Botanical and garden photography by Gayla Trail.
It’s time again to spread the cosmos love around. They’re everywhere right now.
Yet again I am charmed. I blew three Polaroids on cosmos the other day. That’s more than 6 bucks spent admiring a flower that can self-seed into a thin sliver of cracked concrete.
Worth every penny, I’d say.
See also: Orange cosmos (Cosmos sulphureus)
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Botanical Interests sent me a packet of ‘Zeolights’ calendula back in January and this is the result. I chose this variety for the peachy/pink tones underneath the petals.
Over the last few years, I’ve expanded into several interesting calendula varieties including: ‘Antares Flashback’ and ‘Triangle Flashback’. While they lack the medicinal properties of regular ole calendula officinalis, they are still tasty as an unusual addition to salads and rice dishes.
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I know, I know. If you’ve been following along with the Daily Botanical this spring and summer, you’ll find that it is fast becoming The Year of the Clematis around here.
Blame Barry, a neighbour and new friend who has more clematis (clemati? clematises?) growing in his backyard than your average botanical garden. And Barry’s choices are anything but average. He has rather good taste, don’t you think?
I am yet to actually grow a clematis, but I am definitely getting a good education in them should I acquire more growing space someday.
According the Barry, both ‘Cassis’ and ‘Vienetta’ were bred for the potted plant market. His are currently growing together in a large container and one or both were rescued gift plants that someone had thrown out. And here I was stigmatizing clematis as rather bougie (bourgeoisie) plants when it turns out you can just pick them up off the curb if you keep your eyes peeled on garbage day!
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I’ve sung the praises of white valerian (Valeriana officinalis) in the garden many times on this site and in public presentations. It’s one of the most impressive perennials I grow in my community garden plot. Although it isn’t directly useful as an edible like most of the other perennials I’ve put in, it does good things for the garden. We are continuously impressed by it’s beauty, size, smell, and ability to attract beneficial insects.
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In all honesty this could be any Rudbeckia. There are just so many that look alike and this was in a public garden. Who can know?
They do photograph well.
One of my tips when doing the magnifying glass/box camera trick is to seek out shapes that are large, simple and repetitive. It’s especially helpful if there are lots in a cluster like in this shot and the last because then it doesn’t matter if your focus is exactly where you planned for it to be. If you’re striving to photograph a single subject, chances are good that it won’t be in focus. I carry a retractable measuring tape to check the distance but it’s still mostly a guess.
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