Heliconia and 35-70 2.8 Nikon lens

Heliconia
Heliconia stricta 'Dwarf Jamaican'
(hel-ih-KOH-nee-uh) (STRIK-tuh)

Yesterday I went and tried the lens Karen is getting for Christmas. It is a Nikon AF 35-70mm f/2.8D Zoom-Nikkor. She is a very good photographer and needed a boost up from the Nikkor AF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens that came with her camera. The new lens is sharp and fast.

Since I was already down in Westchester Wave Hill seemed to be good place to check out some flowers and the lens. The push-pull zoom set up is a little interesting as is the macro function but easy to figure out. I didn’t do a lot of heavy testing more like trying to shoot what I would on a normal excursion.


This little Heliconia was blooming inside the conservatory and it is quite cute. The smaller size is perfect for cultivation in a container and it retains the nice ‘lobster claw’ type of flowers. Always a treat to see the brilliant red that this plant produced.

Shooting Star
Clerodendron quadriloculare
(kler-oh-DEN-drum) (kwah-drih-lok-yoo-LAIR-ee)


This photo was also shot with the 35-70mm lens. One of the prime things about a lens, to me anyways, is the bokeh it produces. On a simple level that is how the lens reproduces the out of focus elements in the background of the photo. This lens did nicely and with some more experimenting would do even better.

Spotted Hawkweed

Spotted Hawkweed
Hieracium spilophaeum 'Leopard'
(hi-er-uh-KEE-um) (spee-lo-FAY-um)
Synonyms: Hieracium maculatum

This post was originally going to be about some of the flowers I saw last week in Southern California but yesterday on a quick trip to Manhattan I decided to stop at the Conservatory Garden in Central park and on the way home Wave Hill in the Bronx. The Central Park garden was finished for the year. There were a few flowers if one looked hard for them but even most of the fall foliage had come down. It did yield the bonus picture for today.

Unusual mottled foliage of Hawkweed

The cute little yellow daisy was growing in a stonewall at Wave Hill. I hadn’t seen Spotted Hawkweed for so many years I forgotten about it. The flowers usually bloom in the summer but there were several out yesterday. I have always wanted this blog to feature flower pics that I had shot the day before and I lived up to that today. Wave Hill had a couple of other flowers out in the garden and as always the conservatory yielded some interesting blooms.

For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.

Today’s bonus picture is a tree not a flower.


Sassafras
Sassafras albidum
(SASS-uh-frass) (AL-bi-dum)
Synonyms: Tea Tree, Mitten Tree, Cinnamonwood

This is a fun native tree to me although some people find it a bit invasive. We are always trying to encourage them to grow at the estate with mixed results. It is difficult to buy from nurseries because of the long taproot but a few places are now offering container specimens. The fall color is lovely and if you look at the leaves hard you can find three distinct shapes growing on one tree. The leaves and roots have medicinal value for a variety of ailments but should be used with caution.

San Diego and the Bronx - Skywatch Friday

San Diego and the Bronx
Skywatch Friday

Last Christmas Karen got a Nikon P6000 point and shoot camera . It has pretty much been sitting around since then. I borrowed the camera three times and shot a total of 126 pictures. It is a little annoying to use but if you put up with its haughtiness it can take a good picture. Since it is 13.5 megapixels the files are huge, a 14 x 11 inch photo. These photos have been cropped and they are still big.

This was picture #53 and it is the Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach, California. The little houses on the right side of the picture are actually hotel rooms. The hotel uses the slogan “come sleep over the ocean” and it is true. It was in easy walking distance of the house we rented in February.

Crystal Pier Hotel

The other pictures are from Wave Hill in the Bronx last weekend. The Conservatory is small but sweet and there are always some interesting botanical delights inside. One part has the Cactus collection and one wing has the tropical more humid stuff. The middle room has an Acacia tree and a lot of seasonal plants.


The second shot is looking off the main lawn, westward, towards the Hudson River and the Palisades of New Jersey. I am going to try and give a little mini-review of the P6000 tomorrow. In the meantime visit more skies from around the world:
SkyWatch Friday Home Page

Golden Tickseed

Golden Tickseed
Coreopsis tinctoria
(kor-ee-OP-sis) (tink-TOR-ee-uh)
Synonyms: Plains Coreopsis, Calliopsis, Coreopsis cardaminefolia, C. stenophylla

This beauty was still blooming at Wave Hill in the Bronx yesterday. There was quite a few flowers out there and it kind of threw off my plans to take some pictures of seed heads and other decayed flowers. The multiple types of Salvia were really still looking good and here and there some fall foliage was left. It was a nice day although I didn’t end up staying too long.

