Gardens

Check out these Gardens images:

GEISHA IN BOAT AT A GARDEN IN KYOTO — Plain Salted Paper Prints of Beautiful Old Meiji-era Japan (#16)


Image by Okinawa Soba
Genkyu-en Garden (玄宮園) at Hikone.

Ca.1890s Plain Paper "Salted Print" by an unknown photographer. The Salt Print was the simplest and softest of the many photographic processes.

Plain paper was dipped in salt water and dried. A coating of sliver nitrate was then brushed on. The picture was clamped together with the negative (in this case, full size glass album-view dimensions) and it was "printed out" directly under the sun. After fixing, drying and hand-tinting, it was placed in souvenir albums for sale to tourists.

Because the tints immediately soaked into the paper fibers, the color is literally "saturated". In the case of these prints, the color has kept very well for over 100 years.

Originally popular in the 1840s and 50s (using a WAXED PAPER NEGATIVE called a CALOTYPE) only a handful of Japanese photographers revived the process in the late Meiji era, thus making these images somewhat rare.

I have heard salt prints referred to as Calotypes, as well as hearing remarked that salt prints made from glass negatives are not really salt-prints. Both of those statements (made without malice, of course) are technically incorrect based on a lack of understanding of the processes involved. Strictly speaking, the CALOTYPE NEGATIVE and the SALT PRINT POSITIVE were made by two separate chemical processes. For those so inclined to historic details, here is is one of the better links (avoiding the Wikipedia entry for "Calotype" in this case is a good idea)… special.lib.gla.ac.uk/hillandadamson/calo.html

I myself grew up hearing Stereoscopes and Stereoviews both referred to as STEREOPTICONS, and walked around mimicking this error until I knew better. ("Stereopticon" is a type of 2-D Lantern-slide Projector). Anyway, to this day, I never pick fights over mistaken terminology, knowing that the world of photography is filled with generally accepted terms, even if they are technically in error. But, I do point things out when I get the chance. The main thing is to have an appreciation of the image itself as a work of either "ART" or "DOCUMENT", (and sometimes both all in the same picture).

Barbers’ Garden 2008: Pansies


Image by bill barber
From my set entitled “Pansies”
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/sets/72157607213822856/
In my collection entitled “Goldenrod”
www.flickr.com/photos/21861018@N00/collections/7215760718…

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pansy

The pansy or pansy violet is a plant cultivated as a garden flower. Pansies are derived from Viola tricolor also called the Heartsease, ‘Johnny Jump Up’, stepmothers flower, or ladies delight. However, many garden varieties are hybrids and are referred to as Viola × wittrockiana but sometimes they are listed under the name Viola tricolor hortensis. The name "pansy" also appears as part of the common name of a number of wildflowers belonging, like the cultivated pansy, to the genus Viola. Some unrelated species, such as the Pansy Monkeyflower, also have "pansy" in their name.
Pansy breeding has produced a wide range of flower colors including yellow, gold, orange, purple, violet, red, white, and even black (dark purple) many with large showy face markings. A large number of bicoloured flowers have also been produced. They are generally very cold hardy plants surviving freezing even during their blooming period. Plants grow well in sunny or partially sunny positions in well draining soils. Pansies are developed from viola species that are normally biennials with a two-year life cycle. The first year plant produce greenery and then bear flowers and seeds their second year of growth and afterwards die like annuals. Because of selective human breeding, most garden pansies bloom the first year, some in as little as nine weeks after sowing.
Most biennials are purchased as packs of young plants from the garden centre and planted directly into the garden soil. Under favourable conditions, pansies and viola can often be grown as perennial plants, but are generally treated as annuals or biennial plants because after a few years of growth the stems become long and scraggly. Plants grow up to nine inches (23 cm) tall, and the flowers are two to three inches (about 6 cm) in diameter, though there are some smaller and larger flowering cultivars available too.

Pansies are winter hardy in zones 4-8. They can survive light freezes and short periods of snow cover, in areas with prolonged snow cover they survive best with a covering of a dry winter mulch. In warmer climates, zones 9-11, pansies can bloom over the winter, and are often planted in the fall. In these climates, pansies have been known to reseed themselves and come back the next year. Pansies are not very heat-tolerant; they are best used as a cool season planting, warm temperatures inhibit blooming and hot muggy air causes rot and death. In colder zones, pansies may not persist without snow cover or protection (mulch) from the extreme cold.

