21 February 2009 by pat.

I sold a print of Golden Pear shortly before Christmas; I’ve been asked if some of my images can be considered for use in a calendar. If one (or more) is chosen, I’ll let you know about the calendar and where it is available for sale (I’d get a photo credit, no money).

Posted in Urban nature, Photography - documentary, Photography - Art, Photography sales and marketing, Photography | 2 Comments »

9 September 2006 by pat.

Tonight, before sunset, the light outdoors was exquisite in the east end of Toronto.There was a clear sky to the west, where the sun was setting, and a bank of clouds arranged *just so* to the east. The light from the sun, setting in the west, bounced off the clouds in the east, and down to ground level.It illuminated everything the way we try to illuminate objects using gold reflectors.Sometimes, it just happens.Now it’s raining. Glad I captured a shot of the back garden in this wonderful reflected light.I was shooting toward the west: normally, that would mean that the plants would be in shadow. But because of the way the clouds reflected the light, there’s a warm cast and very few shadows.You can see that I had a slow shutter speed: the wind was already starting to pick up, and some branches and ferns were starting to move around in the breezes. But it’s pretty interesting light, considered that I was shooting into the direction of the sunset.

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1 September 2006 by pat.

This is what the edamame plants look like. All of them. All 10 of them. I’m hoping, because they’re all showing signs of new leaves, that they might recover. Maybe, maybe not. We’ll see.

Some of the soybeans haven’t been eaten: here’s one that looks OK, so far. I’m afraid to weed around them: it’s like pointing out where dinner is! I’m just glad that Rabbits don’t read blogs.At least, I hope they don’t. Memo for next spring: put in chicken wire.

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24 August 2006 by pat.

Weeding, Watering, and Wandering

Spent yesterday morning over at the allotment garden. As you can see, the weeds have been enjoying the waterings, too, so it was time.Time for the tools of mass destruction.

They made short work of the weeds, after which the edamame was a lot more visible.

As you can see, they’ve each got two round true leaves, and are starting to develop their sets of three leaflets. From what I’ve read, I think I can expect all the rest of the leaves to be compound triplets.After weeding and watering, I wandered around the whole garden, admiring what people have done on their plots. I’ll put up a bunch of pictures shortly on Flickr. Until then, here’s a sample — a bumblebee on a hollyhock.

Posted in Gardening, Urban nature, Photography - documentary, Food, grown, Food, Allotment garden | 1 Comment »

8 August 2006 by pat.

Excuse my hand acting as a lens hood — one day I’ll buy a for-real one (shows, though, that the look through my SLR is smaller than the actual image shot. I was really careful to keep my hand out of the viewfinder’s frame).

So now that I’m done weeding, I’ve started an experiment. I’ve taken some soy beans that I bought for eating, and am testing if they’re viable for growing. I’m doing this by putting 7 beans between a glass and a cylinder of paper towel kept moist. If they sprout, I’ve got seeds that might grow. If I’ve got seeds that might grow, I’ll plant them in the rest of my plot, just to improve the nitrogen in the soil for next year.

I was finished by about 11am this morning: I’ve got an evening shot because I forgot to put the card back in my camera when I went out to the spit this morning!

Time for a glass of wine to celebrate.

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9 May 2006 by pat.

Ah! The weekend of yellow things arrived. Many of my daffodils are open, and some migrating birds returned.

This is the Poet’s Narcissus, in front of a lot of King Alfred daffodils.Next is “Chromacolor” — its cup is more peach than yellow, and its petals are pale cream. It provides a good contrast to all the yellow daffs I have.The third beauty is Double Tahiti.And this is one of my favorite yellows in the garden — they always seem to come back while the forsythia and daffodils are in bloom.Also planted this weekend: a viburnum “snowball” bush, a white single Rose of Sharon, and a new rose! I’ll post pictures as they flower.

Posted in Urban nature, Home gardens, Gardening, Photography - documentary, Photography | 1 Comment »

21 September 2003 by pat.

Got up, had a coffee and read the paper, went out for brunch, and then decided it was time to do some things in the garden. It was perfect weather for it today: a mix of sun and cloud, a little cool, no wind, and low humidity. Great day for bustling around and doing things.

First thing, Ash and I went to the local garden center and bought some icicle pansies, as I threatened to do yesterday. So now there are icicle pansies in the two urns at the foot of the front stairs, in the window box, and in some little trails through the rose garden in the front yard. They’ll help provide good color after the roses pack it in, although I’m still expecting more blooms this fall.

After planting, I decided to check out the back yard for damage from the storm yesterday. Ash had already been out there, so the garden furniture and potted plants were all back in their proper places (the wind really hadn’t been all that bad). Not much damage to report: a few twigs with leaves from the male cottonwood tree two yards over; a broken hibiscus flower, a bent rose blossom, and some Michaelmas daisies and obedience plants that need restaking.

The tuberose came through it unscathed. I managed to get a good shot of it today. Notice to photographers: I had to close it 1.5 stops to stop the flower from blowing out. Have a look!

Photography over and done with, it was time to do some fall clean-up. I pulled some weeds, cut back the bergamot, gave the weigela a trimming, and then took a look at the lamium. Lamium maculatum is an attractive ground cover, with green and white leaves and little pink flowers. It does well in the shade, which is where I’ve got it planted. I should have read up on it before I bought it, however: “in ideal situations may be quite vigorous.” It sure is.

I decided it was time to rip out a few sections of it before it took over and killed everything else in the garden (especially my bleeding heart plant, which just went in this spring). Grab, pull, and use the secaturs to snip at an appropriate place along the length of it.

Suddenly my left hand (that which was holding the plant bits, roots, and dirt) was stinging.

I have fire ants.I’ve always hated wearing gloves while gardening (unless I was pruning roses, and even then, I took the gloves off as soon as I could). I think I need to buy a good pair of gardening gloves that come up to about my elbow, and seal around the arm, so I can finish removing the Lamium.

Any one know how to kill fire ants? The way they were moving around, I think I must have disturbed a nest when I uprooted some strands.

Posted in Home gardens, Gardening, Photography - documentary | No Comments »