Golden Tickseed comes in a variety of colors but mostly yellow and orange with a red eye. It doesn’t seem as refined as the more popular types of Coreopsis but does fine in the border or wild areas. It likes a little leanness in the soil and can adapt to wet or dry conditions. The flowers can get 2 to 3 feet tall and can fall over after heavy rains. It doesn’t really need deadheading but I find it to be more floriferous if you do.

Of course I had to look at the Wave Hill Cactus collection and decided to take a black and white of this Nipple Cactus (Mammillaria). It is fitting since Karen and I have a extra long weekend planned for Sedona, Arizona next weekend. Hopefully there will be some opportunities to shoot these cactuses in the wild.


This was more of the kind of picture I was after originally but the flowers and colors in the garden distracted me.

Torch Lily

Torch Lily
Kniphofia ‘Coolnip’
(nip-HOFF-ee-uh)
Synonyms: Red Hot Poker, Tritoma

On Sunday morning I decided to visit Wave Hill Gardens in the Bronx. The gardens were in good shape and there was a plethora of botanical treats to be had. This Torch Lily really stood out as very different. The color scheme and the size of the flower were distinctive. After reading up on it when I got home I learned it was introduced in 2005 by Seneca Hills Perennials and Ginny Hunt. The garden tour only lasted a couple of hours but was worth the drive.

Here is a link to Seneca Hill’s Kniphofia page:
Link

Kniphofia has been featured on this site several times (use the labels if you want to see those pictures). It is an easy and beautiful flower to take a picture of.

This weekend has been all about backing up our computers. The new 1TB (1024 gigabytes) Maxtor Central Axis has been getting a work out. It runs through the router and is available to all the computers on the network. It was pretty much plug and play and started working right away, thankfully. I was happy to see that the price I paid at Staples a couple of weeks ago was about $50 lower than the website price for the drive. Sometimes it pays to visit your local brick and mortar store.

The backup plan consists of two external hard drives and DVDs. I can’t stress it enough to photographers that you need to back up your stuff regularly. Take it from someone who has felt the pain of losing information and photos.

Golden Geranium and Jasmine

These two pictures were taken at Wave Hill last summer. The sunlight was lighting the golden foliage nicely. I like plants with golden foliage for accents in the garden. Over the years I have become more and more agreeable to having yellow in the garden. When I was growing up our nursery grew large crops of Geraniums and it is amazing to me the cultivars and choices that are available today. Here is a link to a big grower of different fancy types. I am not sure about their customer service or their plants but the have an extraordinary collection offered.

Fancy Leafed Geraniums

If you look closely around their site you can get a free offer if you live in the EU. I am not sure which Geranium this is but it was striking and along with the green and white variegated and the tricolor it is one of my favorites.

Poet's Jasmine
Jasminum officinale 'Fiona Sunrise'
(JAZ-mih-num) (oh-fiss-ih-NAH-lee)

I had never seen this plant before snapping this picture. Talk about color! It was growing in a container so I think they take it inside as it is rated for USDA Zone 8 although there have been some reports of this vine being hardy to Zone 6. Unfortunately it was not blooming but produces fragrant white flowers during the summer and fall.


This is an abstract of some Butterfly wings I took the same day.

Variegated Tapioca

Variegated Tapioca
Manihot esculenta 'Variegata'
(MAN-ee-hot) (es-kew-LEN-tuh)

A double header from this years archives as I continue to copy and back up the original files. I haven’t grown either of these plants personally so there won’t be a lot of cultivation advice. This first plant I saw growing in a friend’s garden and even though a few of the leaves are going by (it was fall) you can see how nice this plant looked. It is a very tender perennial (USDA Zone 10) that can grow to 4 to 6 feet although in this Westchester County garden it got to about 3 feet. It is a relative to the plant that we get the Tapioca for pudding from. It looks like it would make a nice container plant. Variegated Tapioca was picked as a Texas Superstar and here is a link to more information on the plant:

