Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts

Thursday, May 12, 2011

What Grows?



It was too rainy to capture images for What's Growing Wednesday, so this us, um... "Throw Seeds Thursday"? "Threatening Clouds Thursday?" or ......

And interestingly, all the images I chose are pink. Other colors are growing in the yard, but it must be that I need PINK today.


The four-way apple tree is doing well. I go talk to her every day. Last year one died, and I want this one to grow happily.


My bag of dark purple bulbs produced one pinkie!


This is my garden of..... sticks.....and baby bak choi.... um, to keep the kitties out.


This is our newest garden feature, the water scare crow, and it works much better than sticks. It's got a motion sensor and any kitties entering the garden to dig in raised beds, are ushered out 24/7.

I've got to admit that as much as we love our kitties, we do NOT love them digging in the garden, and when we hear this high powered sprinkler go on, we all rush to the window to see who got wet. Yesterday, with all the wind and rain, it was 15 false alarms, then bang! There was a horrified kitty climbing the fence in a hurry. Neighbor cat nicely escorted off the premises.


I love these! Right outside my studio door. Blooms escaped from the pots of fairy flowers my eight year old planted last spring. Now they are growing wild in the rubble of the unfinished pathway.


Looks like I found the right combo of fertilizer and trimming. Our one rhody is all dressed up in her finery this season!



My black bamboo. It was a fancy indulgence and not yet black. I think the canes turn black as it ages. I learned that each spring, the shoots are sent up, they grow to full height, the send out leaves. If they don't have enough food, they grow less, and stay at the height they grow that season, never to get taller in the following years. Not like trees at all. This one has one shoot that grows several inches a day! Bamboo fascinates me.


The end.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Favorite July Blooms

Summer schedule: 7am hop out of bed, smoothie for me and the kids, start outdoor watering, make coffee, get in the studio as fast as possible! I love my early mornings in the studio, door open, cool July air, surrounded by flowers and garden, pets and kids.



I've recently realized how important it is to spend the first few hours of the day in the art studio, when it's cool, and I'm fresh. Why didn't I learn this before? Afternoon hours are for office time, shipping, playing with the kids, going to the pool, running errands, and if I'm a lucky girl, also sipping iced latte and reading or drawing all together.


Over the last two years, I've developed a deep love for flowers. I am a little in awe and in love with them. It's a joy to water each morning and see what has bloomed.



Volunteer squash blooming prettily. What will it be? Wanna take bets?

I left some flowers in the garden over last winter, and this is what turned out. So pretty and bright, it's worth devoting a little room to them.




The OMG Clematis outside my art studio window. Wow!!!!

Ms. Grace enjoying her princess hut on the patio.

Project of the day: find a flower you are attracted to. Sit with it. Take a series of photos or sketch or water color your bloom.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Fairy Photography

Good morning from the Fairy Flower garden. Photographing flowers is endlessly delightful. Try something new: Fairy photography, that is taking a photo as if you were a fairy.

Fairy photography
  • set your camera for close ups and adjust for special lighting conditions (sunny, cloudy)
  • get close to the ground (how tall is your fairy?) and turn your camera upside down (lens up), that's right, you can't SEE what you are shooting!
  • imagine your camera is a fairy walking through the woods, or the flower patch, looking up at all the lovely tall plants
  • snap several images before peeking at your image screen- the results may surprise you!
  • try shooting from the underside of a leaf with holes
  • what is the fairy's view of YOU?
Fairy Photography


  • Share Fairy Photography with your children, then hand over the camera and see what they come up with. A great summer photo album project.


View from the top again. Enjoy your fairy photography and please leave a comment with links to your own fairy view images.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Fight Crime with Flowers



Why is it WEIRD news that folks in Japan are planting flowers to fight crime?

Apparently a neighborhood watch program came out with a statistic that there were less break-ins in homes with flowers in front. Sounds good to me. And pretty. :-)