Goings On

  

Mili is apparently intrigued by the goings on across at the opposite border. First, her attention is caught by the woodpecker, soon to be followed by an inquisitive grey squirrel who is also keen to check out the competition. Perhaps, the squirrel, being native to the Eastern half of North America, may be privy to the  wisdom of the first nations people, who prescribe the woodpeckers drumming as a means to journeying (transcendentalism), and so many tribes considered the woodpecker as an other-worldly messenger, and a prophet. Hopefully a good sign!

                                                                                                        

Little Details

 

The details of a garden are critical to the bigger picture. The pond shown above needs a sympathetic surround of apparently overgrown walling with hidden architectural detail, where as the orange crocosmia seems so much more vibrant with the background of the weeping copper beech. While some of these finer points are simply happy accidents, others have been deliberately engineered but with the hope that they look quite naturalistic.

When combined the effect can be quite pleasing to the eye, hopefully without being too obvious. The bigger picture of the ornamental grasses hopefully gives this impression.

Top tip: when visiting other gardens take a little time to study the more intricate points, take photographs of the finer details and try to look beyond the bigger picture.

Of course, Hecate likes to be part of the bigger picture too!

Why I love August

I wonder how many people are like me and strive for the impossible photograph that will capture the essence of the garden. Different views, aspects plants, lighting are all variables that cannot be encapsulated in a single image. The view above is particularly nice at the moment but it shows only a fraction of the flowers that are in bloom in August. 

By contrast the image below is a montage of flowers and blooms taken on 12th August 2020. None of the plants are duplicated but it still does not convey the spirit of the Pennine garden. However, it speaks quite eloquently of why I love August.