The Wonder of Texture in The Garden

Gentle Reader ~~~ today I'm going to share some pictures that show the diversity of textures in the garden.  Some of them are quite mind opening, and I must warn you that, although there are no images of spiders, there is a very unusual web, so if you are squeamish about such things, well, you have been warned! {it is odd, I do not like spiders at all when they accost me in the house, but in the garden I'm reasonably okay with them ~~~ up to a point!} It is the last image, although other webs do appear earlier, and is just two images below the poppy, so you can stop as you approach the end if you need to ~~~

When I lived in Iceland, in those heady, distant days of 35mm 'real' film {which I miss greatly but find is now impossible to get developed without a great fuss and bother} I took an amazing number of photographs {I guess that was when my camera first became a natural extension of my right arm} which you can see a small handful here on Flickr.  That was when I first became aware of the infinite complexities of texture in nature.  In Iceland, it was mostly the rocks and water in many shapes and forms that captured my attention, but now, in the garden, it is the textures of leaves, stems, barks, and so much more that inspires me.  Texture is everywhere, it just took me a while to realise this.

When I moved into the digital age, two things happened.  First, the sheer size of the SD card capability, how many images this tiny miracle of science could hold, just blew me away {and I continue to be blown away as the capacities just get bigger and bigger}. No longer did I have to carry four or five spare rolls of film.  No longer did I have to worry was I loading a previously exposed roll of film by accident. No longer did I have to fret that I was on a photo shoot and I didn't have film in the camera {I think we have all been there and done that, sometimes the embarrassment and horror is worse than others though, such as the time I climbed a glacier ~ very red faced two hours later when I came to change the film that wasn't in the camera}; and second, the cost.  No longer costing around £10 per film to process and print, but I can peruse my many shots in the computer dark room, eliminating the blurred, out of focus, bad compositions, and any other disappointments, without having to pay to process unwanted frames, printing out only the ones I want to. Brilliant.

So, the more photographs I took, the more I saw, and slowly I suppose I found macro photography, which I now love and is my most favourite form.  I am a great admirer of the work of Georgia O'Keeffe and find her work influences me to look at things from a different angle too, so I spend a lot of time pushing my lens into the thick of things, finding that which can remain unhidden unless you go around with a magnifying glass! Not such a bad idea, actually ~~~

Across the seasons, the textures change, as flowers become seeds, as water freezes, as sun flickers and shadows are formed ~~~ nothing stays the same, and that is why my camera is always ready to capture these changes as often as I can ~~~

Here are just a few images to show the diversity of texture in the garden ~~~ {due to bad weather, and wanting to share as many different textures as possible, some of these are previously published by me} ~~~

Fine ridges and details on the flowers and leaves of a Morning Glory

Silvery, shiny, slippery frost encasing the decaying leaves of Autumn frozen for the Winter 

Fuzzy snow falls, dusting everything with white magical gowns

Feathery Fronds of Ferns Fibonacci and Fractal

A sea of frothy flowers of the Alchemilla mollis 

Fuzzily hairy leaves of the Mullein 

Incredibly fine and wispy hairy interiors of the Foxglove 

Ridges and prickly hairs of a courgette with a perfectly veined flower

Perfectly formed spider web covered in dew

Dew so big that the camera focuses on that, the web remains unseen, crystals magically hang in the air

Textures and colours of the bark of an apple tree

A very hairy and colourful poppy bud

A particular favourite poppy breaking bud is full of many textures

Crystals of dew form on the Alchemilla mollis

Crystal jewels glisten across the garden

Dew snared on grass seeds

A magical and mysterious picture

The same seed head, snared in a web, but taken a day earlier before the rain

A ripe, rosy red, shiny and glossy rose hip

Poppy seed heads ~ now they are plentiful and make great stamps too!

Frost~kissed tips of the Alchemilla mollis in Winter

Frost even enhances the lid of a compost bin!

Multi textured centre of a pollen covered poppy

Snared by a web, a single bloom from a Verbena Bonariensis, with a tiny dew drop

When I found this spider web, it pretty much blew me away. It is like a cellophane, or glassine sheet, wrapped around a spent buddleia spike, and it is pretty much completely waterproof and stretched taught, especially underneath. It is full of spiderlings, and probably the most spectacular texture I've seen in a long time.  Just think that Mamma spider spun a protective waterproof tent for her babies.

