I have commented before on the embarrassing name of the hydrangea plunked beside our front step. I tolerate that defect because the shrub is so pretty when it flowers, because it flowers when most everything else in the garden has stopped doing so, and because it attracts wasps and butterflies. Oh, and an occasional bee in full sunlight.
Anyway, back to the Pinky Winky. This shot shows the ever-so-gradual progression from teeny white balls with just a hint of blush to pure-white blossoms to pink ones.
This shows the pink florets in one of their lovely phases. Maybe they’re not quite at their peak, but who can say?
This shows one of the hydrangea’s leaves sticking up between all those flowers. Is it reaching for sunlight? Just waving to let me know it’s there? Feeling a little claustrophobic? Who can say?
And this shows that the garden needs some attention. Not *everything* else has stopped flowering.
It turns out that there are many plants that look like dandelions but are not. This might be a sow thistle (also known as milk thistle) — which at least is a name that won’t make the other weeds roll their eyes at its cutesiness — but who can say?
Not I.
I have tried twice to grow a hydrangea in my garden. Both times I have failed, although I claim a 100% transplant success rate with other plants and trees. We had a hydrangea in front of the first house Joan and I ever owned — a 600 sq. ft. “wartime” house on Vancouver’s South Slope. We experimented with its colours. Buried some old rusty iron on one side of the roots, some copper pipe on the other side. Copper side flowered blue, iron side flowered pink(ish).
Jim T
Jim T – 🙂 I’ve seen two-colour hydrangeas like that in Vancouver. They’re amazing! What fun.
Oh, I envy you your bee photos! The glistening on the perfectly in-focus wings! The Hydrangeas are lovely, quite different from what I see around here. Excellent set of pictures to review in the winter to remind ourselves that summer comes, too.
Judith – Many thanks. I have already deleted all the totally fuzzy versions, which is as it should be. I continue to learn and appreciate how important bright light is to this pursuit. As for the other – yes, per James Barrie: God gave us memory (Ed’s note: & photography) that we might have roses in December.
When I see the detail in your photos, which I can enlarge with zooming, I wonder just how perfect my sight was as a child? I wonder how my mind would be affected if that brilliance of perception could be restored? These delightful explorations of the bee in your garden remind me, too, of that time when the world was my garden to explore and time seemed endless to absorb those experiences. I am curious about what appears to be a petal caught in the bee’s knees. Would that have been intentional or a happy accident, I wonder?
Laurna – I think the apparent petal is actually a blob of pollen he’s collected. As to detail, I know what you mean – the camera close-ups always reveal detail I wouldn’t have seen. And didn’t.
Hydrangeas also dry beautifully. The big variety. I even did a monoprint painting of them.
Barbara – Good to know. I never had a hydrangea before (not sure they’re hardy in Alberta) (or maybe I just never noticed them).
Isabel
What beautiful photos!
Tom
Tom – My thanks.