Getting to Know a Coneflower

Coneflowers, Sideview

Coneflowers, Sideview © 2011 Bo Mackison

Real intimacy is a sacred experience. It never . . . belong[s] to the voyeuristic eye of a neon culture. Real intimacy is of the soul, and the soul is reserved. ~ John O’Donohue

When was the last time you sprawled in the thick grass, got eye to eye with a patch of flowers, introduced yourself and gave the flowers time enough to introduce themselves. They don’t do their introductions with words, of course. They will introduce themselves to you through your senses.

What do you see? Petals. Stems. Leaves. What else?

What do you smell? Does the petals’ scent differ from that of the stems or the leaves?

Compare the touch of the petals to the fibers on the stems. What did you feel? Touch the cones in the flowers’ centers. Did you feel smooth, soft, sticky, hairy, pointy, prickly?

If you don’t live near a Midwestern prairie — and I know most of you do not — virtually explore the coneflowers. Use the photograph. Use your imagination. Then go out and find a flower in your back yard or park or a planter. What can you discover about one of your neighborhood flowers?

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is studying and intimately meeting many a soul-flower this summer!

Wabi Sabi Coneflowers

Wabi Sabi Coneflowers

Wabi Sabi Coneflowers © 2011 Bo Mackison

“Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of their character though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning.” ~Lydia M. Child

One of the things I am reminded of as I photograph flowers throughout the seasons is the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Often I work to get a flower in great condition, going to such lengths as brushing the specks of dust from the petals, blowing off tiny insects, or pushing dead leaves and blossoms out of the frame of the composition.  I’d rather do that preliminary fussing rather than spending extra time creating an unblemished flower using post processing. But I also intentionally take lots of photos of flowers in all stages of their growth – bud, opening bloom, fully in flower, drooping, dropping petals, and finally the seed head.

Coneflowers are one of my favorite flowers to shoot in all stages of their life cycle. There is something about a coneflower that has drooping petals or even completely shriveled, browning petals that is infinitely interesting to me.

Coneflowers are such a great example of floral wabi-sabi.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is often inspired by wabi-sabi in her photographs.

 

Mixed Coneflowers

Mixed Coneflowers

Mixed Coneflowers © 2011 Bo Mackison

Purple coneflowers are robust perennials which are native to the midwestern prairies of the United States. The three- to four-inch wide flowers are arranged individually on long stems and surround an iridescent red-orange, cone-shaped center. I occasionally see white coneflowers, but rarely see them mixed together in one patch.

Coneflowers typically begin to bloom in July and are long bloomers, they often in flower for a month or more. When I see the coneflowers, I am always startled by the bright orange cones. They look like glowing cones, especially as seen on the purple-petaled flowers.

The generic name for the coneflower is Echinacea from the Greek word echinos which means hedgehog. It refers to the spiky appearance and feel of the flower heads.

I photographed these coneflowers at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. After a steady, early morning rainfall, the flowers were in prime condition for some morning portraits. What a fun morning!

Seedhead in Sunlight

Seedhead in Sunlight

Seedhead in Sunlight © 2011 Bo Mackison

Wabi Sabi is a aesthetic concept intimately related to Japan and Zen Buddhism. However, it is not a “style of art” but rather a way of perceiving things, a very refined culture of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete that expresses itself in great freedom of form, sublime colors, and a simplicity.

Things of wabi-sabi nature are understated and unassuming, yet they do have presence and quiet authority and describe the transience and solitude of existence, an existential loneliness and tender sadness, in short: the essence of Zen.

                                                                                                                                                                                            – Karen Ulrike Soika, painter

The seed head of the Pasque flower is one of the earlier seed heads in the garden, appearing in June and July. It usually has tinges of green and purple in its thready fibers, but this seed head, side lit in the sunlight, highlighted the subtle coloring of natural light. This plant, at this time of year when it has long-lost its velvety, deep purple petals, seems to me to be the essence of wabi-sabi. Imperfect. Impermanent. Freedom of form. Sublime colors. Simplicity. Yet with a presence that truly is an example of the transience and solitude of existence.

Photographed at the Allen Centennial Garden, a horticultural studies garden on the urban campus of the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is frequently inspired by the concept of wabi-sabi in her work.

Zinnia’s Crown of Yellow

Zinnia's Crown of Yellow

Zinnia's Crown of Yellow

A true summer flower, the zinnia, dressed in the spectrum of hot colors – bright yellow and deep orange. I have always loved the crown effect in the center of the flower, the yellow ring much like a crown. A queen of a flower!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is enjoying summer and the continuous show of flowers the season offers.