Foliage on ABC Wednesday
If you are for Wordless Wednesday scroll down to the next post. Please consider joining our ABC Wednesday group.
I caught this picture as I was enjoying a brownie and a Grown Up Soda at Wave Hill Gardens in the Bronx. If you have never been to Wave Hill it is in my mind one of the best Public Gardens in the US. It is a small, uncrowded, intimate garden in the Riverdale section. I love the plant collection and the gardeners always come up with something to impress me. The Wild Garden is a cacophony of various bulbs, alpines, perennials and annuals all together in a kind of mashed way. It all works brilliantly somehow and I am always in awe of it.
Foliage is one of the more important aspects of a garden. I love how these were working to together. Most plants only flower for a couple of weeks at the most and for the rest of the time you are looking at the foliage. That why I always try and add some color to my gardens by using colorful foliage. Some of my favorites are (not in order):
Red and Golden Barberry (Berberis)
Dark Leafed Weigela (Weigela ‘Wine and Roses’ and 'Midnight Wine’)
Blue Spruce Cultivars (Picea pungens)
Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum)
Spirea (Spiraea)
Lamb’s Ear (Stachys byzantina)
Coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) mouthful, eh?
Hosta (Hosta)
Variegated Pachysandra (Pachysandra terminalis 'Variegata)
Just to name a few. They are the color gift that keeps giving. In this picture I probably would have been afraid to mix these plants together. It turned out wonderful so sometimes it takes a bold stroke to make something happen. You shouldn’t really be afraid of experimenting a little out in the garden. Try and think things through and then try and add a little twist that usually brings excitement and the payoff of having done something creative.
Just for fun here is another ‘F’ I took on Saturday when I was in Manhattan.
The Flat Iron Building
"I found myself agape, admiring a skyscraper, the prow of the Flatiron Building, to be particular, ploughing up through the traffic of Broadway and Fifth Avenue in the late-afternoon light."
H.G. Wells, 1906
Here is the list for ABC Wednesday:
(I'll post more when I find them.)
mrs nesbitts place
hin's photoblog
tech the man
a bit of this a dash of that
Little Rock Daily Photo
photoxication
Kissing the Dogwood
strolling through Georgia
Ruth's Garden Blog
dwq online
kate isis
bidadlah.com
photography by kml
AVCR8TEUR'S Blog
Salty Dogs
The Modern Goddess
Simply Sage
HeART of the Nest
Gemmas House
author blog
kai
16 comments:
I think the black and white photo is wonderful. Great shot.
Beautiful foliage and a great F!
I love the coleus mixed in , I remember when coleus was a bad word, everyone was sick of it 30 years ago!
Jean
I'm with you on foliage DF, you get so many varieties to keep the garden interesting in the dormant season and they give great contrasts in the flowering season too.
Is the garden in the Bronx anywhere near the zoo? I thought that was a fascinating project, I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary they made from start to finish.
Great 'Flat Iron' building too! :)
F antastic!
Dxx
A unique theme to go with 'f' especially with a sky scrapper.
mike,
thanks fr visiting. I love your photography. I used to think that converting color to B&W was the way to go but have read that putting the camera on monochromatic is better. This was with my point and shoot Nikon CoolPix 8400.
Dxx and kml, thanks.
jean I know you were in the garden business and know what you are talking about, The newer varieties of Coleus are beautiful and much more sun tolerant.
WFW, That is the New York Botanical Garden that is a couple of blocks from the zoo. That is Wave Hill's older, bigger and more prestigious cousin. Wave Hill is located in the Riverdale section a residential area adjacent to the Hudson River.
Hin,
Thanks. Since everybody was posting such great building shots last week I thought I would get in on the fun.
I've never visited in NYC but I think I would enjoy both of those sights.
Ive just finished my first explore of Daowntown dayton and the buildings there so I can relate to the FaltIron skyscraper..
you do fantastic photos...
PEace, Kai xx
Love the Foliage picture but the B&W is my favorite. Great job.
Foliage - nicely done F, but I got stuck on the Grown-Up Soda. I've been making them for years but never called them that. Silly me.
Foliage is a good choice for an F word and it makes a nice picture too!This is fun seeing all the different things people are coming up with.
dot, I think everybody should see NYC at least once. It is quite a place.
Kai, Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I have added your link to the ABCer's.
dwq,
thanks. it is something I may experiment with more.
annie,
You should have patented it. I want to buy some GUS for my house.
gemma, thanks for the comment. I added you to the link list, too.
Your pictures become more valuable with your accurate descriptions. I have not seen a site that has consistently described the temperate and tropical flowers so well. My site www.togofcoralgables.com show some nice plants, but I know that I will have to study my SLR a little closer.
tog,
Hi. I will check out your site. You are so lucky to live in Coral Gables. I would end spending all my time at Fairchild Gardens if I lived there.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
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