Variegated Tapioca, Texas Superstar



Redflower False Yucca
Hesperaloe parviflora
(hes-per-AL-oh) (par-VEE-flor-uh)
Synonym: Red Yucca

This second plant I saw growing at Wave Hill and thought that it must only be hardy to Zone 7 but learned that it is hardy to USDA Zone 5. Although if I was planting it in Zones 5 or 6 I would definitely try and pick a warm spot in the garden. Not for everyone or every garden I found that it added kind of a nice tropical flair to the Wild Garden. The flower racemes, which I was experimenting with a shallow depth of field on, were colorful and airy. This slow growing native of the Chihuahuan desert is considered an evergreen perennial. It can form clumps 3 feet wide and gets about 3 feet tall. It does like a little water during long dry periods. I will have try some at the Estate.

Bengal Clock Vine

Bengal Clock Vine
Thunbergia grandiflora
(thun-BER-jee-uh) (gran-dih-FLOR-uh)
Synonyms: Blue Sky Vine, Sky Flower

Today’s pictures are again courtesy of Wave Hill. This vine was growing in a small pot, which is unusual since it quite vigorous. In climates where the ground doesn’t freeze it can quickly cover its trellis and may have to tamed to fit into the area allotted to it. This vine can easy be cut back if unwanted growth occurs, Outdoors it prefers some light or shifting shade (especially in hot climates) and rich organic soil. The lush heart shaped leaves adds to this native of India attraction in the garden.


This is the most commonly seen blue type of flowers but violet colored and white flowered forms are also available. The flowers are beautifully shaded and shaped. In this second picture it is mixing in with some Coleus flowers. I never really get to see the flowers of Coleus since I am always pinching them off. They are quite a pretty blue.

Euphorbia

Euphorbia
Euphorbia fulgens
(yoo-FOR-bee-uh) (FUL-jenz)

Wave Hill had a nice collection of different Euphorbia fulgens blooming when I was there two weeks ago. I couldn’t find out much about this plant other than it is closely related to the Poinsettia and is a native of Mexico. The milky sap is said to be a skin irritant so care should be used when handling the plants and cut flowers. It is quite popular as a cut flower, with a vase life of 7 to 10 days.

There were several foliage and flower types represented in the Wave Hill collection and I am showing these two because the pictures came out the best. I think the dark red flowers with plum colored foliage was my favorite (not pictured here). I still haven’t figured out all the tricks about shooting indoors in a greenhouse.


The common name for this plant is ‘Scarlet Plume’ but that doesn’t really work for the first picture, which was a very nice soft creamy yellow. Euphorbia fulgens actually comes in red, orange, yellow, pink and white flowers. The long pointy foliage seemed to have several shades of green and red on the different plants. The flowers come out in several places along the elegantly shaped curving branches.

Hoop Petticoat Daffodil

Hoop Petticoat Daffodil
Narcissus cantabricus var. foliosus
(nar-SIS-us)
Amaryllidaceae (am-uh-ril-id-AY-see-ay)

These were blooming in the Wave Hill Alpine House. Like the Conservatory at Wave Hill it is small by public garden standards but it is always packed with interesting plants. These little Narcissus were a bit of tease (since spring is still so far away), but were a welcome sight. They were only about 3 inches tall but the stand of flowers looked very natural in their grouping. I featured another Hoop Petticoat flower from Wave Hill here:
Hoop Petticoat Narcissus
and if your interested the divisions of the different Daffodil types are on this post
The 13 Divisions of Daffodils
That last link also explains the difference between a Daffodil and a Narcissus.


This flower falls into Division 10, the Bulbocodium Hybrids. The pictures are shot at a little bit of a weird angle because I didn’t want to included the clay pot they were in or the others around it.


When I went around the side of the Alpine House I got a little bit of a start when I realized there was a cat hiding out in the Euonymus. At first he played coy but later came out for a better shot. He almost came down to let me pet him but then took off into the plantings. I miss having a cat.

Wonder Tree

Wonder Tree
Idesia polycarpa
(eye-DEE-zee- uh)
Flacourtiaceae
Synonyms: Flacourtia japonica, Polycarpa maximowiczii, Iigiri Tree, Ligiri

This tree blew me away at Wave Hill. It was simply amazing. I hadn’t seen it before and was thoroughly enchanted with it. I would have sworn that this tree wouldn’t be hardy in Connecticut but apparently it is hardy to USDA Zone 5. It was certainly living up to its scientific name polycarpa, which means many fruited. The long pendulous clusters of orange berries were visible from across the garden.