A spectacular spider's nest looks like a glassine case of protection

Mamma spider was nervously dancing about, behind a leaf, while I took it. Shudders ~~~

I could have shared a hundred pictures and more, but then, I fear, I would have lost you in the metaphorical mire!  I think you get the idea, though, that we are surrounded by all this wonderful texture, some of it so small we might easily miss it, such as the fine hairs on a stem, or the tiny grains of pollen on an anther.

Until next time ~~~

Sincerely yours,
Deborah

Folklore ~ Photographs ~ A Summer Storm a Comin' In ~

Gentle Reader ~ do you have folk lore sayings that you have known for years?  Do you know what they mean?  Very often, the things we say today by way of tradition have very deep rooted meanings and interpretations in many things, like nature and plain common sense.  I would love it if you share some of your favourites in the comments box ~~~ and here are just a few of my own ~~~ 

A lot of my friends say "Rabbit Rabbit" on the first day of each month, but until recently I had never heard of it.  I always grew up with, what I consider a less pleasant saying that goes 

"A pinch and a punch for the first of the month"

 ~ not very pretty, is it?  Often, it was responded to with 

"A punch and a kick for being so quick"

 ~ again, not very pretty.  However, the first part dates back to the Middle Ages {maybe earlier} in Britain when witchcraft gave reason for fear among the general population and this little saying was to ward off witches ~ the "pinch" was a pinch of salt, long held in belief that it weakened the power of a witch if thrown at him/her and the "punch" was the shove to push the witch out of the way after the pinch of salt had weakened the powers.  So, throw the 'pinch' of salt, weaken the witch, then 'punch' it out of the way ~~~

Another interpretation is that the pinch may be a pinch of snuff and the punch a cup of punch as traditional offerings to callers and well wishers who stopped by the houses of local gentry over the Christmas season and New Year's morn ~~~ I prefer this interpretation to the witchy one for it is more convivial ~~~

Folklore is a strange and intriguing thing indeed ~~~

"Red sky at night ~ shepherd's {or sailor's} delight
Red sky in morning ~ shepherd's {or sailor's} warning"

This little adage, apparently, has to do with the sun as it reflects off clouds, and if the clouds are red at night then the following day will be fine, but if they are red in the morning, the coming day will not be fine.  Simple! 

Here is a gardening snippet for you ~

"One year's seeds are seven years weeds"

 ~ very true ~ for seeds, once sown, can remain dormant in the soil for many years, so the seeds sown by all your weeds this year, some will germinate next year, and the rest will take their time, watching and waiting, then bursting forth just when you think your garden is free from all the plants you don't want there ~~~

Here, my gentle friends, are some seeds that have sown and are not weeds at all ~~~

I love Japanese Wind Anemones, for they provide colour and interest in the garden as Summer starts to turn into Autumn and all the hot colours of Summer are quickly fading out ~~~ the blazing lilies, the fragrant roses, crocosmia, and more are making those seeds for seven years of sowing!

These are my white Japanese Wind Anemones, their late blooming, single white flowers on whispy, willowy, whippy, long and elegant stems grow from a bushy mound of mat, dark green leaves, but with a lot of blooms growing and preparing to burst open in succession to give a good show over many weeks ~~~ they will provide colour and interest as the garden starts the winding down from Summer into Autumn, with elegant, dancing, movement in the breezes ~~~

Look at all the blooms ready to follow very soon for a grand display ~~~ oh! and if you find the perfect spot for this hardy perennial, it will spread and thrive, filling the space it inhabits ~~~

I have several new specimens coming along in pots ready to plant for next year to give a wider variety of these lovely flowers ~~~ pinks, blues, and colour~tipped whites ~~~

While I was doing some tedious, yet therapeutic and much needed dead~heading, I was serenaded by a beautiful robin ~~~ it took me some time to find him, but I followed his song and there he was, perched in the tree, just above my head, singing his heart out with his pretty song ~~~

The roses, all of them, are now almost over and the next stage of colour is growing ~~~ do you remember the beautiful, big clusters of single blooms earlier in the Summer with all that delicious scented fragrance ~~~

Well, now the flowers are spent and the hips are green and growing and soon will be orangey~red giving colour and interest for the Winter and attracting birds that may feed upon the Vitamin C rich fruits ~~~

Already, the rosehips of the rosa rugosa are swelling and reddening, ripening fruits of the Autumn hedgerow

and preparing a bold, bright splash of colour against the leaves until the fall ~~~

A butterfly sits and waits ~~~ for what?

