End of the month views

One of the visitors to our Open Garden last Friday evening was Steven King, Vice President of the Wisconsin Daylily Society — and an excellent photographer. He posted a wonderful group of images of our garden on the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society FB page. Pam Penick's photos in late June gave me a series of end-of-the-month views of my garden then. Now Steven's July images let me see what things are looking like one month later.

It is always fascinating to see what captures someone else's eye when they visit your garden. I have a tendency to take pictures from the same locations over and over again.

Steven shot a number of views from spots where I never stop or in directions that I rarely look. I love it when I look at a photo of my own garden and have to stop and figure out where it was taken.

Even familiar views look different when taken from a different angle . . .

or closer in . . .

Steven and I talked about turning around and taking a photo of where you've just been. 

The image above and the one below are opposite each other. You only see one view unless you turn around.

Steven got the perfect shot of the new symbolic water garden. The western sun lit up the pattern of water drops in the pond. 

Thank you again, Steven, for all the wonderful photos you took of our garden and for sharing them with the members of the WHPS.

Comments

[Kristin]

Lovely! So, we were actually in Madison this weekend. Drove up Thursday, planning to head to Appleton Saturday for my uncle's memorial service. I thought about popping in to say hi and see the garden. Then Jim, who was wearing a new kind of running shoe with much thicker and squishier soles, fell and landed hard on his chest. His heart rate got down to 34, his mom called me at Olbrich, and I told her to call 911. St. Mary's decided to keep him overnight for observation, so no visit to Linda and Mark. We drove home yesterday, and are quite happy to be here. I am thinking of rolling him up in bubble wrap. Let me know if you want me to order any for you!

[Linda Brazill]

YIKES KRISTIN! I am glad his mom had the wherewithal to contact you at Olbrich. Our issue has been Mark's heart going the opposite way and beating like crazy. I know what you mean about the bubble wrap. If he goes out to photograph I am a wreck until he's back home and OK. Once they take a bad fall, it is hard not to worry about them.

[Barbara H.]

So sorry to hear about the ongoing heart worries - once there is an event, or more than one, the worry is always there. But on a happier note, beautiful pictures of your garden - but could there ever be a bad one? And I hope you stop sometimes, look, pinch yourself and then say in awe, "Mark and I created this!!!"

[Linda Brazill]

BARBARA — Things are going well and we have one more small tour in two weeks. I figure the garden will still be in good shape for that one and we won't really need to do anything. Since the city put off tearing up our street until next summer, we figured we should get in any tours this year. Plus there will no longer be on-street parking which will make having an event like a tour more of a problem.
You are right on the money saying we should sit back and pinch ourselves at what we've created. Even though we had a plan, it really was just where the pond and stream should be and where we might put a shed or something and lots of paths to get around the property. The paths created the beds/spaces which I don't think I thought about until we started planting them. The actual planting was not planned, so it always amazes me to look out and see it. 

[Jane Miller]

Beautiful photos, the last one of your symbolic water garden is amazing.

[Linda Brazill]

JANE — ​I love the photos he took, partly the views but also the soft light. And I must agree that the symbolic water photo is great. Hope you are both doing well and are recovered from the Fling Tour of your garden. ​

[danger garden]

Like seeing Pam's photos these give me a new appreciation for what you've created.

[Kris P]

I love the wide shots of your garden, both Pam's and those you've shown here. We're all creatures of habit it seems when it comes to photographing our gardens. I follow the same routine once a quarter when I take my own wide shots. It makes comparisons useful from year to year but changing things up can be useful too, exposing new opportunities.

[hb]

Those are excellent photos. Of course the photographer also had an excellent garden to work with.

I tend to take pictures from the same places--finding a new perspective is mentally refreshing.

[Elizabeth]

Oh, how lovely! So lush, and green, and such variety of texture and color. I love all the paths and turns. The serenity I feel when I look at your garden. You have certainly done yourselves proud. And isn't a different viewpoint interesting? Not only visually, but in thoughts, and ideas, and opinions too. Take care of yourselves.

[Christine]

Beautiful. Cool. Calming. Inviting. And you’re right, it looks very different, and much larger in scale, than in your photos. How interesting!

[Pam/Digging]

Really enjoyed seeing Steven's photos a month after my visit. And yes, that symbolic water garden pic -- perfection!