PhotoBotanic

29/06/2024

For better of worse I spend a lot of time indoors staring at the computer screen tweeking photos, making subtle and not so subtle adjustments. I have become particularly carried away as I go through the photos of GROWISER - a most inspiring, nearly mystical place I visited with my pal David Perry a couple weeks ago. I posted a few images that I created as banners a couple days ago here, and confess to getting lost in art filters today.

I will likely post more photos in a day or two but had extra fun with the images of the mountain lady slipper orchid (Cypripedium montanum) that can be found in the woods there. While 'working the scene', admiring the flowers, waiting for complete stillness, Dave took my photo. I had no idea he was even watching me - I was so absorbed in the bliss; but I am delighted he did - it tells this story better than my photos.

And Dave tells great stories on Substack. This link (if it works) is his own wonderful of the ladyslipper story he has called "The Yoda of Wildflowers"
https://davideperry.substack.com/p/the-yoda-of-wildflowers?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

03/03/2024

Reactivating the PhotoBotanic website with new blog posts and articles on garden photography. The new post, "Cropping A Magnolia Branch"' comes from a recent shoot at San Francisco Botanical Garden San Francisco Botanical Garden where it can be difficult getting a flower close-up looking up into the huge wondrous trees:
https://photobotanic.com/news/cropping-a-magnolia-branch/

01/03/2024

Magnolia time at San Francisco Botanical Garden. These were taken Feb 15 as the peak started. Should be magnificent for another few weeks:
M. dawsoniana
M. campbellii 'Darjeeling'
M. sprengeri var. diva
M. campbellii
M. doltsopa
M. Magnolia liliiflora × veitchii 'Royal Crown'
M. denudata
M. Magnolia campbellii 'Betty Jessel'

28/12/2023

By sheer good luck, my passion for plants, my own little personal, guilty pleasure, is a way to change the world.

Gardeners have impact. Just by planting a single plant, we are caring for the earth; we are adding biodiversity, we are adding life, we are adding beauty. Every small act we do adds resiliency.

Most of my gardening friends do it for the sheer joy of working with nature. Maybe we want to share our bounty, our cuttings and flowers, our knowledge, but we don’t want to think of our own gardens as solutions, we don’t want to make a statement, we just want to be among the plants we love and the people who share that with us.

Now, as I leave the board of Pacific Horticulture, I feel compelled to promote the good work of regional gardening and leave the organization as healthy as possible. We have done great work in the past few years transitioning to online digital media, and as we are about to create a pay-wall to pay for this, I blatantly ask for your support.

When we are not gardening, when we are listening to the news or reading about the impending climate catastrophe and how it will will wreck havoc on human communities, we DO want to contribute solutions, we DO want people to understand there is hope through gardening, green infrastructure, and working with plants.

Let Pacific Horticulture give you voice to support regional solutions so you don’t have to stand on a soapbox, so you don’t have to dig up and pass along all the research that’s proving we can make a difference. Help Pac Hort disseminate that information and promote hope. It will make you feel good knowing someone is promoting the optimism that is gardening. And I certainly hope you are a member and already benefiting from that yourself.

So, in these last few days of the year with many of us making charitable contributions and looking for hope in the New Year please consider making a donation to Pacific Horticulture or becoming a member. In my final act as a Board member I will match any donation, or the $50 membership (up to $1000 total). If you are not already a member it will allow you to access to all the content going forward.

On the donation form, there is a box for comments. Please put Saxon's Match. If your contribution is the form of a $50 membership, which is an entirely different accounting in the system (and different link than donations link here), please message me so that I can match.
https://pacifichorticulture.org/support/

Grace and gratitude are part of being human. Support Pacific Horticulture, we may not have all the answers, but we are certainly looking for them; help us make everyone have a better future.

Thank you *all* for reading this. Happy New Year !!

Gardens matter. Every small act we do adds resiliency

15/03/2023

A new blog post from a recent day in The Desert Garden at The Huntington
https://tinyurl.com/24s44ehy

30/05/2022

One of the very best keystone plants for healthy habitat and insects is Goldenrod.

New blog post:
https://summer-dry.com/solidago/

24/02/2022

new Summer-Dry blog post on California native gooseberries

Spring is here in Northern California, Ribes are blooming. And a new post on the blog: Ornamental Currants and Gooseberries -

https://summer-dry.com/ornamental-currants-and-gooseberries/

08/01/2022

New post on Aloe with tips on looking for Details and Vignettes (Chapter 6 of e-book, Think Like A Camera)
https://photobotanic.com/living-book-library/garden-photography-workshop/think-like-a-camera/aloe-photos/

16/12/2021

New Blog post on Phlomis: "Although each species has a common name of its own, plants of the genus Phlomis are often called Jerusalem sage whether they hail from Portugal, Morocco, Turkey, or Israel. These are summer-flowering shrubs, subshrubs, or perennials with felted or woolly, sagelike leaves, many with serrated margins and silvery undersides...." Read More:
https://summer-dry.com/jerusalem-sage/

16/11/2021

helping us define "drought tolerant"

02/11/2021

I traveled to 5 nearly dry California reservoirs last month and have put together a story on the blog.

https://photobotanic.com/news/dry-reservoirs/

Pretty devasting drought.

19/10/2021

Nice to be able to pull an old photo from Brent & Becky's bulb emporium in Gloucester, VA for the Summer-Dry newsletter.

Have you planted your spring bulbs ? Wait no longer !
More Tips (and signup link) in current newsletter:
https://summer-dry.com/summer-dry-october-2021-newsletter/

13/08/2021

Summer-dry newsletter now on the summer-dry website

Our August newsletter is now on the website, just in case you have not signed up (its free) and already read the monthly Tip about cleaning up the summer garden.
https://summer-dry.com/summer-dry-august-2021-newsletter-copy-01/

18/07/2021

The Summer-Dry Newsletter

Our July Newsletter: Tips and plant profiles
https://mailchi.mp/31ca37eb2748/july-2021-news-from-summer-dry?e=abf46b8230

25/06/2021

Our photos in the Summer-dry newsletter