I have Muscari all over my back lawn as well- SO--they DO spread.
Karen--such nice close-ups! I need a new camera that has the absolute
close-up function--like I could take a picture of a stamen....
Mine only focuses (in Macro) on anything 4" away. Not closer.
NOT good enough when you want to take close-ups of your blooms...
Bummer--as this is not an old camera....got it on clearance...$69 2 years ago.
It is a Nikon Touch Screen--wide5x zoom--14 Megapixels.
I HATE the "touch Screen" function! Even if I am just holding it,
or sticking it in my pocket, and touch the screen--it will take a picture.
Lots of deleting when I upload.....
Makes me want to go back to my old digital camera--the bulky one--like a 35mm.
It would focus so close! What it did not do well is on blues and reds.
Never looked anywhere near true to color.
G.
FIRST FLOWERS OF SPRING Frost..What the??
Beautiful photos, Typ. I love the first 2 photos especially--very artistic! Nothing like a good camera and a good eye for giving the rest of us beautiful photos to look at! :-)
Gita, my own camera is my cell phone! Definitely limited in terms of zeroing in on a single muscari--LOL!
This message was edited Apr 20, 2014 8:36 PM
Typwc,That second shot is really nice.
Seq, Those are really pretty.
My husband got me a fancy DSLR for Christmas and I'm borrowing a different lens from a friend (want to buy it from him!!!). This camera really makes a huge difference in the quality of the shots I take. The lens I'm borrowing is not a macro lens. Want to get one, they are very spendy though. I took the shot and then edited it in Picasa to crop it down.
Yes, I do have the "eye", I think, for good shots but the equipment has really really improved my work. If nothing else, I'm excited about my other hobby again.
Gita, thanks for the link to seeds and seedlings; it will be very useful.
Typ, great photos! My favorite is the first one. Are those cherry blossoms?
Yes, Muddy. My neighbor has a cherry tree that peaked bloom this weekend.
Here's the original "raw" shot. Plus a pic from my phone at a different time of day.
Catmint: I was referring to North Carolina :) Not North Creek
Typ: those pics are fantastic! I like the first one, the red in the blooms' center really comes out.
That's a beautiful tree. I don't think I've seen a cherry with blossoms that white before.
I have 2 huge Kwanzan cherries that will be blooming soon. I love seeing them every spring, although I could pass on the carpet of pink blossoms I have to clean from the sidewalk and gutter afterwards!
Can't wait to see pics of your trees, Muddy!
I like the Kwanzans. They put out such a flower show it makes the shade on the ground just as dense as when they have leaves!
Typ, what a difference between what your new camera can do with the cherry blossoms, and what your cell phone can do! Really beautiful. I look forward to many more visual treats from you! :-)
Muddy, yes share some photos of your Kwanzans when they bloom! They are so beautiful. That's funny about the 'pink snow' when the blossoms fall--this is something I really love. Here's a photo of my daughter and a friend enjoying the blossoms 2 seasons ago.
My own cherry bloomed for only a few days. The blossoms opened on a Friday, wilted in the 3 days of 85 degree heat we had, then seemed to disintegrate when we had that sudden last frost. No blossom snow. :-( Maybe next year the weather will cooperate!! I have a snowfountain cherry. Maybe I should have gotten a Kwanzan instead! :-)
Seq, nice blooms and Typ, great photos. I recently bought a DSLR because I'd really love to be able to take quality pictures. My feeble attempts so far are just with it in auto mode. I've been trying to read the manual and a basic photo reference book that I bought, but nothing compares to hands on trial and error and years of experience. I get a free photography class where I bought the camera, but with my recent health issues I've had to miss it. I'm rescheduled for the class in two weeks. I really want to be able to get clear and crisp macro shots and overall garden views.
My weeping cherry has been in full bloom for almost a week but it will be fading soon. Cherries sure are beautiful, and I love them even if the blooms are so short lived.
Aspen, sure hope you're able to enjoy that class soon! Wonderful about your weeping cherry. Hopefully next year I'll get a longer blossom season for mine.
From this morning's dog walk. Via cell phone camera.
I do like the new camera Ric bought, It is a bit of a pain because it is quite a bit bigger than our old camera and with the 2 lens we carry with us. Because you never know when you will see some wildlife that you need the longer lens for. But my old camera would have never gotten a pic from that distance and it takes great pictures and really helps with my slight tremor. Much more stable. So a thumps up all around other than it being bigger and bulky.
crabapple, right Terp? my fave.
Next time, grab a pic of the dog too....we love dogs!
When we first moved in here--about 2 years later--the whole block planted
kwanzan Cherry trees in their medians. That was 42 years ago....
Most of them have died out over the years...A few still flourish!
Some were taller--some shorter...Interesting.....
We planted 3. they all struggled--and one totally died. One of the others still
hangs on--but is also all hollow...the one in front of my house hads been almost
dead for years now--but I hang on to it because there are birds that nest in all the
hollow stems. One pair of Starlings (or their progeny) ALWAYS return...and they
have claim on the lowest hole that leads into the trunk. it is their "condo".
The tree still puts out a couple branches that bloom. So I hang on to it....
Here is the "landlord'....
And some blooms from several years ago.
Beautiful, Terp!
Like the last photo, Gita. But I don't think I'd hold on to a tree just because Starlings nest in it. They're not good birds, in my opinion.
