Monday, August 13, 2012

Ligularia dentata 'Desdemona'

Just about now our garden is showing signs of decline. Many of the perennials have bloomed and grown tall and collapsed. This is the case with our thalictrums. The digitalis, while past blooming, stays up and the dried flowers and seed stalks are a pleasant foretaste of fall.

Hosta 'Spritzer' & Hydrangea macrophylla 'Blue Wave' Scanned Fuji ISO 100 instant colur film negative peel reversed and sepia toned.

My roses are in between but show buds that will soon flower. The second flush of my roses produce blooms that will not be as big and of course my gallicas bloomed only once and are now growing tall and long so I have to prune them now.

The hostas still look good even though I can spot some minor slug damage. The hydrangeas are all in bloom. Hydrangea aspera, H. aspera ‘Villosa’ and H. aspera var. Sargentiana are a bit past and the flowers are fading. Hydrangea quercifolia (Oak Leaf Hydrangea) is in full bloom and in a few days when the pollen sets they will smell of strong sweet honey.

Fuji 100 ISO Instant Colour Film, scanned print Pinhole lens cap, exposure three minutes

As the garden fades a bit Rosemary and I appreciate the warm yellow/orange of the flowers of Ligularia dentata ‘Desdemona’. These plants are faithful and easy to grow as long as they get watered often. The warm yellow is a happy colour in the garden when our thoughts are now shifting to the idea that fall will come soon and we have to move plants and re-think some areas.

What I do not look forward to is the pruning of our very long laurel hedge. My arthritis prevents me from using my hand hedge clippers and even the electric ones might be a tough on my joints. I am going to look into renting some gas powered clippers.

I spent some of today monkeying around with my Polaroid back and the pinhole body cap of my Mamiya. The pictures are decidedly unsharp and perhaps I should leave the idea. In the past I found that pinhole camera pictures of the undraped woman were quite attractive. Plants, it would seem must be on the sharp side.