Your Sagae reigns supreme, Mocc.

-Babka

Beautiful pictures Moccasin. You're a brave soul to venture in the garden at night!

Again, I'm amazed at how large your hostas have gotten. I love the first grouping!

Gesila

I really like the pic of Sagae taking center stage. Not only is it glowing, but the leaves in the middle where you see the undersides kind of looks like ocean waves.

Mocc, you know that I am crazy about the colors, Brenda Beauty is amazing, ...your pictures has inspired me, I also want to experiment night photography, thanks!

Glad you like these shots. It was a bit past prime time when I went out, so the Kindle Fire HDX used the flash. Sometimes it worked, other times the rendering was too cool. I was pleased overall though. I could upload direct from the garden to Flickr and when I came inside, just put together the thread.

Gesila, I am in awe of what is happening to my hostas this spring. There is much humidity, much direct sunlight as I'm trying for more hours in the sun, but it is a tricky balance. The golds are the most amazing to me, nearly all of them hanging with the bright colors. If they get a lot of hours exposure to sun in the middle of the day, I water them. Like the ones against the deck and the house get full sun until about 1-2 pm, or they did--I moved them this morning, at 7am, humidity so high I was wet with sweat in five minutes. I am reworking both ends of the garden for hosta, almost have the south end set up. The north end will be raised a bit and then hosta moved into the spaces between blueberries, with a couple of big umbrellas for shade. Once the 10 foot high latticed screen/pergola is constructed around the end of June, I will have my potting operation located against that screen. It should give some shade from the summer sun I guess from 2 to 5 when it is awful....then the sun drops behind the tall pine trees across the street, and we begin to cool down. If you can cool down, that is!

Luuk, I agree, Brenda's Beauty is amazing. Not sure of its heritage now, but the leaf shape is like Gold Standard. It came into its own this spring, has been lovely from the time it pipped.

I work in the garden during the morning, and stop about this time of day. (2pm here now) and do my inside stuff. Then around sundown, or slightly after, I like to go to the garden with my camera. I see the solar lights (individual stakes not strings of lights) begin to flicker, like fireflies waking up testing their twinkles. It cools considerably after the watering and of course the sunset too. If we had an early dinner, I stay until the lightning bugs/fireflies start to twinkle.

Some of the pictures I took were just blind luck. I could see nothing in the viewer, but I knew I was pointed in the right direction, and I held as still as I could. If the flash does not glare off a leaf, it works out fine. I did not take time to alter any of the photos, the ones I uploaded were hot off the camera. I can imagine that someone with a good camera and understanding of night photography could have some impressive photos at this time of day.

The one I really was pleased with was the shot with Sagae in the foreground, the garden in the middle ground, and then like some old-fashioned sepia/monochrome lavender grainy photo, the Teahouse (my Irish cottage, actually is the inspiration) appears like a spectre in some old southern town that time forgot.

My garden is many things, and like Ken says about gardening being an opportunity for adults to dig in the ground, it is also the time in life when I have the skills and the dreams to make it like the play houses and towns we'd build/create in the sandbox. No reason why we should not all make our gardens the idyllic dreamscape we admire.

I'm going to recommend a book to you and also the gardens out in Bainbridge WA. Little and Lewis have moved to Mexico now, but their website is still up. I admire their concrete and hypertufa leaves and objects of art, as well as their garden.
They used to come to GWeb also. I think they were on Martha Stewart as well. But, I digress. Take a look. There is even a recipe for their concrete somewhere online.

(And note that I am not getting any of these posts in my email, although I had checked to do so.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Little and Lewis garden INSPIRING

Mocc- I LOVE these pictures! Especially the one with the tea house.

I just checked out the Little and Lewis website and I absolutely love their garden. I have seen similar pictures in a book called Naturalistic Gardening. The pictures are of another garden on Bainbridge Island and feature some of of Little and Lewis' concrete pillars. I think I will spend a little more time looking at their website.

Thanks
Linda

Looks like you could take up a new profession - photography. Some of the photos have an ethereal quality about them.

DD

Mocc, I've been wondering where you were! Hadn't seen many posts lately from you. Looks like you have as many projects going as I do right now. Great work!

Good stuff Moc. My Nikon flashes when I don't want it. My answer is to hold it down. Seems to work great. It has a flash on and off button, but it doesn't do anything.

I would try just putting my finger over the falsh...it might work,

Jon

Mocc, some of your hostas are already so robust, if I didn't know better, I'd not have known they are in pots! Some of my third-year-in-the-garden plants are getting somewhat like yours, very exciting time in the gardens, to say the least. Even some of the ones I got last season are bustin' out nicely.

You have a way of combining prose and pics that work so well together, that it's always a pleasure to see that you've posted something new. Sometimes I don't respond, because I think, "Well, my silly little attempts at compliments (many by way of 'humor') just don't do your threads worthy, so I sit back and enjoy, without marring the threads you've created with something lame (funny to ME, at least at the time)...

Steve_Mass hit the nail on the head when he highlighted a recent thread of yours, calling it quality poetry, to paraphrase. He couldn't have been more correct, as many, many of your posts are some of the most heartfelt, not to mention skillfully written, contributions I've seen here.

Bless you, Mocc, and may you (lovingly) influence your DH to recalibrate his Density Calculations every season, for many seasons to come! (He's a good guy, the 'Density Calculations' are because you won't admit to the actual numbers you own, but he knows you love the hostas, and he knows they are your bliss, so he's OK with 'em. Plus, being an Engineer, you gotta give him credit for nailing the DC the first time! ; )

And, THANK YOU for growing the plants you grow in the area you live, being successful or otherwise, you are pushing the envelope, and any hostas that come back the next year are just showing us it is possible, if not ideal, to grow these in your climate. Hey, probably a lot of certain cultivars have never been tried there before, and you're breaking ground in exploring that aspect. I applaud you, and any hostas you grow to maturity in your area/zone.

Cheers Buddy, I'm an admirer,
Don B.

P.S. I must ask; What fragrants, if any worth mentioning, are you having trouble with? In my area, Fried Green Tomatoes and the streaker from Hoosier Harmony, are doing "meh". The others are looking good.

This post was edited by Don_in_Colorado on Sun, May 25, 14 at 19:42

They look amazing! Sea Gulf Stream I have seen before but now, seeing yours in that light - it is on the list :)

Brenda Beauty is the one that I found in my garage yesterday and it has grown despite not receiving any water.

Thanks for posting.

You guys are great. I thank you for allowing me to express myself.
This moment...this is it....not yesterday and not tomorrow....NOW. Enjoy it.

(((Don))).....

Here is a link that might be useful: Express Yourself....Yeahhhhh!!

A moment ago I was reading the Plant Delights Nursery newsletter. Tony Avent had this to say about spending time in the garden.

"In addition to the sensory beauty and serenity of gardens large or small, researchers worldwide have documented the positive and calming benefits to the human nervous system of spending time in the garden. So relax, refresh, and restore your natural state of balance and calm by spending time in your favorite garden spot."

So after you dine or clean up of an evening, go back with a fresh eye to view your garden as a guest. Leave the weed pulling for the daytime. This is your restorative hour. Remember, it is good for you.