The Shape of Things

Posted on May 7, 2013 by composerinthegarden

Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf. ~Albert Schweitzer

Each day brings more plants into leaf and flower. As I wander through the woods and gardens each morning, I realize that it wasn’t just color that I missed in this long winter past. It was the amazing cornucopia of shape and form that emerges from the trees and shrubs, the miracle of plants springing up from the bare earth in fresh new clothes. The early morning light gets caught in the shape and trembling of leaf and flower and I get lost in the looking. Enjoy.

The heart of the bleeding heart

Daphne Carol Mackie

Oakleaf hydrangea leaf

Lily of the valley

Weeping Japanese maple

Hakone grass

Brunnera leaf

Japanese maple

Peach iris and lamb’s ear

Tulip in light

Weeping red Japanese maple

Spirea and daylily foliage

Golden bleeding heart

Geum flowers

Lamium leaves

Solomon’s seal

Viola whiskers

Oak trees

What a Beautiful Morning!

Posted on April 28, 2013 by composerinthegarden

Oh what a beautiful morning,
Oh what a beautiful day,
I’ve got a wonderful feeling,
Everything’s going my way. ~lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, from “Oklahoma!”

I’ve spent the early hours of the past few mornings in the garden, with the moments between weeding and planting spent enjoying the sparkle of early morning light. The woods are showing a soft green blush of unfurling leaves as the garden begins its April bloom cycle. Yesterday morning a golden shimmer of light reflected on dewy flowers; this morning the almost full moon still hung in the morning sky while the birds sang their dawn chorus. I couldn’t help myself – I broke into song with them. “Oh What a Beautiful Morning!” is a personal favorite of mine and it seemed so descriptive of the moment. “All the sounds of the earth are like music” – who knew Oscar was so poetic?

Here are a few images from the late April garden. Enjoy!

Snow Fountain cherry blossom

Bench and cherry tree

Double tulip

CInnamon fern head

Daffodils in the light

Daffodil ‘Geranium’

Pale daffodils with dew

Daffodil ‘Thalia’

Oakleaf Hydrangea leaf

Down the hill

Heuchera Foliage

Hillside foliage

Japanese maple

Summer snowflake

Purple sand cherry

Early April garden and woods

White tulip

Ol’ Weeping WIllow

At Last

Posted on April 8, 2013 by composerinthegarden

At last, the skies above are blue. ~Mack Gordon

At last, spring has arrived.

At last, flowers are blooming.

At last, the dawn chorus of birds is deafening.

Daffodil Verdant Meadows

Rose striped hellebore

Daffodil Rijnveld’s Early Sensation

Half moon in April

Golden arborvitae

Dark hellebore

Cornus mas branch

Chionodoxa

Anemone blanda White Splendour

At last, I am in the garden.

Although this song has been playing in my head for the past few days, no one can sing it quite like Etta James. Enjoy.

Preparing for the Storm

Posted on March 5, 2013 by composerinthegarden

cut down old foliage in garden and prune shrubs
rake and clean up garden beds
reveal unexpected blooming crocus and say hello to them
view handiwork at end of the day before it is covered by white mulch (snow)
light a fire in the fireplace
uncork a bottle of wine and toast the wilds of March
review and revise lists of plants to order from catalogs
finalize plans to visit garden shows for a flower fix
dream of the garden to come
smile

Memories of a garden in motion

Beauty for a Day

Posted on June 22, 2012 by composerinthegarden

Hemerocallis or daylily – from the Greek “hemera” (day) and “kalos” (beautiful) translated as “beauty for a day” – a hardy perennial native to China, Japan, and Korea whose flowers last for only one day

Although I have been deep in multiple projects for the past two weeks, I found time the past few mornings to grab a few photos from the garden. The intense heat has driven garden bloom from rose season into daylily season.

I love daylilies for their huge variety of color, shape, size and durability. If you are only familiar with the orange roadside dayilies, you may be surprised to find that there are literally thousands of modern hybrids to choose from, often with fanciful names and exotic shapes and patterns. I love coordinating daylily bloom colors with other flowers and foliage. One of my favorite color beds in the garden is the “grape and lemonade” bed – cool lemons and deep purples, a color scheme inspired by daylily ‘Etched Eyes’ hybridized by Matthew Kaskel.

Here are a few portraits of the early season bloomers. For more information on the wonderful world of daylilies, visit the American Hemerocallis Society.