Opening to the Earth © 2012 Bo Mackison
What is seen by the eye is transformed and colored by the vision of the mind. ~ Robert Wade
Another macro view, this time highly abstract, so it’s hard to identify the flower. It’s a different view of the hybrid lily photographed at the Test Gardens west of Madison, Wisconsin. Aren’t these colors amazing, almost like a blazing fire. A perfect match for the fiery days of August!
Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.
Crooked Gardens © 2012 Bo Mackison
Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence. ~ Henry David Thoreau
If ever I am in need of some spirit lifting, one of my first remedies is to find the nearest flower garden and follow a path or two. I seem unable to hold onto a bad mood or an angry thought or hurt feelings once I begin to wander from one flower bed to the next.
And for an even more delightful experience, one sure to make me smile and even laugh, I run through sprinklers and cool water drops while looking for the newest blossoms. There is nothing finer than to walk through a garden while being spattered with cool water from the twirling watering hoses – especially when it is 90˚ and there’s not a cloud in the sky.
These lovely gardens were photographed at the Allen Centennial Gardens on the University of Wisconsin’s campus in Madison. This summer the staff has added vertical tubes of color in all the flower bed, each tube’s color coordinates with the flowers and foliage. Fun!
Dahlia, with Solarization © 2012 Bo Mackison
I look upon the pleasure which we take in a garden as one of the most innocent delights in human life… It gives us a great insight into the contrivance and wisdom of Nature, and suggest innumerable subjects for meditation. ~ Cicero
This is an Esther dahlia after a photo session with s solarizer. Two summers ago I feel in love with Esther dahlia, as I familiarly call her now, seeing as she is one of my favorite flower friends. I captured her beauty in full bloom the first time I saw her, and then returned to the Olbrich Botanical Gardens many time later in the season to see what Esther was up to. I have photos when she is in a tight bud, just blooming, fully in bloom, beginning to lose her vigor, and finally the dahlia as only a few scattered petals on the brick walkway.
Solarization is a process in photography which the image on a print is reversed in tone. Dark is light or light is dark. I used a partial solarizing technique. The whites were once yellows and oranges, the dark areas were once sunny highlights shining through the open areas between the petals and the garden’s green background.
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Today as she spends time indoors processing photos, Bo will look out the window and appreciate the cloudy skies and the rain soaked land.
Looking through the Screen Porch © 2012 Bo Mackison
I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do. They go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far! ~John Muir
Perhaps John Muir never saw a discontented tree, and he certainly had a long-term love affair with them, but I’m seeing many sad, very dry trees in southern Wisconsin.
While I was experimenting with a crystal ball and my camera, I took this photo of my one of my favorite trees, the red maple that we planted in our back yard in 2001. This maple is doing well since we are watering it weekly. The rest of the yard doesn’t look too perky. In fact, it looks downright parched, except for an area of green around our perennial/vegetable garden.
The weatherman I listened to this morning somehow knows — looking through HIS crystal ball — that we will get rain tomorrow evening, perhaps a quarter of an inch or so. I do hope he has some special connections and his forecast proves true. My green Midwest is no longer lush and green. It is brown and crispy.
In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that we were not watering the grass, only the trees. A reader informs me that most grass will survive without any moisture for about 60 days. Our last significant rainfall was in early June, so I am watching the calendar. Another two weeks of this, and we may have to add the grass to our watering schedule.
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is experimenting with crystal ball photography while assessing the crispness of the grass.
Crystal Ball Photography – Red Maple © 2012 Bo Mackison
It is difficult to realize how great a part of all that is cheerful and delightful in the recollections of our own life is associated with trees. ~Wilson Flagg
The drought in the Midwest – the one I know the most about – just may turn into a ravaging killer. Farmers I’ve talked to say they have maybe a week or ten days to save their crops, but only IF they get a few inches of soil soaking rain. In my area, Madison Wisconsin, nearly every one has allowed their grass to go dormant. A good thing. Grass will recover and happily green when the rains come.
Advice, straight from the website of the County Extension Service is “forget the grass, but please water your trees.”
In my neighborhood I’ve already seen four trees, all 10 to 15-year-olds, succumb to heat stress. Their leaves browned several weeks ago and now the leaves have dropped, giving several yards an eerie look of autumn.
Other trees in the neighborhood show other signs of stress – leaf curling, especially in the highest branches, and a scattering of yellowing leaves. These trees need water. Now. If you use a watering schedule and water at night, your water bills will certainly reflect the watering of your trees, but I guarantee it is more cost-effective to water now rather than remove and replace a dead tree next spring. Just saying.
A few gardening basics will give our trees and plants the best chance to survive these difficult conditions:
1. Water your trees. Don’t wait until your trees show signs of stress. Make sure each tree receives a long soaking – duration of at least several hours – at least once a week. The most effective and easiest way to water is to use a hose on trickle. We’ll set one up at the base of a tree in the late evening, and then turn it off in the early morning. This gives adequate water and time for the roots to fully benefit from the watering. We have eight trees in our yard that we have identified as needing a weekly watering. I set up a schedule, and water a tree every night. Eight trees, seven days. It’s close enough.
2. Mulch your trees. If your trees don’t have at least a 12 inch circle of mulch around them – more if the tree is large – you are missing an opportunity to use less when watering. A heavy layer of mulch not only helps protect the roots of young trees, it also holds on to the moisture from watering for all ages of trees. This makes watering more cost-effective.
3. Grass doesn’t need watering, unless you are establishing a new lawn. You can save your money and not feel badly. Once it begins to rain again, the grass will return to its summer green in a few weeks or months.
4. Do water the plants most important to you. I water my small perennial garden using an irrigation trickler for an hour each night. These flowers give me great pleasure and I do not want to take a chance on their health. Plus, I have several tomato and pepper plants interspersed in the flowers, and I do love to pick and eat fresh veggies from the garden.
So, think about your yard’s and garden’s priorities, and then water where needed.
Meanwhile, I’ll return to my rain dance!
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is experimenting with crystal ball photography. More on that tomorrow. Today she is more concerned about the trees in her neighborhood!
