh. Maybe this year is the year.

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  4. Tina,

    p pilosa is easy, you just have to be comfortable with its tendency to move about your garden where ever it likes. It blooms for a very long time and has a sweet phlox fragrance.
    Is it possible that your paniculata has the dreaded phlox bug?


    gail

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  5. No, but I will be on the lookout for it this year. I am going to get that woodland phlox. I had it but it did not return. Darn!

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  6. T,
    I will give you a start of it and also the hypericum we spoke about at the PPS meeting.

    Gail

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  7. Oh I love Phlox and the deer here do also!!

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  8. Lovely wildflowers, no matter what you may think of your photos. A lot of it has to do with the camera, I think, but as someone else said, I'd rather spend money on plants than on a new camera!

    Just read your post yesterday--a very touching and heartfelt tribute to your mother. I am very fortunate to still have my mother, a mother who instilled in me my love of gardening, though it took a while to "take."

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  9. jean,
    We are lucky, no dear here, but coyotes we have...

    Rose,

    No it's me! I haven't read the book or tried to figure it out! I love the instant photo of digital but I sure miss my 35mm slr camera. My mom was not interested in gardening but she liked to look at them! Do you garden with her?

    Gail

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  10. I wish I had looked at your camera in Austin. Mine as a setting that allows me to adjust the exposure which helps prevent the colors from being washed out. Another way to get better light is to photograph the garden in the morning or around sunset. Seeing your flowers is like a preview of mine-they're wonderful.

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  11. nancy,

    You know we often compare ourselves to real photographers who never have fuzzy flowers...unless they want fuzzy flowers! Thanks nature did it all...I point and click!

    Gail

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  12. mmd,

    Technology, yikes! I am trying to figure out my new cell phone! Yes the colors often look better at those times. When will your wildflowers peak?

    Gail

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  13. Hi Gail, your wildflowers look lovely. I love that phlox and columbine together, but I love all the colors together. It is hard to photograph some of the more subtle flowers, if it is too early, the flash comes on and makes it too washed out, too sunny and still washed out, too windy or even any wind at all, and there is no sharpness. Your photos portray the beauty of the flowers wonderfully.

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  14. Frances,

    Exactly! I mean the too early, too sunny, too windy...I've got a bad case of the toos!

    But thank you...I do love them all together.

    Gail

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  15. I don't take pictures the camera does! My new camera is the bomb. My camera talks to me or flashes at me telling me what a moron I'm being. And me too girl...I would never wear green and red, and violet or blue together. But in nature..it just rocks.

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  16. I know what you mean about cameras. I turned out some awesome pictures with my "old fashioned" camera. I often find I need to switch the mode several times to get the picture to look just right. Usually I have time to take more than one if it's non-moving. Otherwise I just hope to God that I remembered to switch it back to the correct mode.

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  17. I have just found you, your photo’s are wonderful and your garden a dream. I shall be visiting again.

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  18. Anna,

    Now that's a camera, help and insults! Well, when we were very little and got to choose our own clothes we wore all those colors together; some of us did! Nature indeed rocks.



    cinj,

    That's the problem the time it takes to set up the shots...and hoping the wind stops blowing or I can hold the camera still...I have to get a tripod. The erase button is great for those wrong mode shots;-) I use erase all the time.

    lom,

    Thanks, stop by anytime.


    Gail

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  19. Pretty spring pastels! I think you did a fine job on the pictures but the eye sees the colors just a bit differently doesn't it and the picture doesn't show the softness of a breeze and the sound of the birds which all combine to make a ...well, garden!

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  20. I thought your photos were great Gail! I would love to find those wildflowers around our yard.

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  21. layanee,

    that is the truth our senses experience the garden...the camera captures an instant without the other goodies.

    Dave,

    You will have them...I was lucky, some of the wildflowers were here...columbine, was everywhere. These growing now are 20 greats away from the ones I found when we moved in. Wow! Take your family on an outing to Growild in Fairview for their Native Plant Festival and you can start a collection. Lots of plants, lots of music and a trail.

    Gail

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  22. Hi Gail... doing a little catching up from a busy week. I adore the wildflowers and all the colors together with that background of green to soften any mix. How fun for you that your wildflowers seed themselves and bring you even more joy! It all looks very nice.
    Meems @Hoe&Shovel

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