Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Spring Photos

I'm still working through cleaning up my photo collection.  The following photos didn't belong to a specific category and there were so many of them I decided to do a double post and divide them into Spring and Summer.  Starting with the first blush of spring the willows growing in the ditches captured my attention.


I tried to capture a wide shot of apple trees in bloom but had difficulties showing the flowering trees to their best advantage.  The flowers always seem to disappear in the distance.  My best photos were close ups of the blooms but I did like this photo below as I caught the house through the blooming apple tree.


Lots of new plants made their way into the garden this season, including this Solomon's Seal.


Every spring the show is in the front of the house.  The masses of bleeding hearts dangle their pink flowers one after another.


I had never really thought of bleeding hearts as a flower for pollinators but each year I witness bees climbing all over and inside these blooms.


Credit where it's due, this amazing photo of baby spiders nestled in a web was taken by my husband.  He's obviously the better photographer in this duo.


In late June the rose bushes push out hundreds of fragrant blooms.  A little experimenting with the camera managed to frame this bloom nicely in front of our house.


More new plants to show off.  The Lady's Mantle blossomed in early summer and was the perfect subject for a photo session.


The Diablo Ninebark showed such promise in spring.  Initially I thought these plants had suffered too much vole damage over the winter and would not survive.  They surprised me and bounced back with lovely blooms.  Sadly though, right after blooming two of the three shrubs died.  I have no idea what the cause was but I'm desperately hoping the third shrub survives as these are gorgeous plants.



What would spring be without peonies?  There are four peonies on this property and three of them are a light pink.  This fourth plant is located on the far side of the house and is a deep pink.  Perhaps this Goldenrod Crab Spider should have chosen the lighter coloured flowers to blend in more?


19 comments:

Jess said...

Woah, those might be the most magnificent bleeding hearts I've ever seen! They won't live here, so I can only 'see' vicariously through people who have cool springs!

Curbstone Valley Farm said...

I agree with Jess, the bleeding hearts definitely love your garden! They struggle here, I don't think they like our sandy soils. This post has me longing for spring. Everything looks so quiet in the garden at the moment, but I know it won't be long before it all comes alive again. That baby spider shot is quite incredible!

Northern Beauty Seeker said...

Gorgeous! I am a huge fan of Lady's Mantle and think it is truly under-valued in the garden. (great shot by hubs with the spider eggs too!)

Landbohaven said...

Jeg kom bare lige forbi.
Gode billeder.
Tak for kigget.
Ønsker dig et blomstrende haveår.

HolleyGarden said...

Oh, beautiful. Makes me wish spring would hurry and come! I love the bleeding heart the best. And I didn't realize the bees loved it so, either!

Gardeningbren said...

All great photos. So pleased you decided to do the photo essays. One thing I noticed a few years ago, on the bleeding hearts, when the bees couldn't get to the pollen, they would sometimes make a hole in the flower petal and climb through to get what they wanted. I couldn't figure out why the flowers had these holes at the top of them....;-)

Johanna said...

Love your pictures. Now I can't wait for spring. We are revamping our garden this year, moving and changing everything as it has gotten rather messy the last few years.
Hugs

Rose said...

Winter is the time for me to go through and clean out my photo files, too; it's a great way to remember the beauties of the blooming season while it's cold and gray outside. Love all your springtime shots, especially the bee on the bleeding heart and those baby spiders--fantastic! I'm feeling warmer already.

Kentish Keg-Meg said...

Lovely photos here.

Marguerite said...

Thanks Jess. I can't take credit as they were here before us but they certainly do like that spot.

Clare - that's a shady spot on that side and the soil has rather a lot of clay. Must be ideal because those plants have the biggest root structure I've ever seen. It's like digging up a tree.

Ms.S - I love the colour of lady's mantle and the soft fuzzy leaves. There's so much texture to that plant that I love.

Landbohaven - welcome and Happy New Year to you too!

Marguerite said...

Holley - these pictures had be itching for spring too, it seems like it was so long ago.

Brenda I've never noticed this but will be looking next spring. I often see the bees push themselves under the pink heart part of the flower and up inside.

Would love to see some of your photos of your own yard next spring Johanna. Flowers make photo subjects! hint hint

Marguerite said...

Rose - I didn't clean out the photo files last year and I was regretting it this year. I really didn't think about how many files I had stashed away and so many of the photos are virtually the same.

Thanks Kentish!

Anonymous said...

Marguerite, I, too, have been culling photos (in order to free up some needed space on my hard drive). Digital photography does just invite us to take many more shots than needed. And, like you, I respond to the first flowers of spring like a starving person who's just been invited to a banquet. I've just added Solomon's Seal to my garden; seeing yours makes me excited to see them bloom in spring. Happy New Year! -Jean

Pam's English Garden said...

Dear Marguerite, I so enjoyed the walk through your spring garden! One of the joys of winter is perusing photo files from the previous year. Yours are lovely. P. x

Jennifer@threedogsinagarden said...

Hi Marguerite, Happy new year! My favourite shot is the one of the bleeding hearts. It is nice to see a group of so many of them. I also like your black and white post. The lack of color in a b&w image always makes it more graphic. I had a similar idea to do black and white shots that weren't really black and white, but have not got around to it. Maybe someday soon when I get my image bank in order. It doesn't take much for it to get out of hand does it?

The Sage Butterfly said...

It is a treat to view a compilation of photos from your 2011 in the garden. I specifically like the bee finding his way into the bleeding heart blooms...perfect!

Marguerite said...

Jean, I'm sure you'll greatly enjoy the Solomon's Seal. It's quite an elegant plant I think and had it in my previous garden as well.

Pam - it's like walking through the garden all over again isn't it? I had a nice time picking out these photos and remembering the season.

Jennifer - before living here I had never seen so many bleeding hearts before. Each spring the seedlings take over the bed and it's mass chaos. too bad they only look good for such a short time though.

Sage - it's quite something to see those bees digging their way into those flowers, you wouldn't think they would fit!

Cindy said...

Ah! you have just given me an idea for my filing system. I too have been going through files of photos and trying to make sense and organize them. I keep finding bleeding hearts popping up places they haven't been and I have to wonder about this.

The Lady's Mantle is such a bright showy colour, I don't have any in my garden, perhaps that is what I am missing.

I'm glad you decided to post your photos back to back with Summer and Spring, great collection. Thank you.

Marguerite said...

Cindy - if your bleeding hearts are large established plants they are probably sending out lots of seeds each spring. I have the same issue with seedlings popping up everywhere, it requires a lot of weeding each spring to keep it under control. Who knew bleeding hearts could take over like that?