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“Grace is neither gentleness nor fragility. Grace is treating yourself, others, and even inanimate objects with respect.” – Kamand Kojouri This is the image I was after when I made the image in my previous post. This is my first year planting rhododendrons and I’m not sure why I did not do it earlier. They are absolutely stunning to look at, and loaded with large beautiful blossoms, which seem to remain for… Read More
“Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don’t they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.” ― Ray Bradbury I went out this morning to photograph my rhododendrons, which are now in full bloom and was greeted by a hungry bee, who was busy flying from blossom to blossom, completely laden with pollen. I’m usually a bit skittish around bees, yet having camera in… Read More
“What we do see depends mainly on what we look for. … In the same field the farmer will notice the crop, the geologists the fossils, botanists the flowers, artists the colouring, sportsmen the cover for the game. Though we may all look at the same things, it does not all follow that we should see them.” ― John Lubbock This was, at one time, yet another ‘mystery’ plant that came from… Read More
“If people did not love one another, I really don’t see what use there would be in having any spring.” ― Victor Hugo This flower is my sure sign of spring. Though it was a bit late this year, due to cooler, wetter days, it still managed to bloom in May. There always seem to be a few hardy specimens that bloom early, despite cooler weather. May is a busy month of celebrations… Read More
Nikon D800 Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 (272ENII)@90mm 1/125 sec, f/7.1 ISO 100
“Forget-me-nots… She loved those flowers more than any other in their big beautiful garden or in the whole wide world for that matter. They were sky blue, just like his eyes, they held a promise… Forget me not.” ― Melanie Sargsian Well, here I am, back to living flowers. It can be partially attributed to the rain finally letting off, for today at least. It’s been terribly wet this spring, and even… Read More
“Don’t be ashamed to weep; ’tis right to grieve. Tears are only water, and flowers, trees, and fruit cannot grow without water. But there must be sunlight also. A wounded heart will heal in time, and when it does, the memory and love of our lost ones is sealed inside to comfort us.” ― Brian Jacques When I see yellow flowers lately, I think of my late father-in-law Maurice. He was a… Read More
“A man must dream a long time in order to act with grandeur, and dreaming is nursed in darkness.” ― Jean Genet I decided to return to this dark purple crocus blossom once more. In my earlier post, I noted that it proved a bit of a challenge to photograph in this style because it is so dark. Yet, that darkness is also what created such beautiful lighting. The only thing I… Read More
“Gardening is akin to writing stories. No experience could have taught me more about grief or flowers, about achieving survival by going, your fingers in the ground, the limit of physical exhaustion.” ― Eudora Welty Here’s another addition to my collection of spring flowers from the garden. It’s becoming a bit of a series that I’m considering naming “Facing the Flowers”. This particular tulip came, as many of our flowers of late have,… Read More
“If you wish to make anything grow, you must understand it, and understand it in a very real sense. ‘Green fingers’ are a fact, and a mystery only to the unpracticed. But green fingers are the extensions of a verdant heart.” ― Russell Page It’s definitely not the most attractive name for this spring garden standard, but there you have it. In my area, there are a few rural properties where the… Read More
Urn & Orchard – Niagara Botanical Gardens Just a bit under a year ago, I paid a visit to the Niagara Botanical Gardens, in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The Botanical Gardens are also the location of the Niagara Butterfly Conservatory, which was my true destination. We spent several hours touring the Conservatory and making photos of the many bright butterflies. On leaving, I noticed this urn in the middle of an orchard. It was a flat,… Read More
“Sunflowers, Not Facing the Sun” (A Poem) I stand tall As gracious as one could be Blooming to my best As slender as it touches my being Everyone else is facing the sun Bending towards its unfathomable galore They and I are both undoubtedly Grown on the benevolence of life’s essence The brighter side mercilessly feeding desires unbound By daunting the “courage to know” with each spin Though, I am not able… Read More
“Grace is what picks me up and lifts my wings high above and I fly! Grace always conquers! Be graceful in everything; in anger, in sadness, in joy, in kindness, and in unkindness, retain grace with you!” ― C. JoyBell C. For the past few days, as I looked out the window from my desk, I saw this hummingbird feeding on our canna lilies. He never came at the same time of… Read More
“Life is amazing, and it’s awful, and it’s ordinary, mundane and routine, but like the sun behind the clouds, amazing is always there regardless of what is momentarily obscuring it.” ― Maximus Freeman Once more, I’m not sure of the specific species of this plant, known generally as Sedum, which we affectionately call “Lives Forever”. The name was handed down by various family members and I can understand the rationale for it…. Read More
“There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Forget the bad and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who do not. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living.”… Read More
