Wow! Fabulous shots Ron. Whatever you learned worked! The garden looks great.
I really need to get out there at peak bloom. I've only been out there in winter or late summer....

Janelle

We're about at peak bloom now, Janelle. Isn't that about a month after yours?

--Ron

Tripod. I've been using one myself lately. I'm sorry I bought a fancy one that weighs too much to haul around conveniently. Now I'm using my son's discard, a super light job that is about the weight of my camera that I don't mind carrying and setting up over and over.

Wow, those are terrific, Ron! I better plan a visit posthaste. I think you are on to something with the tripod and timing. My landscape/bush pictures never have such refined definition; of course, I usually take them in the morning when the sun is already high in the sky.

Just beautiful!

Joanne

Good for you! They're really nice, looked at the exif on one and see you used a Sigma and were getting pretty slow shutter speeds. I usually handhold because I've got IS lenses or bump up the ISO to 400 or 800 when the light is lower.

Oh and I lived in Petaluma at 613 G Street for a couple years back in the 60's. Also lived in Court South 40 back at the end in those four detached apartments, don't know what they are like now. When you're out sometime, could you see if it is still there and possibly get a photo for me of 613 G? I would be so grateful. The picture wouldn't have to be perfect. It was a little white house on a little street or court, not quite a cul de sac but like that. My email address is aglessREMOVETHIS@earthlink.net. Petaluma was a nice little town. I doubt I'll ever get back there, but my children have (my oldest two were born at Hamilton AFB where I also worked). Unfortunately they didn't take any photos. We paid $75 a month rent then, bet it's awful now. Our landlord was a wonderful guy, Mr. Bullard, gone now. His daughter, Diana, was killed in tragic accident on 101 by San Rafael. He was a rancher there. Maybe you knew them?

They say there is a golden hour early in the morning and about an hour before sunset when the light is best.

I do have both a tripod and monopod, but it's a pain to set them up for flowers, but I have to use either one or the other for macro shots. Also use it for night photos. They do stabilize the camera from shake no doubt, but if I used it much for landscape and flowers, it would slow me down by constantly having to move it and adjust the controls on my tilt head.

I was feeling so frustrated over multiple things, I went out with my telephoto lens to see how it would do with flowers. Mixed results, but this one wasn't too bad. Took it shortly after 9 am, a little late for the golden hour. I'm not completely happy with the color tones but can play with that some more when I'm not so busy.

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Ron, I am not surprised at what a beautiful garden/nursery you have created but I am surprised at just how quickly it came into fruition. I know that it seems a long time for you but it seems only yesterday you announced you had made the decision. My, it's come a long way, Baby.

How absolutely and exquisitely beautiful. You have really exceeded my expectations of how fast you would get this done but you always exceed my expectations of normal gardening people ;-). You really are my hero gardener.

Hi Aliska, lovely photos of a very nice clear yellow iris!

Patricia, you're the one who makes a paradise out of a difficult climate! But, I appreciate the compliments greatly! It does seem like ages ago we moved here, but when the garden is looking like it does now, it surely gladdens my heart. Usually I get the late summer doldrums (even here!), and last year they lasted an extra long time. It's nice to feel energetic again!

--Ron

What a beautiful garden. The archways are awesome, even uncovered with roses, the mind imagines them in bloom. Very Monet-esque.

Yes twilight is a wonderful time to photograph to eliminate glare and get saturated color. I am a retired portrait photographer and we waited all day, sometimes to 9 pm for the light to get right and then photograph like crazy.

Another great time to photograph is a cloudy day, perfect when it's cloudy/bright (Kodak term).

And my most favorite light is the one they always told you not to do: with the sun facing you and your subject backlit. of course a little flash is needed sometimes. Try it sometime for a very atmospheric photograph.

Denise

Ron, thanks about the iris photo, I did it this morning for therapy and wanted to see how my tele lens would do for closeups of flowers. I woke up feeling so bad why everything is so hard for me and going badly w/my garden areas (and photography), then I got mad and decided I'll catch those iris before they quit as I had to wait 3 years to see them bloom and what shade of yellow they were going to be. Then afterwards I thought maybe I shouldn't clutter up your thread with a photo and was going to offer to take it out, but I guess you're ok with it.

In all that, I didn't say much by way of complimenting your gardens. They're beautiful and I hope you leave the photos up for awhile because I don't have time too look at every one now. I may have seen a couple of yours last year but may have that confused with somebody else.

Living in CA as I did, I didn't learn much about gardening in those years, but when done right, it's a paradise, especially for roses and things that won't grow here. But I think you need to water a lot in the summer. We do, too, though but I don't remember any rain in the summers we were there. Everything turned brown in the countryside. And there was one bad fire they got stopped before it got into town.

Our first apt my neighbor gave me some figs. I like them; some people don't, so I cooked them and ate it all. Then my English gf came around to the other place on G St with these things in her hands she had picked off the trees, asked me if I knew what they were. I said they're artichokes, imagine growing those things!!! So I cooked and ate those, too. Such a treat!

We can grow most other fruit here, but not citrus fruits and some nuts but not pecans, English walnuts and almonds.

I'm afraid to ask how many roses you have. I can picture a wedding in that Iceberg rose field.