I love the way this courgette peeks through the hairy stems, and the flower twists in a curl at the top ~~~

The carrot tops are now clear the rim of the bin in which they grow ~~~ if the roots are half as good as the tops they will do well ~~~

of course, I cannot resist another photograph of a foxglove flower ~~~

see how dry and parched the lawn is, yellow from lack of water, but the shrubbery is looking green ~~~ I have plans to take cuttings from the pink wall germander growing in the foreground, and the hips on the roses will soon provide a change of colour ~~~ do you see my two, original and old mill stones?

Rain always provides a willing subject on a stem or leaf or web ~~~

Butterfly eggs appeared on a nasturtium leaf ~ exposed and vulnerable on the upper surface too!  I do not know what sort they are, but I left them in peace ~~~

Tiny, single, bright yellow eggs of another sort of butterfly laid in the protection afforded by the underside of the same leaf ~~~

A hoverfly feeds on the fragrant flowers of my apple mint ~~~

One of my favourite photographs of a bowl full of fresh picked produce from the garden ~ mixed leaves, tomatoes, courgettes ~ sitting in front of my home made jams and jars of herbs ~~~

Gentle Reader ~~~ the weather for the weekend is dire, for the tail end of Hurricane Bertha will drop in for a quick visit ~~~ hopefully she will pass through quickly and to the south of us, and the winds and rain will not be as bad as we have been told to expect ~~~ we are advised to continue watching the situation as the Met Office continues to assess and track the storm ~ however, just in case, I am preparing recipes for using up my courgettes and green tomatoes if the bushes do not survive the onslaught ~~~ we will see ~~~ and that, gentle friends, is the reason why ~~~ 

~~~ A Gardener's Work Is Never Done ~~~

Fairies in the Garden ~~~ When Life Gives You Raindrops ~~~

Gentle Reader ~~~ I cannot believe that it is over a week since I posted!  By now, I have picked so many boxes of soft fruit I am starting to feel like a berry!  The first batch of Raspberry Jam was made here and boxes are now stacking up in the deep freeze, full of more raspberries, blackcurrants, and gooseberries.  I hope the courgettes crop as well as the soft fruit has done!  Oh, and there are still many more raspberries and blackcurrants to pick again!  At this time of year I feel like a soft fruit picking and processing machine ~ I also know, from the arduous job of topping and tailing why companies such as Ribena make only juice drinks!

Have you ever picked raspberries?  Did you notice how, as soon as you think you have picked the last one, you turn around and there are more?  They have a quaint knack of hiding themselves, to pop out and say "Boo! ~ You missed me!" ~~~ I have learned much about raspberries this summer and there is much to do so things will be more productive and easier to manage next summer!

I have picked the first tomatoes ~~ and eaten them ~~ with two more picks since.  I must go and tie up the stems too, for they have slipped a little and the branches are sagging, laden with fruits ~~

They are growing up against a south facing wall, in a Gro~bag and coming along very well, I think!

Here is a little update on other things growing and coming along ~~~ do you remember I said the Butternut Squash had found themselves on the menu for slugs, along with the runner beans?  Well, sad to say, the runner beans will not recover now, but I have managed to save two of the four lovely Butternut squash seedlings and they, so far, are recovering.  I will take photographs when they are looking better again!

The courgette plants are growing steadily, although two are eaten almost completely away by slugs, another is recovering, two are doing quite well, and two are taking off!  Such a difference in seven plants all sown and planted out together!   Here are the two strongest and most healthy ~~~ and I think you will agree that they are quite sturdy plants indeed ~~~

The carrot experiment continues in the bin ~~~ I have sown more seed in the gaps ~~~ a full conclusion will only be reached, though, once harvest is made ~~~ for only then will I know if the carrot fly failed and my plan worked ~~~

Here are just a few of the tiny seedlings of Swiss Chard that germinated ~~~ very soon they will need thinning and weeding too!  The twigs are there to protect the seedlings from birds and cats ~~~
I am looking forward to Swiss Chard in a cheese sauce this winter! ~~~ oh! and the seeds were well past their 'sow before' date by about four years or more ~~~ I always say the old, folklore adage of "one year's seeds is seven years weeds" holds true for vegetable seeds too! 

The weather has not been brilliant ~ lots of thundery showers, sticky and humid ~ you know the sort ~ and with the wind too, some of the flowers are going over more rapidly than usual.  However, always one to be on the lookout for something to snare with my lens, I took these ~~ they are my Fairies in the Garden photographs!  I hope you like them, I think they are quite fun ~~~ take a close look, see if you can guess what they are and I will tell you later on ~~ Remember ~~~ when life gives you raindrops ~~~ take photographs! ~~~

As well as Fairies, we have fairy clothing, or gloves for foxes!  They say foxgloves are so called because foxes wear them to soften the sound of their padding paws, but I rather fancy them as little hats for tiny fairies dancing in the pale moon light as it casts silvery shadows across the lawn ~~~ there are volumes of folk lore attached to these beautiful, elegant spikes that line our hedgerows and paint our gardens ~~~ freely seeding, I have never been without foxgloves in my garden ~~~

I love the green caps that hold the glove to the stem ~~~

I love how close the gloves are to each other ~~~

