"Pay attention to the world." -- Susan Sontag
 

Tag: flowers

Clematis, Preparing to Bloom: Gallery 2 of 2

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The gallery below contains the second set of images of clematis plants and their early spring vines and buds. These are photos of a President Clematis — whose colors, at this stage, include dark green in the leaves and a distinct purple vine. The leaves will fade to a lighter green as the plant grows, but the vine keeps its purple color throughout the growing season as it stretches on and on and gets thicker in width.

This one is fond of attaching itself to a nearby chair, which certainly adds interest to the chair but limits its usability for sitting. I normally (and carefully!) detach the vine from the chair and twist it back on itself or the supports in its pot … but just for fun this year, I think I’ll let it be. And, of course, my photo-brain is already wondering how the deep purple flowers will look on the blue-green background. 🙂

The previous gallery is here: Clematis, Preparing to Bloom: Gallery 1 of 2.

Select the first image to begin a slideshow … thanks for taking a look!

Clematis, Preparing to Bloom: Gallery 1 of 2

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From The Secret History by Donna Tartt:

“If I had grown up in that house I couldn’t have loved it more, couldn’t have been more familiar with the creak of the swing, or the pattern of the clematis vines on the trellis, or the velvety swell of land as it faded to gray on the horizon, and the strip of highway visible … beyond the trees. The very colors of the place had seeped into my blood….”

From The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde:

“In a month there will be purple stars on the clematis, and year after year the green night of its leaves will hold its purple stars.”

From The Writer in the Garden by Jane Garvey:

“Stick a clematis in a sunny spot with its roots shaded and it will reward you for years.”

In early February, I assembled a small gallery that included the very first signs of spring appearing in my garden: a few tiny leaves from one of my three clematis vines. Since then, the plants have suffered through and survived a week of below freezing temperatures, gotten tangled by repeated windy days, gotten soaked by long rainstorms … and yet have started producing new vines at a frenetic pace while pushing out dozens of flower buds. It will be another month, probably, before the flowers start opening; but I’m as fascinated by the vines and buds at this stage as I will be by the flowers when they bloom.

Here are fifteen closeup images from two of the plants that I bought last year. I planted them in pots after flowering season, so I haven’t seen the flowers; and the plants came with a tag that identified them only as “clematis” — so I don’t know the variety. When the flowers do bloom, I’m sure I’ll take many new shots … and possibly get some help identifying the strain.

For several of these photos, I tried to isolate bits of the vine suspended in space, and emphasize the curves and detail in the leaves and buds. I’ll post a second gallery over the weekend, of a President Clematis that has a very different appearance from this one.

Select the first image to begin a slideshow … thanks for taking a look!

Found Flowers (Set 3 of 3): Captivating Canna

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The gallery below contains photos of a canna lily from my garden, the last of three galleries of reprocessed images from my archives.

The first set in this series is here: Found Flowers (Set 1 of 3): Marvelous Mandevilla.

The second set is here: Found Flowers (Set 2 of 3): Luscious Lantana.

Here are links to earlier posts containing some of the other “found photos” I recently reprocessed:

Wordless Wednesday: Five Found Flower Photos
Before and After: Tiny Bubbles
Wordless Wednesday: Hibiscus, Hibiscus, Bug

Thanks for taking a look!

Found Flowers (Set 2 of 3): Luscious Lantana

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Hello! The gallery below contains lantana photos, the second of three galleries of reprocessed images from my archives.

The first set in this series is here: Found Flowers (Set 1 of 3): Marvelous Mandevilla.

Here are links to earlier posts containing some of the other “found photos” I recently reprocessed:

Wordless Wednesday: Five Found Flower Photos
Before and After: Tiny Bubbles
Wordless Wednesday: Hibiscus, Hibiscus, Bug

Thanks for taking a look!

Found Flowers (Set 1 of 3): Marvelous Mandevilla

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“Mandevilla” …. the word just rolls off your tongue, doesn’t it? I’ve previously posted pictures from a folder I recently found in my photo archives, of plants from my garden taken about ten years ago, resurrected and reprocessed with Lightroom and the Nik Collection. I’ve grouped the remaining photos into three galleries — this one, of mandevilla, that I’m posting today; and second and third galleries of a canna lily and additional lantana that I’ll post in the next few days.

This mandevilla variation was a Sun Parasol White Mandevilla, known for its giant blooms, large leaves, and rapidly growing vine. As you can see from the photos, the flower buds start out as mostly white with pink tint, then open to reveal a bright yellow center surrounded by white and a diminished pink frost. Mandevilla variants available to me locally are normally annual, so I buy at least a couple new ones each year, varying colors among white, pink, and red — the colors I typically find at garden centers nearby. Occasionally, if the winter months are warm enough, the mandevilla will return for one extra spring, a bonus I usually embrace by repotting the plant … and buying a couple more!

Here are links to the previous posts containing some of the “found photos” from my archives:

Wordless Wednesday: Five Found Flower Photos
Before and After: Tiny Bubbles
Wordless Wednesday: Hibiscus, Hibiscus, Bug

Thanks for taking a look!