winter's nap

Raspberry canes under new-fallen snow.

"At Christmas I no more desire a rose, Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled mirth; But like of each thing that in season grows." -William Shakespeare

Tears, photo by Man Ray (Paris, 1932)

fallen rose

Found among the leaves this morning.

climbing rose

As viewed from the dining room, while repairing an old window ...

maple tree

This magnificent old maple tree has died. I wasn't aware until I got a notice from the borough. I think back to last summer and that one morning with the red-headed woodpecker ... first time I'd seen one in that tree ... now I realize what it meant.

windflower

A hearty (and yet dainty) perennial

autumn hearts

Lavender Mist, Jackson Pollack (1950)

Redbud (Cercis canadensis) (2008)

The trees with their autumn leaves are the stars of the garden now. Nothing for me to do but plant spring bulbs beneath them.

saffron beauty

Autumn flowering Crocus speciosus. I planted these bulbs 10 years ago. And each year I am enchanted. So beautiful, so sasha.

"[C. speciosus] is infinitely worth growing, all its ways are seemly, all its forms lovely." - Louise Beebe Wilder, Adventures with Hardy Bulbs (1936)

"... the first autumnal [crocus] to flower, and ... always startling when it comes bubbling through the earth, innocent of leaves, usually after a warm rain in late September." -LBW

indian summer

Hydrangea macrophylla Jogasaki - still the most beautiful hydrangea in my garden. In July the color was ethereal- the blue of a reflecting pond. In October, the color is concentrated and sweet - like the juice of ripened berries.

late summer

Monarch butterfly on an apple-scented rosa Graham Thomas. In the late summer garden ... green and lush ... with a tiny, almost imperceptible, pinch of dried leaf.

Sept 2007

capturing light

Capturing the light reflected in an antique mirror at Kw'o:Kw'e:hala. I just happened by, in a moment of time that you now see. Like the mysterious writer of a lovely letter M.

"The principal person in a picture is light." Edouard Manet

garden spirit

Morning in a garden by the Coquihalla River.

"What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?" William Shakespeare

rain-forest

The forest in a drop of rain, beneath a flower petal.

"Come forth into the light of things. Let nature be your teacher." William Wordsworth

morning glory

Apricot rose blossom, served with dark-roasted coffee.

susan

Sue's green-eyed susan

at Kw'o:Kw'e:hala

Images from a garden along the Coquihalla River. Self-portrait in an antique mirror. Sunlight on the old oak frame. Crystal floating in a copper wire.

lily in a vase

Lilium Scheherazade. Oriental x trumpet. Need I say more?

morning in July

A Lily Scheherazade had outgrown its stake and one morning I found it toppled over in the back yard border. So I cut it at the bend, put the sizeable stem in a vase and balanced it with a piece of twine extending upward to the front porch chandelier. In the defined space of the front porch, the collective beauty of the blossoms going every-which-way is breath-taking. Isn't this the very thing we seek to reproduce in the dead of winter, in the form of a Christmas tree? This is it, the real thing, a morning in July.

a new line-up

A line of container plantings extends the left border in the backyard and (maybe) distracts the eye from the rusty fence.

like water lilies on a pond

This is the most beautiful hydrangea in my garden - hydrangea macrophylla Jogasaki, a double-flowered lacecap from Japan. According to the Almost Eden website: The individual double blooms which surround the sterile inner blooms have been described by some as "miniature pink water lilies floating atop a pond". She didn't bloom at all last year but this year, she is glorious. Walking by, I tell her "thank you for blooming in my garden". She needs to be moved (very gently) to a site where she has room - maybe this fall ...

summer, essence

Sweet-smelling lilies. Fleeting essence of the summer border. Beautiful sunshades, elegantly tall and vulnerable, so much beauty depending on that one stem .... carefully staked, but still ....

"As the gardener, such is the garden." Hebrew proverb

organic chemistry

It's such a pleasure to be working near the peonies at this time of year, with their organic fragrances permeating the air. Shown here is a close-up of Krinkle White, the simplest flower in my peony border. Shades of Georgia O' Keeffe, don't you think?

"When you take a flower and hold it in your hand, it's your world for a moment." Georgia O'Keeffe

thinning out

Theme for the day: Cut out the excess. Put some air under it. Photo: Grand Style tulips in the back border.

"Now 'tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted; Suffer them now, and they'll o'ergrow the garden - " William Shakespeare

a new leaf

Dicentra spectabilis, sunset.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?" - Marianne Williamson

"Show me your garden and I shall tell you who you are." Alfred Austin (1857-1929)