Since I have never grown this tree it would be hard for me to pass on any cultural information. I definitely want to get one for the estate. I did find out it is native to China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan, has fragrant yellow-green flowers and likes moist, well drained soil. It can grow in part shade also. It reaches a height of 50 feet and you can eat the fruit either raw or cooked.

Outtakes from ABC Wednesday

Outtakes from ABC Wednesday

Every week when I participate in ABC Wednesday I have a lot of pictures left over from that particular letter. This week I went with Foliage as the ‘F’ word (that sounds funny) and had ‘F’ruit as a back up. So I thought I would go ahead and post the fruit pictures. The definition of fruit in Botany is: the seed-bearing structure of a plant, e.g., an acorn. It was easy to find all sorts of examples of this out in the garden this time of year. I actually had many more examples of this type of thing but decided to post these. The first picture is from the Estate and is the seed capsule of Large Leafed Cucumber Tree (Magnolia macrophylla). I read somewhere that this tree holds the record for having the largest simple leaf in North America. It really adds a tropical feeling to gardens in this area as it almost looks like a Banana Tree.



This second photo is from a Fragrant Snowbell Tree (Styrax obassia). I don’t know why more people don’t grow Styrax because they are beautiful small scale trees that don’t seem to have too many problems. At least my experience with them is they are trouble free and very rewarding. They bloom a bit later than most of the flowering trees around here. This picture was taken in Monochrome with my Nikon Coolpix 8400. It is an awesome camera that has so many features I still learning about them. When they were discontinued by Nikon the price fell through the floor and I only paid $399. What a bargain. It gives you a choice of 2 different User Settings, which can be selected via the little wheel (there is probably a technical term for the wheel). You can set the various menu items for each one and toggle back and forth. I have one set to the color setting I like and the other to the Black & White settings. That makes it easy.



This third picture was taken at Wave Hill last Saturday afternoon. The Grape Arbor hangs over part of the terrace outside the little café. Sometimes it feels so weird being in the Bronx and sitting under a beautiful Grape Arbor. I didn’t see what type of grapes they were.

Foliage on ABC Wednesday

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

Queen Victoria Century Plant (Agave victoriae-reginae 'Compacta')

Queen Victoria Century Plant
Agave victoriae-reginae 'Compacta'
(a-GAH-vee) (vik-TOR-ee-ay ree-JIN-ay-ee)
Agavaceae (ah-gav-AY-see-ay)

What an emotional draining day yesterday was. I still feel bad about the whole thing. I can’t wait to get back into the garden on Monday. There at least I know what to expect and do. I guess that is my little comfort zone.



I saw this cute little Agave growing in a pot at Wave Hill. It only gets to 12 inches and is hardy to USDA Zone 7b. There used to be one in the conservatory at work but the person that takes care of the greenhouse watered it to death over the winter. I love the contrast of the green leaves and white stripes. This plant only flowers after many years and then dies.

Here are a couple more shots from the Foreigner Concert on their 2007 Concert tour.


Mick Jones. Like the Dire Straits song says “Oh yeah, the boy can play.” Shot with my cheesy $12 Star Filter.


End shot. Left to right: Jeff Pilson: bass guitar, background vocals, Thom Gimbel: saxophone, guitar, flute, background vocals, Kelly Hansen: lead vocals, Mick Jones: lead guitar, piano, keyboards, background vocals, Jason Bonham: drums, Jeff Jacobs: piano, organ, keyboards, background vocals.


Wide Shot of the whole band. 18mm.


Jeff Pilson, Thom Gimbel. Again with the Star Filter.

I loved the clean look of the stage. No amps or wires, which I don’t think I had seen before. I wanted to reiterate how clean sounding everything was, which for the Ives Center was a major accomplishment. These guys maybe getting a little older but they really gave a high energy performance on a very hot night.

