Garden Photo of the Day

Garden in Winter photo contest WINNER!

Michelle Gervais, Associate Editor

22 users recommend

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Photo: Courtesy of Lynette Hall

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Today's photo is the overall winner of the Garden in Winter photo contest! It's from finegardening.com member pennylph, a.k.a. Lynette Hall from Carmichael, California, who says, "I enjoy the beauty in the simplicity of nature and have recently reconnected to my love of photography.  My love of gardening started as a small child; a gift from my mother's love, although I wouldn't say I was enjoying it when required to complete the chore of weeding between long rows of vegetables before I could participate in other activities.  The gift paid off with my desire to create my own garden havens with each home. 
   We recently moved to California from the Northwest.  Our California home was landscaped in the front with plantings and no lawn; good bones, but very overgrown.  I've had a lot of fun digging out and cutting back tired plants and reinvigorating the space with new plantings.  Its rewarding to hear neighbors tell me how much they enjoy it each time they drive or walk by.  And then there is the back yard. It was even more overgrown--to the point that you couldn't even see structures.  We have cleared the space, except for the lawn, and are now finally ready to redo some of the structures before I get to start planting.  
   I came upon this leaf early in the morning. It was lying just as it is in the picture.  It was at our nearby park, which I think of as an extension of my garden.  It was like nature had staged it perfectly on the lawn, frosty, cast in the light of dawn.  I thought about how we cannot improve on the beauty and simplicity of nature."

Thanks, Lynette, and congratulations! Lynette wins a $100 gift card from www.MasterGardening.com.

Oh, and special thanks to Ruth Dobsevage, our senior web producer, who thought up and produced the contest - it was lots of fun!

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The Midas touch

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Garden in Winter 1st runner-up! Dreaming of Summer

Comments (15)

Wife_Mother_Gardener writes: Lynette,

Excellent photo. The light is so dramatic, which is so much of the beauty in great photography. You captured a great winter moment. Congratulation!! Posted: 9:45 am on February 21st

TheJorgies writes: Sending our congratulations to Lynette for the winning photo :) I have to say I feel for Lynette, to have the joy of winning and then have it tainted by so many comments on poor judging. So I wholeheartedly say, Lynette your photo is very good and worthy of a prize, enjoy it!
Posted: 11:21 am on February 20th

JShep51 writes: BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Posted: 6:12 pm on February 18th

sheilaschultz writes: WHOA! I got to this late today and I'm blown away by the comments. My mother always said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I agree. If everyone liked the same piece of art or the same garden just think about how boring our visual world would be.
The theme for the photo was 'Garden in Winter.' This is a national magazine folks, and not everyone gets snow... but we all have gardens that change during this season.
We are all entitled to our opinions, and personally, my first reaction when I saw this photo was that I was thrilled that Lynette reconnected to her love of photography. This photo definitely says 'winter' to my eyes. Posted: 3:44 pm on February 18th

bettyland writes: I was anxiously awaiting to see the picture that won first place. It was disbelief when I saw it. I totally agree with the blogs posted with a negative review. My pick would have been Fairy in the Snow or Dreaming of Summer. The Judges let us down. Posted: 1:46 pm on February 18th

JanaBO60 writes: It would make a great black and white pic. Posted: 11:26 am on February 18th

gardengal42 writes: Not the best...I agree with the other gardeners (ncgardener) I am also in North Carolina. I am on my way to the garden now.. Posted: 11:23 am on February 18th

viktoriamullin writes: Sorry I'm commenting again, not sure I made myself clear in my first post.
To lavendereyes:
Nobody says the photograph is not nice. It is nice. However, the photo contest is not “Frozen Plants,” the main theme is clear, it states: “Garden in Winter.”
This frozen leaf can be taken in early spring, in late autumn, may be in winter and anywhere on a grass.
As greekgal wrote: “The leaf has nothing to do with gardening per se.” Thus, here is a question: “why many users were spending their time to submit the photos exactly by the theme, if the point “Garden in Winter” wasn’t so much important for the photo contest at all?
Posted: 11:04 am on February 18th

rion writes: I was very much looking forward to today's winning picture. The picture beautiful but I can't believe the judges picked this of all the pictures that we've seen. No offense to the winner but to the judges what a disappointment. Posted: 9:59 am on February 18th

lavendereyes writes: I think it is very nice photograph and your statement is profound, personally I love it...Im glad that it one first place. Posted: 9:59 am on February 18th

Cmgah writes: Wow! I agree with ncgardener, there were so many others that showed the beauty of structure, shape and serenity in a winter scene. No disrespect to the photographer, but I am stunned that this would be picked as the winner...it was my least favorite and I thought rather boring. Big disappoint when I opened the email. Posted: 9:21 am on February 18th

greekgal writes: Definitely a beautiful photograph, but, the picture capturing The Fairy rose was breathtaking. The leaf has nothing to do with gardening per se. You were all winners! Posted: 8:35 am on February 18th

viktoriamullin writes: Only 6 people recommended? Sorry, not so many liked it so much to make a winner. Photo is beautiful, but where is the “Garden in Winter”?
I guess this leaf could be taken anywhere on a street and not only in WINTER time.
Posted: 7:38 am on February 18th

jean1964 writes: Not only is this an excellent photograph, your observation that "...we cannot improve on the beauty and simplicity of nature" is profound and speaks to the natural wonders that are always there, if we just "see" them.

Posted: 7:21 am on February 18th

ncgardener writes: Seriously! Wow I thought the fairy rose in snow was awesome. I was expecting something with a little bit more "pow". No offense to the photographer it is a nice photo, but the winner! Really.......hmmmmm. Posted: 6:40 am on February 18th

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