Tag: Gardens

Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreshadow

Posted on Posted in Flowers, Gardens, Photography, Weekly Photo Challenge: PossibilityTagged , , , , , 29 Comments

This weeks challenge is well timed for me. I’ve been trying to record an Agapanthus from bud to bloom for the last couple of weeks. Some of the photos are taken quite late in the evening, some earlier and todays just now at 5.30. There have been days with gloomy weather, some with sun and some rainy so the image quality varies quite a bit. Also getting in the right position has been amusing  today, I had to go from the opposite direction to see the most open parts of the flower and got tangled in the shrubbery!

So the foreshadow,

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Some places along the way.

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and today the finale.

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How will you interpret this weeks challenge? http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/foreshadow/

A Nightmare in the Garden

Posted on Posted in Gardens, NatureTagged , , , , , , , , 38 Comments

Spotted this evening, I was too scared to get close enough to photograph these monsters very well, as it is I will probably be awake all night wondering if I will be mobbed by a million of them when I go out the door in the morning!I know I’m a wuss, but I’m not frightened of heights and other things that scare some people.
A search revealed that they are Misumena Vatia, crab spiders that can change colour to match their backgound, which at the moment is acid yellow, dwarf euphorbia. It was 8.30 pm so not the best light to get an accurate color but they really are the same colour as the plant. Anyway even if I liked spiders (did I mention I don’t?) I wouldn’t like these sneaky beasties because they hide in their camouflage and grab hoverflies and BEES that stop by to feed on nectar. I took one photo with the pruners so you can see just what mammoth giants they are – help!!!

Too Early for Gardens

Posted on Posted in Gardens, Photography, Travel, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , 19 Comments

Buckland Abbey is on the far west of Dartmoor and spring is late this year. It isn’t a garden with herbaceous border, more formal and functional elegance and sweeping grounds. There is an Elizabethan garden and although it’s box hedges have been damaged by blight in recent years, it has been replanted. The National trust have been working to establish a flowery mead since 2001 and its wild flowers attract butterflies and moths. Each September the mead is cut and to maintain the low nutrients in the soil that grassland needs the cuttings are rmeoved. In day gone by these cutting would have been animal fodder and also strewn around the floor in the house for its sweet fragrance.

A quiet spot
Cushion bushes
The Elizabethan garden
Spring is trying its best
Secret steps
A place for quiet contemplation
The dormant flowery mead

An Easter Day Out, Saltram House Devon

Posted on Posted in Devon, England, Photography, Travel, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , 12 Comments

A lovely National Trust property, Saltram has been overlooking the River Plym for three hundred years. If it looks familiar, it was one of the settings for 1995 film version of Sense and Sensibility. I didn’t go into the house today but the grounds were beautiful, well worth a visit if you’re in the Westcountry.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unique

Posted on Posted in Art and Design, England, Gardens, Photography, Weekly Photo ChallengeTagged , , , , , , 64 Comments

As soon as I saw the challenge I knew this photo was my choice, taken last Sunday at a sculpture exhibition at, you guessed it, Rosemoor.

Beauty of the garden
Beauty of the garden

Would you like to join in this week? http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/photo-challenge-unique/

100 Steps at the underpass

Posted on Posted in Devon, Gardens, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , 13 Comments

Myfanwy at http://chittlechattle.com/ began taking photos on a 100 step walk and several bloggers have followed her idea, it’s a great way of becoming aware of your surroundings. I’ve tried it from home and from work, and yesterday as I was at Rosemoor, where there is beauty in every direction, I decided to choose a particular starting point. Half way around the garden it changes its nature by going through an underpass on the A3124 to the original garden bequeathed by Lady Anne and bearing her name.

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I walked 50 steps in each direction from here and saw this cute bird, part of the sculpture exhibition

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Some well weathered and lichened stone

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Plenty of greenery of course but I like this leaf

2013 Jan 27

A sculpture with an interesting texture

2013 Jan 27

A leaf with a shimmer, about fifty centimetres across

2013 Jan 27

These are my favourites, I love the way the shadow became blue and I have no idea why, but I used my phone camera to take these shots because I was dodging the rain.

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Hope you like my steps Myfanwy!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Changing Seasons

Posted on Posted in Devon, England, Photography, The Daily PostTagged , , , , , , 29 Comments

If I had my choice I would only have one season – summer, like Cat Bird in Oman has! Having said that, it’s December and we have only had two or three frosts so far. Cheri Lucas at The Daily Post has asked us to share a picture that means changing season to us, but I couldn’t think how so I’m posting all four seasons.