Gita, I remember when you got that camera, really amazing deal... and I could swear the description had an "ultra-macro" sort of setting... also, if it's taking photos every time you touch the screen, that sounds like some sort of setting isn't what you want. Get out your manual! Or bring it along Wednesday & I'll see if I can fool with it and figure anything out for you. With 14 Mpixels, you can definitely crop any photo to "zoom in" nicely, also.
I don't know about the touchscreen ones, but you can focus most point and shoot cameras by pressing halfway on the shutter button, then the camera beeps when it's got whatever you have in the middle of the shot in focus, then you press down all the way to actually take the picture.
With smartphone cameras which have touchscreens, you touch the part of the picture you want to be in focus, then when you are happy with what you see, push the shutter "button".
Little known smartphone camera fact: the picture doesn't actually get taken till you take your finger OFF the button.
crabapple, right Terp? my fave.
Next time, grab a pic of the dog too....we love dogs!
It looks that way. It is a beautiful tree Sally! I'll take a few more pictures of it to give you perspective, probably won't be until mid-week. They have wonderful soft lighting under it for night.
...I'll include the beast as well next time.
Man!!!! I have to dig out the manual???? You'r killing me!!!!
That is soooo labor-intensive for me to kapish.
However--I will try the "depress half way" which my camera focuses on
anyway--even when taking reg. pictures. You can't just press the shutter--BAM!
There is a split second pause--till you see the green framing around you subject--
and then you press it all the way.
If I have the setting on macro--and I go to take a picture--if it is closer than 4"--
it will NOT show that it has focused.
Never tried the touch screen for it to show focus....hmmmm..
Jill--WHAT is Wednesday???? You said to bring the camera along then????
You have me going somewhere? I work on Wednesdays!
G.
Gita, Wednesday is the plant divy up at SSG's house. We're picking up the NC plants tomorrow.
I have buds on my peonies! My very first peony bloom ever! :)
And my trilliums only now blooming. They're almost a month behind greenthumb's, and I'm not that far from him.
Jill--IF Terp should come to your "Plant Divying" on Wed. Please give him my
Glads. I will see him next Friday--4/25.
I will square off with you at the Swap. Please don't let Paul pay the $5.
I have the trimmer for you too--remember?
G
Ssg, WOOHOOO, congratulations on your Paeony budding!!!! < =D Got pictures??
I saw this afternoon when I got home from work that I also have one little baby bud on my first-ever paeony... wanna see? ;) It's very small, but you can tell what, and where, it is. WooHooo!! Good day for Paeony celebration CHOCOLATE!! =)
Hmmmm
Very nice, Terp! So healthy looking!!
LOL Terp! Delilah looks thrilled to be the subject of your photo shoot! Adorable!
Had another thought just now when you mentioned the camera refusing to focus, Gita. I had trouble with my first digital camera not focusing on some close-up shots until I realized I could use the macro setting OR I could use the zoom -- but not both! I have some very blurry photos of a friendly gecko in Hawaii... LOL So if you're hitting the zoom button to close in on a macro shot, don't!
We've been having fun with our daffodils. One of the benefits of planting lots of fall bulbs most years is having so many blooms that picking lots of bouquets doesn't make much of a dent. *big grin*
The front bed is chock full of blooms (that's the area I replanted and finished with in fall before my shoulder went out), and between the hyacinths and some of the daffs, it smells sooo good! The hyacinth clumps are along the driveway side, where my lavender hedge used to be... I'll be putting in new lavender plants soon; meanwhile the hyacinths have to take care of perfuming the air!
3rd photo is 'Jetfire'. I'm glad we got this little cutie; it's lining my front walk and just looking so perky!
Delilah definitely gives off a "cuddle-pup" vibe. What a sugar!
Terp, that's a gorgeous tree. Someone really pruned it nicely as it was growing...something that is so important but so easy to forget. Delilah looks as if she wanted to get a move on!
Critter, I love the photos of the kids "hiding" behind their bouquets.
The Kwanzans and purple-leaf plum are in full bloom, with the dogwoods close behind. I'll take some photos tomorrow.
I was carefully inspecting the yard after work today, like usual (indeed I am a dork) and I noticed two new blooming items. Both of which I'm super excited about :)
The first one is Veronica pectinata and the second is amalanchier alnifolia. The first season for both.
Paul, that tree is magnificent! And there's Delilah, looking like she'd like to try to water it! ;) Heeheeheee. WOW, she is pretty!!
Critter, really cute pic of the kids and their containers... there are kids behind those blooms, right? ;)
Jeff, congratulations on your new blooms!! Never heard of amalanchier alnifolia before, can you (or someone) tell more about it please? (and thank you) :)
Hey there delilah~~!! Thanks Terp
Cute dog! I bet she's a sweetheart.
What a spectacular tree!
Hm, Berberis, darn them for being pretty 'in detail.'Muddy is right on the pruning. I have a huge old UN pruned crabapple...pffft I could start a basket weaving business with the water sprouts.
Hey Seq ---Nerd---- you came to the right spot. LOL
Lol...I am a nerd for sure. My neighbors probably think I'm a lunatic.
Amalanchier alnifolia is aka Saskatoon Serviceberry. I chose it because it grows much shorter than Amalanchier grandiflora, which is common in these areas. This one only grows 6-10', which is closer to what I wanted.
Thank you Nerd... uuhh, I mean Sequoia! =) OK, "serviceberry" is a name I'm familiar with. heh heh It certainly is an attractive plant!
I think I'd buy it just because it's named "Saskatoon"! Such a fun word to say!
Makes ya wanna spit, huh? < =D