Even though the gardens are rapidly winding down, things are coloring up very nicely. We’ve not had a hard frost yet and, with decent moisture still in the soil, relatively warmish days, and nights hovering under 45-50 degrees, the forecast is for continuing gorgeous fall color. Yes, the leaves are coming down, but there is much to admire out there. Take a look!
Over on the Gardening Gone Wild blog, they sponsor a monthly photo contest called ‘Picture This.’ The one for this month (here) is on scanner photography. As many of you know, that is one of our favorite methods and we love to use our images in various ways – printed on paper as cards or calendars like this . . .
or printed on fabric and made into pillows or bags, or used in decoupage on wood or glass followed by decorative painting such as for our birdhouses or clocks (explore our website at FleurDesigns).
My sister in Texas and I do this together so we have access to many different types of flowers. We like bright and colorful combinations since we mostly scan during the summers and create the fun stuff during the long winters (at least here in upstate New York). We love to surprise each other with the designs that we can come up with.
Essentially, our scanner photography consists of collecting some flowers and/or foliage or other botanical geegaws, laying them on the flat scanner bed, and pressing ‘scan.’ We have found, however, that the scanner depth of resolution makes a difference. My sister’s scanner broke and she had a difficult time finding another that was acceptable. My scanner, an old HP ScanJet 6200C, does a great job.
Once we have obtained the digital image, we trim it and might remove the scanner background in our photoediting software. At this point, it is essentially ready for use. We may further enhance it with various graphical elements such as borders or different backgrounds to create variations on the design as shown below. Even so, flowers remain the prime element in our designs!
This last image is one of our favorites! What could be better to celebrate fall than sunflowers?
All images and designs ©2001-2010 by Judith Cowles for FleurDesigns, Just the Gardener, and The Garden Worm blog. No material may be reproduced without explicit written permission.
We’ve had our first frost and we are planting bulbs and doing fall garden cleanups. Yes, it is almost time to hibernate! But before then, a few more fall containers that I put together.
Sometimes my clients are very diligent about caring for their containers and they still look pretty good at this time of year. Adding a little color in the way of small mums or gourds or surrounding them with pumpkins are all they need to celebrate the fall season.
Sometimes the containers have not aged so well and need a more major reworking. Using the few remaining plants and ending up with something worthy of the season requires some ingenuity.
And then there are those areas that never got addressed this year, but suddenly were front and center when a backyard party was planned. Case in point, this little garden near the gazebo was full of weeds and the former fountain in the center was no longer functional. The clients weren’t sure how they wanted to proceed with this area so I elected to use a few mums and sedums to temporarily brighten the ground. The pièce de résistance was finding a great plant stand and constructing this glorious basket with bright fall colors to place on top. Sort of simulates a fountain, doesn’t it?
And finally, sometimes you just need to create all new plantings in the containers like this.
The leaves are turning, there is a nip in the air, but the colors of fall will keep us warm a while longer.
The nights are getting cooler, the air is softer, the sky is bluer, the plants are slowing their growth, and I’m doing containers with fall colors.
We are definitely on the downward slide towards winter and a well-deserved rest from the wonderful growing season we have had this year. The fast and furious early growth in the spring followed by heat and periodic drenching, well-timed rains this summer has given new meaning to the word “lush” around these parts.
Even the daylilies that usually go to a very lovely shade of dead fall brown after they finish blooming are throwing up lots of strappy green growth again. But the signs that winter is just around the corner are definitely there. Yes, there will be some more warm days and plenty of sunshine to come and I will soak up all that I can before settling in for the cold winds of winter.
The Canadian geese are flying around practicing their vee-formations and the pools will be closed before the colorful leaves start drifting down.
The last hurrah for the 2010 growing season is fast approaching! Are you ready?
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