Garden Pics: Breakin' Our Backs for Beautiful Blooms! #10

Hi Sally - I thought of you today when I was at a local nursery & spied some Nigella in a "delphinium" blue. So very pretty, but could not make myself pay $4 for a 4" pot!
My white Nigella is everywhere it wants to be, and that's ok, cuz it's purty & minds its manners.

Sally.... glad that we, the animals and I, could make you laugh! I do to when I think about it.

Katye, I think that your camera does really well. Especially with the Macros! I agree with you about the distance shots, at least with any camera that I've had (which is not many), that is the area where they don't do so well. But, I'm not going to spend the sort of $$$ for a camera that does really well with those either. That Nigella sounds great.

Katye, I'm in the same boat with the camera.... I never feel like the "big" shots really convey what I see very well. Even if I did have the $$ for the fancy camera, I wouldn't have the patience to learn to use it, and it wouldn't fit in my pocket, so would be left behind anyway.

There are some benefits to being up way too early in the morning. First of all, it was only 70 degrees at 4:00 in the morning when we were getting ready to leave Othello. Secondly, the sunrise over the lake was just lovely.....

This was about 4:20

About 4:30

And at 5:00 when we actually headed back to the wet side

Just Beautiful!!!!

Wow. Gorgeous sunrise!

Lovely Julie, thank you for sharing.

Katye, Beautiful pink DL! Rj..love the sunrise!


Moses Fire DL. This is a prtty one. Can't wait until this one multiplies and give me more blooms!

Parfait DL

Lavender Noid

A bee on a DL

One of my friends on the water lettuce

Bea, Moses Fire is wonderful! Can you just imagine a full clump of that? The others are very pretty as well...and you knew that I was over ready for another cute froggy pic!

Might have time to post more later, but really wanted to share a picture of this planting (again I think?) as it has been just an eye popper this year. Combo was put together completely by accident, but I say WOW every time I admire it.

Asiatic lily, Outrageous daylily, and Crimson Boquet rose.

Lovely RJ!

Julie that is a stunning combination. It belongs in my Hotbed, as does Bea's Moses Fire!!!
So accomodating of the trio to co-operate in bloom-time, too.

The other issue with cameras is the way they record colour, specifically the range of red.
Also, the way lighting has an effect on colour - like whites & pastels. I think these must be done in lower light situations, otherwise the reflective quality dominates.

This shot is a west-facing border with a range of reds to purple & pink. The reds "record" as truer reds, particularly the Japanese bloodgrass. However, the actual colour is more of a "wine" red. It's as if only certain colours within the spectrum are picked up as "true". With the editing program I have, tweaking can get you to what is more realistic, but not without effecting the others. Such a curiousity!

katye, that is a beautiful garden sceen. I found a gallon size bloodgrass at the farmers market today. It sure is pretty. Hope to plant it in my pond area. Does it behave or should I keep it in a pot?

Ya know, I'm not usually real crazy about ornamental grasses, but that bloodgrass is quite pretty.

Bea - it behaves but it does spread, although not aggressively for me. Easy to pull out if you want to contain it. It would look nice in a pot; nice vertical growth. I think I'd pot it by itself.

Pony - I started using grasses because I have dogs; the grasses take tail wagging well. Grasses are low maintenance, too.

Beehive:
Your photos are beautiful! I am new to DG and have figured out that photos are very important for corresponding with y'all - so I am on the search for a good camera
May I ask what yours is? I do hope it doesn't cost a fortune.
Thanks
Pam

Nice to meet you, Pam. I also enjoy everyone's pics. That bloodgrass looks interesting.

Hi Pam and welcome. Pretty pictures everyone.

Kayte - I love the photo of the Japanese bloodgrass. The color is beautiful. And it complements the other plants so nicely.
Last week I had a huge pot delivered for my front garden and I've been staring at it for a week trying to decide what to put in it. I chose a purple-black flax and some other grasses and a shrub that I already had that needed moving. After putting broken crockery in the bottom I put in 8 bags of potting soil and still need more. I will post photos when I get it finished.
It has been so hot here!

Katye, Thanks for the scoop on the blood grass. I think I will pot it as there is horrible hard clay by the pond and I am feeling lazy in this heat!
Pam.. Welcome! Thanks you for your compliments on my photos. I try to do my best and I have a camera that makes it easy. I use the Sony Cybershot DSC-H2 . It has an auto macro setting, auto focus, and a 12 x zoom. You can do manual stuff..but I prefer the auto... They just came out with a H50 model that is lower in price and has a few more bells and whistles, but I have been very happy with the H2. Here are the amazon links to both.
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Cybershot-Digital-Optical-Stabilization/dp/B000ENN9BK H2 http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Cybershot-Digital-Optical-Stabilization/dp/B000ENN9BK H50

Judi....you used 8 bags and need more? This must really be a super huge pot!!!

Lovely photos everyone. Love the froggie Bea.

Now I have another problem. Went to use a 2GB card in the camera, only my laptop won't read it. Used a card reader I had, it transferred but not to where I said and I can't find the pictures. Off to the search.......

Judi - how large is huge? =:0)

My "black" sunflower is finally blooming! WooHoo! :D

I am SO in love with these Commander in Chief lilies:

Bea... Great pics. Is that Moses DL a double? It sure looks like it.

Katye... I agree with you about the reds in most cameras. They come out excessively bright. I've finally figured out how to change the saturation before taking the picture and that really helps. Initially I thought that it was the quality of camera, and maybe it is, but I've asked several folks with the fancy DSLR's and they said that they have the same problem. So, that made me feel a lot better about my camera knowing that they have the same problem. lol.

Pony, I love that sunflower!!!

Pam... great to have you here! i look forward to seeing pictures from you when you get your camera situation solved.

Judi... what a project! Sounds like fun though.

red. Yes Moses Fire is a double. Here is the scoop from Tinkers
http://db.tinkersgardens.com/?script=3.1

pony. that is a beautiful sunflower!!. Will you be saving seeds? Would love to have a few or trade.

Bea, if I wind up with any decent seeds from it, I'll be happy to send you some. :)

I never heard of black sunflowers! What a striking image! I want some of those - must have them!

They're "Chianti" sunflowers- and there's another one that's such a dark red it looks black, named "Moulin Rouge".

I just realized that the photo makes the flower look enormous, but it's actually only about 5 inches across. The stalk is about 6 feet tall, which is the maximum height expectancy for that variety. I got the seeds off the rack at Kmart, of all places. hehe.

If the greedy birds and squirrels don't steal them all, I'll be happy to share seeds with anybody who wants some.

pony..thanks so much . It is a pretty one!

Way cool

Thank you Beehive for the info on your camera
I have been spending this past week with my dear friend PNWMountaingirl and with her daughter Rarejem - they both have beautiful gardens that need to be strolled morning and evening with many picture opportunities. This morning we discovered a frog or toad in the garden - it posed for many shots - hopefully PNWM will post it - and ofcourse
a pic of a nest of newly hatched robins is always wonderful
It is such a joy to view everyone's photos - my problem it becomes too many oohs, and ahhhs, and "wants"

Cabindweller, my "wants" and "needs" are beginning to melt together........

OK, so Pam has forced me to post these.......even though I am so far behind on DG that I haven't really even started to absorb this new thread.......
I guess he must be a frog, in spite of his coloring.

This gives you a better idea of how he just showed up bronze in the sun. Unfortunately he didn't choose the best spot of lighting to be photographed.

He must have liked having his picture taken, as he just sat there for me and then gave me a smile.

Pony you may very well have one of these from the taddies that Julie gave you......
I have no idea what kind he is. He was about 2 inches long from head to behind.