Olympic Mullein (Verbascum olympicum)

Olympic Mullein
Verbascum olympicum
(ver-BASK-um) (oh-LIM-pih-kum)
Synonyms: Greek Mullein, V. longiflorum var. pannosum

I saw this plant blooming at Wave Hill. It looked like a majestic perennial. The hairy leaves and flower stalks were quite tall and I liked the color of the flowers. I haven’t had much luck with Verbascum it always seems to be monocarpic. It has only come back once for me and then it died after flowering. I am not putting them down and now that I have seen this plant I might be tempted to try again. I am not going to give any growing tips because I don’t seem to be able to grow it. I do know some people that have been successful with Southern Charms Verbascum and I love the delicate color of those flowers. I have secretly always wanted to grow Arctic Summer Verbascum.



Here is the same flower with an Oriental Beetle (Anomala orientalis) crawling on it. These things were all over the garden this year. Here is a link to a Wikipedia article:
Oriental Beetle

King's Spear (Asphodelus luteus)

King's Spear
Asphodelus luteus
(as-fah-DEL-in-ee) (LOO-tee-uh)
Asphodelaceae (as-foh-del-AY-see-ay)

This is another from my trip to Wave Hill in the Bronx. It was quite a nice plant and looked good against the background of white (which looked like Snow-in-the-Summer). I have never seen this growing in Connecticut and a couple of websites listed it as a Zone 7 (USDA) plant and others said it was hardy in Zone 6. I missed two of the attributes this plant has. I was focused on the star shaped flowers and the striped buds but this plant also has beautiful grass like foliage and fragrant flowers. The flowers are also edible. I do have to pay more attention sometimes.

Here are two links:

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia®

Plants For A Future

Foxtail Lily (Eremurus himalaicus)

Foxtail Lily
Eremurus himalaicus
(er-EE-mur-us) (him-al-LAY-ih-kus)
Liliaceae (lil-ee-AY-see-ay)

It seems most of the species in Eremurus go by the name Foxtail Lily. This was a nice one because of its snow white color and large size. I would like to try a nice patch in front of some Diablo Ninebark. They make a nice cut flower. I used to have a small amount of Foxtails (Eremurus x isabellinus) at the Estate but come to think of it I haven’t seen them since the last round of construction in 1998 (guess they are gone). I saw this one at Wave Hill. On my first visit to Wave Hill this spring I noticed, for the first time, that they have a huge specimen of Dove Tree (Davidia involucrata). I have never seen one in bloom before. But when I got down there again a month later this is what I found.



I did notice about 5 bracts still hanging on the tree but that didn’t give the joy I was looking for. I did manage to snap this picture.



The flower inside had already turned to seed so I didn’t bother showing that. So sooner of later I hope to see both this tree, the Jacaranda Tree and the Royal Poinciana Tree (Delonix regia) in full bloom. I did see the Royal Poinciana Tree in about the same state of bloom as the Dove Tree once in Key West, Florida. I just got to get the timing down.

I moved all the foliage out of the Conservatory yesterday despite the 2 inches of rain we received. We needed the rain but it didn’t help matters. I also planted some more annuals and Karen made up most of the large pots for the container garden. It takes about 17 large pots. For annuals I planted some ‘Easy Wave Red’ Petunias with some Sweet Cream White Marigolds. Near the Dahlias, which perked up a bit from not being hit with the blazing sun, I planted some White Petunias with Heliotrope. I used 4-inch pots so they didn’t look bad when they went in.

Indigofera ??

About ten years ago I got this plant at the Wave Hill plant sale. I hadn’t seen it before and it looked a little scrawny so I planted it behind the tennis court. There are a few other interesting plants out there but for the most part the plants need to be really tough to survive. This is the first time, I think, that it has bloomed. I don’t remember the species and the answer to that is on my old computer (maybe). When I switched computers the Estate’s database didn’t switch over. The program was too old so I have to boot the old Blue & White and copy it into FileMaker Pro. I wish I had done that before. Well anyway I was really excited to see it bloom, as the flower is nice. Of course I had forgotten my camera, which necessitated about a half-mile walk back to get it at the shed (uphill most of the way). I will post the name when I find it or maybe someone tuning in will know it. I thought it was a species of Indigofera but after looking up a few dozen of them I am not so sure. Most of the species seemed to have long racemes but this flower is short and stubby. The shrub is about 4 feet tall with a slight weeping habit. I should post over on the UBC Forums as they know every plant, and I mean every one.



Here is a black and white of the foliage. You can see that it has a quite nice look to it.