Celebrating gardens, photography and a creative life
HeyJude’s challenge ‘Look Up’ prompted me to share some pictures taken along the routes to Jubilee Tower and the story of how it came to be set on the moor above my home town of Darwen in Lancashire. Continue reading “Darwen’s Jubilee Tower”
I’m aware that rose cultivars achieve something approaching immortality when small parts of the plant are passed from person to person down the generations, but it still seems amazing to think that Rosa ‘Queen Of Denmark’ has been around since 1816.
Its bicentenary came and went with less fanfare than that accorded a human queen, but the important thing is that people are quietly growing it around the world. You may know it as Rosa ‘Königin von Dänemark’. Continue reading “Rosa ‘Queen of Denmark’ | Pink Alba Rose”
Four vigorous plants, growing together in a little, rock-edged garden without too much care (at a guess): a fern, Alchemilla mollis, Lysimachia punctata and Crocosmia.
Darwen’s moist climate has washed the door almost back to wood, while the window has been blocked in more than once. Continue reading “Turquoise Door With Yellow Loosestrife”
HeyJude’s challenge for June has been depth of field and so far I’ve been missing in action… or perhaps that should be missing in inaction. Notable only by my absence. That kind of thing. I’m not going to make excuses.
In my first scene, Harlow Carr Library has lovely rooflines against a clear blue sky. Lots of pink Rosa ‘Harlow Carr’ are proudly displayed on one side of a path leading to the building with purple accents provided by nepeta, lavender and salvia. Continue reading “More Pictures For Dreaming”
Photographing bluebells presents several problems: they dance on their stems in a gentle breeze; they often grow in dappled shade which is magical on the eye but blinding to the camera; their blue appears a bit insignificant from further away; and they are usually a very different colour to how they appear. The first two shots are fairly accurate for colour. Continue reading “Taking Pictures of Bluebells”
When people are indoors, nature seems more in the spotlight and its imperturbability strikes me as a superpower.
Have daffodils always been this yellow and crocuses so purple? I pay attention, but it feels like I barely noticed before. Now it’s the turn of the deciduous trees. Continue reading “Spring Tree Canopies, Sunnyhurst Wood”
My home town, Darwen, has several Victorian parks, including Bold Venture Park. At the entrance, an angel, now nearly 100 years old, holds up a wreath and an olive branch to remind us of the consequences of war and to commemorate those who fell in WW1. The angel’s wings are the first things you see when approaching from the town.
Bold Venture is a hillside park with an interesting topography, built around quarries and steep ravines. A small lake, home to ducks, is another visual magnet. The lake rarely freezes right over, but was cold enough to support a band of ice, covered in snow in places.
