Laura Snyder, in Ottawa, Ontario, sent in some beautifully artistic photos from her garden for us to enjoy:
I have just started doing garden maintenance this past year after spending the past five years getting to know our four-acre property and garden beds. These images are from the fern, birch, and lily of the valley patch out by the side door. The chicken coop is just beyond this, and the hens love scratching around in this spot.
Happy 2019 to you!
Laura captions this photo, “–26 at my door.” (That’s –14°F for those of us in the States.) It’s a good temperature for staying inside and looking at pictures!
New fronds of ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris, Zones 3–8) unfurl in this photo, which makes me want to run out and plant a big mass of ferns in a location where they’ll be backlit by the rising or setting sun. These almost look to be glowing.
These fern fronds are fully expanded, and every detail of their texture is emphasized in black and white. At first glance, I thought this was a picture of frost on a window! It’s amazing how the patterns in nature echo each other. Black-and-white photography can be artistic and beautiful, and it can also be a tool for garden design. Taking photos without color can help you look closely at the textures and shapes in your garden and see what is really working without being distracted by brightly colored flowers.
I love the way this photo of Laura’s ferns at the end of the season draws me in and encourages me to see beauty in an unexpected place.
Lily of the valley (Concallaria majalis, Zones 3–8) is a classic plant that’s easy to grow, and the rich scent of those flowers is the essence of spring.
A magical winter scene, with the warm light of the house beckoning.
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
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Comments
So thrilled to have my photos featured: I am a professional photographer. Just wanted to make one correction - that is the chicken coop not our house in the last shot! ;)
Lovely images Laura. Our deep winters allow us time to reflect on the beauty of our past gardens. Maybe it also means I can have time again to comment and complement all the wonderful submissions.
I like the tip of photographing in non-colour to assess the textures in our beds. Makes sense.
Many thanks Quiltingmamma. I didn't think I'd get onto the blog so didn't send in many pics. or much of a write up. The magazine staff provided most of the text. Terribly cold here but I did manage to buy a package of seeds today.
I particularly love the photo of the luminescent fern fronds...that's a shade of green of green that touches my soul and fills my heart with joy.
Thank you so much! I realized after I sent the images in I had others like it but as the ferns had grown. We are lucky that this is one small part of our property.
Great pics!
Many thanks! I'm new to Fine Gardening :)
laura, what a talent are you; i haven't seen plant photos this moving --in a decade . aaron siskind would be most impressed. is it possible that you might pitch a book or calendar- to the likes of Timber Press etc?
Thank you for your very kind feedback! You may enjoy having a peek at my website https://www.laurasnyderphotography.com/
Best wishes!
Your photos are stunning, Laura, with the two unexpected ones (the black and white, and of the fern bed in winter) being the most intriguing. Thanks so much for sending them in, and please do send more soon.
Thank you for your kind words Cheryl :) I will have a look in my photo library for another collection. Best wishes to you!
Thanks, Laura. Photos can both help us share our garden highlights and insights. But it fascinates me how the act of taking pictures can teach much to gardeners and spur us to make improvements.
Just as Laura suggests about the B/W photography showcasing textures, a camera seems to offer us opportunity to see if we have created a garden of well-composed scenes. We may recognize, through a camera lens, what are the distractions…. or we things get too fussy or when alignments need to be reinforced.
PS - I often think more of us who grow Ostrich Fern should harvest some fiddleheads in spring as a special culinary treat… not a commercially popular crop but fun for the home gardener to sauté and enjoy.
I've wondered if those ferns would be edible! You make a good point about assessing the success of a bed after seeing it in photos. The magazine composed 85% of the text in this article so I have to hand kudos over to them. Best wishes.
Love the "impressionist watercolor" photo through the frozen pane of glass. Beautiful!
Thank you! I've had some interesting winter shots with frost and glass. Best wishes your way.
nice
i like it
this is nice leaves
great
beautiful leaves
wonderful leaves
nice
amazing leaves
wonderful
Wow, it's amazing!
Beautiful!
marvelous!
elegant leaves
Good one!
its really interesting article.
Cool!
It's Beautiful!
Too Good!
Thanks for sharing these images.
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