~~~ and I love the spots inside and the tiny hairs that point the way for bees to gather honey ~~~

For those of you who are fans of Tasha Tudor {as am I, she is a particular heroine of mine} you may know that she had much of this in her garden ~~~ Rose Bay Willow Herb or Fireweed ~~~ and I have much of it too!

I am pleased to say that the Evening Primrose is still seeding around my garden, and I found some growing on the old stone hedge ~~~

I took this for reference, because I love how the colours and textures all work together ~ well, I think they do ~ I love the frothy white oregano flowers, the purple lavender spikes, and the bright acid yellow of the oregano leaves {Alchemilla Mollis would work well in this group also} It is important, when planning, to keep a record of things you like, things that work well together, and, very importantly ~~~ things that thrive in your soil and situation ~~~

I love this purple Clematis bloom, softly moistened with early morning dew ~~~

I have dead headed pots and tubs of flowers on so many evenings this past week ~~~ an arduous task but must be done ~~~ put your portable radio on with some good music and switch your mind off from the job ~~ then set to work with your tiny snips removing all the spent blooms before they set seed ~~~ for soon you will be rewarded with more flowers and fragrance ~~~ the trick is to fool the plant into thinking it still needs to make seed ~~~ it will make more flowers if the already fertilised flowers are taken away ~~~

Here is the view from my cottage, across the early morning fields, bathed in a swaddling mist of night ~~~

Here is the same angle, with those fields in the distance, showing the Elizabeth roses that bloom in profusion outside my window ~~~ what a sight to wake up to each Summer's morn ~~~

Am I blessed, or am I blessed?  I am very blessed indeed, and I give thanks for this each day when I look out across The Shire ~~~

Did you guess what those Fairy photographs were of yet?  Well, here they were just a few days before ~ the seed heads of a tiny Willow Herb that I captured as it broke open ~~~ quite feathery looking with that row of black seeds just waiting for the right moment to fling themselves into the wind ~~~

Unfortunately for them, they picked the wrong day!  They sprung forth from their spring~loaded pods straight into a nearby spider web and then it rained!  I just happened to notice the fluffy, dew~covered web and put my camera to work immediately!  Seren~dipity~do~dah!  ~~~

Then, the sun came out again and left them high and dry ~~~ still trapped, forever, in a spider's web of doom! {shudders} See how different it looks ~ yet you can see exactly what it is too ~~~

Finally, here is a little hover fly drinking nectar from a purple Verbena Bonariensis ~~~ a nectar rich plant which does well in the Garden, seeding everywhere, standing up to the winds as it bends on whippy, elegantly long stems, providing colour, structure, and nectar for the butterflies and bees ~~~

~~~A Gardener's Work Is Never Done~~~