Another shot from the Sunday camera garden tour ...Though the California Poppies have been sparser than usual so far this year, I was stopped dead in my tracks as I visualized this "perfect" shot in my mind ... but would the yarrow cooperate and come out half-way focused? So far neither of us has had much luck trying to capture the intricate flowers of this red variety, but the California poppies usually will reward me so I snapped it anyway. One shot. And I was thrilled with the detail I got of the poppy IBs, complete with pollen. I think it looks absolutely smashing with the yarrow in the background, even if it doesn't display the degree of focus I'd hoped for. Still, just gazing at the simple architecture of the poppy (note that this one only has four petals ... they'll do that!) makes me savor the moments of sheer beauty that we're sometimes able to preserve for future delectation. After taking this shot, I just continued around the garden getting other shots, and when the card was full and I headed back into the house, this poppy had already closed up for the afternoon.
A blast of fire, captured in time where it happened. That same space is already different today, and will continue to evolve further as the summer proceeds ... perhaps the greatest reward of gardening ... seizing those moments forever when we're lucky, and watching the inevitable changes occur as each flower progresses through its cycle.
3 comments:
I love how the yarrow is slightly out out of focus in the background: it provides great colour for the poppy.
And the poppy is striking!
I don't think I've seen any of those around here ... do you think they won't grow here?
Dang, that thing's BRIGHT! No flash required with that one, even in pitch dark.
And the focus is perfect as far as I can tell. You've thrown the yarrow out of focus just enough to make it a background, letting the poppy stand out. (As if it NEEDS to stand out any more. :-D )
Hey there Olivia and FAR ...
I can see no reason why CA poppies wouldn't grow in your area Olivia, since you're practically the same zone as we are and they're only an annual anyway! The only "trick" is to plant them thickly enough the first year to make sure that they manage to do well, then just let them do their natural thing. They put on these little pointy seed pods and drop seed all over when they dry, and within a year or so you should have them in abundance. Or you could be really anal about it and collect the seeds and re-sow them, but we don't even bother with that. We just let em go where they want to go!
Yep they're bright FAR, and that's why I love them so much... you get such a wide array of oranges, golds and various shades of yellow naturally that they're the perfect fire colour for the hot summer garden. AND, they're actually really small plants who bloom profusely, so even if they're all over the place, they never threaten to crowd out other flowers and do well amongst other airy foliage type plants (such as yarrow and Imagination Verbena, with which they are very striking!).
Post a Comment