hey blue

i have been trying to capture the coloration on the later for 5 years ...

any suggestions how i might succeed???

great pix

ken

Ken - first thing you need to do is point your camera at the part of the plant you want to take the photo of :o)

'Aureovarigata' is my personal favorite for an upright conifer.

Ken - ready when you are to take you through step two!

Yep, those are beautiful pictures of beautiful plants.
As always. more please and thanks!
Is Ken done with step one yet?

BlueStephen, do you have a photo from an upstairs window where we can see the size and shape of your conifer beds?

Barbara

so actually.. that is step 4

step one.. FIND CAMERA ... with kids and holiday.. that is NOT the easy part ...

step two ... put on coat.. and walk out there ...

step 3.. turn on camera ...

step 4... point at plant ...

i HAD ALL THOSE STEPS IN MIND .... care to proceed from there???

ken

Hi ken,
No real magic formula. requirements are a half decent digital camera with a good macro lens, set it to auto, then just get out there take multiple shots from different angles and different light situations of the same plant, I guarantee at least a couple will end up good quality shots.
Never take photos of individual plants on a sunny day - too much glare and reflection, overcast day but not too dark is good - hope this helps.

Barbara, nothing really suitable to show the shapes of the beds, perhaps a Google earth image might give you a better idea.
Here's a photo taken from the far end of the garden a couple of days ago.
{{gwi:861613}}

Hi Blue. I see 'old Jack' has crept into your garden too!
Thanks for the picture, T.

how much acreage... or whatever your system is over the pond...

can we see the poly hut???? .. do you do grafting???

the second and third chimney deep still your house??? most of my British hosta friends are city folk.. and have a postage stamp yard.. you must be country folk ....

so many questions.. so little time..

i dont have a macro lens.. and struggle mightily with the macro function on the camera... though it is still nice to hear that volume pix .. is better than mastery of the camera.. lol ... thanks god for digital.. and a recycle bin.. lol ... and having the plant in the yard.. to keep running out to try again ....

ken

Ken - The hole plot including the house, which by the way is semi-detached is a little over 3/4 acre.
second and third chimneys are neighbours houses.
Yes a polytunnel as we call them, and yes I do a lot of my own grafting, although I'm not adverse to buying plants in as well.

Sort of semi rural location as well, very busy main road fronts the plot.

Beautiful beds...exactly what I had hoped to see...thank you!
But where's that Google image?

Marshall...you have an assignment...please.

Barbara

Beautiful parcel, Blue!
You've staged it superbly.
I never tire of your pics.

Josh

Thanks Josh

"Brilliant!"

Barbara - If you type in the postcode on Google earth, that should do it, find it on the website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Foxhollow Garden

go to his website.. and use everything under foxhollow .... not just zip code ...

and G earth will take you right there .... then spin the mouse wheel and zoom in ...

nice extra/empty space out front .... i suspect.. not much different than my backyard ... i just never go in back.. so why plant there.. lol ...

ken

Ken - the satellite image shows too far to the right, as you can see I'm more over to the left, the fuzzy image in the front left corner of the plot is the canopy and shadow of the very large old Copper Beech I mentioned in one of the other posts - getting hard to keep track here.

Here's another mapping program that has a couple more features . Site works about the same as Google Maps. Start of the same to find the location, zoom in a bit and then I like to switch to the Aerial View to find what I'm looking for. When you do, center the image as best you can and check to see if the Bird's Eye view is highlighted/active. If so - and it is in this case - go to that, center the target in the bull's eye, and click. Stephens place is right on the verge of being out of bounds for the Bird's Eye view, so you may need to play with it a bit. Zoom in again and then use the Rotate buttons to get N/S, E/W views. Some locations this feature gets much closer and it's not available everywhere.

Marshall

Here is a link that might be useful: Live Search Maps

Marshall - that's a lot better, thanks

Blue,

I know you're a conifer buff, but a few choice Japanese Maples scattered through those beds would be an increadible sight. Just a thought...

:-)

Oooh, oooh, oooh, I'll suggest five dwarf/mini maples for the conifer buffs:

Shin Deshojo: Probably the most brilliant red JM out there, bright red, bordering on pink in spring, red and green in summer and then crimson red in fall. 4-7' in 10 years usually.

Vic's Broom: A 3'x3' ball(in ten years) of green/orange/red fire most of the growing season. A little known dwarf maple, but an amazing tree.

Everautumn: As the name hints, orange hues throughout the year, pretty heavy orange hues in spring, orange blushes in summer and strong orange colors in fall. 8-10' in 10 years.

Shishigashira: The lions' head maple, very unique, slow growing, thick, strong branches. Brilliant scarlets in fall, bright green the rest of the year. Maybe 4' in 10 years.

Autumn Moon or Golden Full Moon: Amazing colors, Autumn moon has orange/red 'ribs' over green/yellow most of the year while the Golden Full Moon maple is more of a gold color with wonderful leaves. Both like a little shade in the afternoon and grow slowly to 4-6' in 10 years.

Forgive my japanese maple intrusion here, but it's the only thing I could help with to make bluespruce's gardens more attractive then they are: Great suggestion kaintain4.

Will

Some good palmatums:

1.) Shindeshojo- pink/red spring color. brilliant.
2.) Beni Komachi- bright red delicate spring leaf
3.) Beni Hime- mini bright red spring leaf
4.) Ukigumo- very hardy- give it poor, dry soil and and it will have brilliant white coloration all summer
5.) Geisha- Stunning! a pure pink version of ukigumo all summer.
6.) Alpenweiss- variegated form, very delicate variegation with more pink.
7.) Peaches and Cream or First Ghost- very similar. P&C is more peach but has have very similar tints of white, peach and green.
8.) Kasagiyama and Purple Ghost- very similar brick red/pink with darker veins
9.) Tamukeyama- red laceleaf hold color the best in heat, IMO
10.)Toyama Nishiki- best variegated lace leaf. give it some shade in z7 USA

I have always wanted to include Japanese maples. There are several in the garden, and I have also lost a few over the years, but generally they seem not to do very well for me, possibly the soil is just a bit too dry for them in the summer, either that or I have just had my fair share of bad luck in my attempts to get them established here.

I've found Japanese maples to prefer much more shade then written in most text, especially at a young age. Some do better in full sun, but the majority seem to benefit from partial to heavy filtered shade.

Fortunately you have a lot of shade with all your huge conifers Blue! :)

Yes Will, but they also take up most of the moisture in the soil especially in summer, and Japanese maples hate being dry at the roots. So getting them established now, and I do try to, is not easy, perhaps I should have been more persistent when I first started to develop the garden. I did plant four or five back then but all died within a couple of years.