I took advantage of the overcast day today to take some pics. I finally to the red of Mr. Lincoln right.

Nice photography, and I will try the hint. Photographs bring back good memories of a nice relaxing time spent in the secret garden (fragrance garden?) as I called it ... looked very British at the time.

Aliska, I forgot to mention that I'll try to find that place you wanted photographed and see what it's like. I love all the food we can have here locally, we grow artichokes ourselves and they're almost too productive!

Buford, in our fields, we have over 10,000 roses, but in the gardens it's probably around 300, or maybe more, that's a guess and I've never attempted to count them. But, don't clouds make a huge difference? Especially for reds.

Thanks, Riku, hope you can visit again sometime! We've gotten the fragrance garden in considerably better shape than when you were here.

--Ron

Ron, that would be very kind of you. Please don't go out of your way, it's not too far from downtown maybe 1/2 mi as I remember. I used to dream about that house being all gutted, don't any more. All the walls and ceilings were covered with that old-fashioned wainscoating. But it was nice for us and had lots of room for a rental. There was a beautiful red climbing rose by the front door.

There was an abandoned egg hatchery that covered considerable land across G Street from us. Bet it's condos or townhouses now.

My ex was stationed at Two Rock Ranch. Lost touch with all the friends incl some neighbors, we made there. Tough times but we had some fun and got to see a lot of the beauty out your way. I just hated 101 though, and there were no short cuts on back roads I ever found, unlike here.

Wow, you grow roses in fields, too? Must be work but would be wonderful to me.

OMG this is bittersweet. It occurred to me to google the address, and google brought up a map with a street view for there. It is not at all the same. Some would think it is nicer.

The front door used to face the Court which is now named Kandace Court. There was a teenage girl named Kandi across the street, can't remember their last name shouldn't post it if I did. I wonder if her parents perhaps bought more property and had the Court renamed? Her mother grew beautiful roses.

At least there's a house still there, but I can't tell if they added the front on or what looks like a 1/2 story dormer on top at the back (nothing like that then). I don't remember the roof being pitched that steeply or any crawl space beneath the roof, no basement, they don't have them in CA. They could have used the basic frame which is about the same. It was white painted clapboard wood siding.

The front left window looks like it might be the same. There was a carport to the back. And our friends lived next door to the left, that house is pretty much the same except for new steps and rails. I do remember all their names mom, dad, 4 girls.

They could have razed it and put up a mfr'ed home or a prefab.

Such memories! I'm moved to tears for some reason. I have photos of it then but they're slides and not scanned, several of my oldest daughter when she was little on that very sidewalk.

I'm going to send this to my kids. I'm just flooded with emotions seeing this. That was my second child's first home, my daughter Rachel, and we left for Iowa when she was 2 months old in January 1966.

Oh my. So I guess there will be no need for you to photograph it. I'll see if they have more street views of the neighborhood.

The lawn looks neglected, and it's hard to imagine the people who might live there now. At least something is still there, but from the house, I would not have recognized it.

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That is such a beautiful, heavenly place you have.
I too have best results taking photos after the sun goes down (and in the rain or right after) when colors are saturated. Those conditions seem to promote perfect exposure and enhanced color.
Thanks for posting your lovely photos.

Ron the garden is looking fantastic! You are such a great gardener. What a wonderful time of year. I like to take photos in the morning, particularly if there is a little mist. That's why everyone thinks of my garden as misty.
I'm wondering did your climbing Gruss an Achen bloom more this year? Mine is absolutely blasting

I also think your pictures are beautiful.
Sammy

wow, so wonderful!

Aliska, I never thought of google for the address. It's pretty amazing what they have. I hate going back to see my old gardens, it's always depressing.

Hi Pam! Yes, my Climbing Gruss an Aachen has been just splendid this year. It's the one on the little metal arch behind the border (a photograph is in the linked photos above). The flowers have been huge, and nicely fragrant, more than I remembered! I do love the mist, and you get it so wonderfully there, it's no wonder you take your photos then!

Sammy & bgrose, thank you so much!

--Ron

Ron, I didn't mean to hijack your thread, just got caught up in it. After I settled down, I went back and looked at every single photo, figured out the slideshow feature there.

It is so beautiful, words just cannot describe it. Heaven on earth. I've never seen anything quite like that. Maybe in some of my books. Simply awesome! Everything is totally tasteful, not ostentatious.

Talked to oldest daughter, she said when they went by in the 90's, she did take a photo but won't be able to find it now. It sounds like it was still as I described then, so this must be fairly recent what has been done.

I knew google has some places photographed, but it was a fluke I stumbled across it. They don't have my street yet, but I also found our rental in Littleton, MA. I'm even going to share the two screen captures with my ex through the kids :-). He's not doing well right now.

What a heavenly place. Land of my dreams. Thank you for sharing those pictures.

I prefer the last bit of light slanting onto the area to pick out highlights on the plants. Once the sun is quite down, the light is flat. The colors may be richer but the scene lacks depth imo. Example: link photo shows foliage tips lit up by the very late afternoon sun. Not a different colored foliage, just the sun hitting the tips.

Usually I get the late summer doldrums

Dahlias? They cheer me right up.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:258391}}