Pansies should be watered thoroughly about once a week, depending on climate and rainfall. To maximize blooming, plant food should be used about every other week, according to the plant food directions. Regular deadheading can extend the blooming period.

The pansy has two top petals overlapping slightly, two side petals, beards where the three lower petals join the center of the flower, and a single bottom petal with a slight indentation.

Stem rot, also known as pansy sickness, is a soil-borne fungus and a possible hazard with unsterilized animal manure. The plant may collapse without warning in the middle of the season. The foliage will flag and lose color. Flowers will fade and shrivel prematurely. Stem will snap at the soil line if tugged slightly. The plant is probably a total loss unless tufted. The treatment of stem rot, includes the use of fungicides such as Cheshunt or Benomyl , which are used prior to planting. Infected plants are destroyed (burned) to prevent the spread of the pathogen to other plants.

The plant should be watered every other day, and watering should never be missed for more than three days. The plant should never be over watered.
Leaf spot (Ramularia deflectens) is a fungal infection. Symptoms include dark spots on leaf margins followed by a white web covering the leaves. It is associated with cool damp springs.

Mildew (Oidium) is a fungal infection. Symptoms include violet-gray powder on fringes and underside of leaves. It is caused by stagnant air and can be limited but not necessarily eliminated by spraying (especially leaf undersides).

The cucumber mosaic virus is transmitted by aphids. Pansies with the virus have fine yellow veining on young leaves, stunted growth and anomalous flowers. The virus can lay dormant, affect the entire plant and be passed to next generations and to other species. Prevention is key: purchases should consist entirely of healthy plants, and pH-balanced soil should be used which is neither too damp nor too dry. The soil should have balanced amounts of nitrogen, phosphate and potash. Other diseases which may weaken the plant should be eliminated.

To ward off slugs and snails, sharp, gritty sand can be laid, or the soil can be top-dressed with chipped bark. The area should be kept clean of leaves and foreign matter, etc. Beer in little bowls buried to the rims in the flower beds will also keep slugs and snails at bay.
To combat aphids, which spread the cucumber mosaic virus, the treatment is to spray with diluted soft soap (2 ounces per gallon).

Backlit Hibiscus at the Atlanta Botanical Garden


Image by UGArdener
Best viewed LARGE on Black: bighugelabs.com/onblack.php?id=3680369629&size=large&…

On a hot, humid Saturday morning in late June, I ventured into Atlanta to see the special Henry Moore exhibition at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. This facility has been undergoing a major renovation/upgrade with a magnificent new visitors center, and is now one of the best botanical gardens anywhere. The true stars of the show were plants like these.

If you click on the set to the right and run the SLIDESHOW in Full Screen Mode, you can follow me on a tour around the garden.
Here are some quotes from the website and a link:

"Henry Moore is widely acclaimed as the most important sculptor of the 20th century. This year, the Garden launches a new era with the show TIME magazine called one of the Top 10 Museum Exhibitions of 2008: Moore in America. This is the final destination of the tour, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see 20 of Henry Moore’s monumental sculptures in a single exhibition.

Henry Spencer Moore (July 3, 1898 – August 31, 1986), born in the coal-mining town of Castleford, Yorkshire, in England, is one of the world’s most known and beloved 20th-century sculptors.

Moore began studying sculpture as an art student in 1919. His first solo show of sculpture was held in London in 1928. The following year Moore and his wife, Irina, moved to Hampstead, London, a center for artists and writers, where Moore made his living teaching sculpture and exhibiting his work. He would carve in the open air at his cottage in Kent.

In 1940 the couple moved to Perry Green in the Hertfordshire countryside. There, Moore would live and work for the remainder of his life, drawing inspiration from the surrounding landscape and collecting objects in nature that would provide ideas for his sculpture.

Moore in America at the Atlanta Botanical Garden is the largest outdoor exhibition of Henry Moore’s sculpture ever presented in a single venue in the United States. The 20 colossal works are displayed throughout the Garden and among its gardens and plant collections, providing for an impressive interaction of nature and art such as Moore envisioned. The Henry Moore Foundation, which is dedicated to furthering the understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of Moore’s work, co-curated the exhibition, which is underwritten by MetLife Foundation.

One of the finest botanical gardens in the world and the most treasured and beloved landscapes in Atlanta, the Garden offers alluring outdoor venues for such an exhibition. When Moore’s grand sculptures are set in the intimate scale of the Garden’s landscape, both are transformed."

www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org/site/involvement/Explore_M...