“The light of love, the purity of grace, The mind, the Music breathing from her face, The heart whose softness harmonised the whole — And, oh! that eye was in itself a Soul!” ― George Gordon Byron At this time of the season, when plants begin to wilt from the exertions of the summer, the cosmos still perseveres, brightening my gardens with their snow white purity and diaphanous petals. I see the… Read More
“I’ll admit that my garden now grows hope in lavish profusion, leaving little room for anything else. I suppose it has squeezed out more practical plants like caution and common sense. Still, though, hope does not flourish in every garden, and I feel thankful it has taken root in mine.” ― Sharon Kay Penman A photo of my neighbour’s hydrangea this time. You see, the hydrangeas we have are white Annabelles and… Read More
“Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!” ― Martin Luther A change of pace, sort of, from garden plants and flowers, yet this is a flower. The flower of the hop plant. A chief ingredient in beer and a very interesting green flower. I had heard of hop plants and seen photos of them,… Read More
“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Two views of the same flower, a week apart. Sometimes, I keep the flowers I photograph a bit too long but it was interesting for me to compare the two images. It also reminded me how gradually things can change without you really noticing… Read More
“Morning is wonderful. Its only drawback is that it comes at such an inconvenient time of day.” ― Glen Cook Such a stunning blue, it seems almost unnatural. I wished I had my portable background with me that day, but the opportunity presented itself and the light was nice. I may have to go back for a reshoot, provided the plant is still blooming. It’s in a friend’s garden and a bit… Read More
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” ― Lao Tzu As the summer continues, the plants begin to mature and change form. Some wither and dry up, others go to seed, while some continue to flourish till the air cools. This day lily was pretty much the start of my… Read More
“Those who are resilient can more quickly regain their equilibrium and spring back when they are thrown off kilter by the storms of life.” ― Mary Buchan Yes, another flower. I’m simply enjoying this too much and am looking forward to going afield on my vacation time to capture more wildflowers, as opposed to plants from my gardens. But, they are handy and I like the results. I deliberately chose a less… Read More
“A garden should make you feel you’ve entered privileged space — a place not just set apart but reverberant — and it seems to me that, to achieve this, the gardener must put some kind of twist on the existing landscape, turn its prose into something nearer poetry.” ― Michael Pollan I thought I would try this technique on leafy plants and expand from my blossom photos. We have several varieties of… Read More
“After the wet spring, everything that could turn green had outdone itself in greenness and everything that could even dream of blooming or blossoming was in bloom and blossom. The sunlight was a benediction. The breezes were so caressingly soft and intimate on the skin as to be embarrassing.” ― Dan Simmons This is an image of the same thistle I shared a few days ago. The previous image showed more of the… Read More
“Once in awhile, you pick the right thing, the exact best thing. Every day, the moment you open your eyes and pull off your blankets, that’s what you hope for. The sunshine on your face,warm enough to make your heart sing.” ― Sarah Ockler One of my first attempts at this technique involved bringing a daylily cutting into my studio and experimenting with lighting and camera settings. I was so pleased with… Read More
“What I’ve always found interesting in gardens is looking at what people choose to plant there. What they put in. What they leave out. One small choice and then another, and soon there is a mood, an atmosphere, a series of limitations, a world.” ― Helen Humphreys I’m not getting tired of these flower images yet and I hope my viewers feel the same. This is yet another image made using my portable… Read More
“Long experience has taught me that people who do not like geraniums have something morally unsound about them. Sooner or later you will find them out; you will discover that they drink, or steal books, or speak sharply to cats. Never trust a man or a woman who is not passionately devoted to geraniums.” ― Beverley Nichols I found the quote hilarious. The quote is from Merry Hall, a book about the… Read More
“The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close-up. The shortcut to closing a door is to bury yourself in the details. This is how we must look to God. As if everything’s just fine.” ― Chuck Palahniuk Image number three in what has become my “Ordinary Flowers in a Different Light” series. Interestingly enough, this was a single blossom on one of my finicky clematis plants. They… Read More
“If you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it’s not because they enjoy solitude. It’s because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them.” ― Jodi Picoult I’ve been having some fun experimenting with the lilies in my yard. Yesterday, I caught them, mist covered in morning light, a bit softer and warmer, never noticing the subtle change in colour to more… Read More
“The simple things come back to us. They rest for a moment by our ribcages then suddenly reach in and twist our hearts a notch backward.” ― Colum McCann Sometimes, it’s the simple beauty that is so close and so familiar that we take for granted, rather, seeking something exotic and exciting in so many aspects of our lives. I’ve found myself in this situation so many times with respect to my… Read More
Ed Lehming Photography 
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