Mixed varieties of flowers

click photo to enlarge

Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity.
John Ruskin (1819-1900) English art critic, social critic, artist, etc

As a fully paid up member of ordinary humanity I agree with Ruskin's observation. The sight of flowers in full bloom has the ability to lift, if only for a moment or two, the clouds that shroud us, the worries that beset us, and the cares and concerns that are a necessary part of life itself. However, there are those who think that the cultivation of flowers is onerous and will have nothing to do with it. They worry about what to plant, where to plant, how to plant, how to feed, about pests and watering and a multitude of other imagined "difficulties". But, as anyone who has done any gardening will know, the life force in seeds and seedlings is strong, and they will often survive even the most inept of gardeners.

There is another lesson that I have learnt over the years that I want to share today. If you are the sort of gardener who wants to create something beautiful but without the need to acquire specialised knowledge or an inordinate amount of time working the soil, then ignore the latest varieties, the expensive hybrids, and instead make plentiful use of the tried and tested, especially the inexpensive "mixed" varieties of seeds. These are part of every seed merchant's range and give not only excellent value for money but also do the "artistic" bit of gardening for you. The fact is, one of the novice gardener's worries concerns which flowers to plant with which, and whether this colour "goes" with that. The mixed varieties of seeds combine flowers of a range of colours that work well together. So, if you buy mixed rudbeckia you'll get yellows, browns and oranges of various shades that will complement each other beautifully. If you plant mixed cosmos then the variety of reds, yellows and oranges (or pinks, purples and whites) will positively glow in combination. So too will mixed wallflowers, as today's photograph, I hope, shows. Beginners and some experienced gardeners avoid wallflowers because they are biennials - they flower the year after you sow them. Don't let this put you off - the result is worth it.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 300mm
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/400
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Bees, rudbeckia and buying cheap

click photos to enlarge
An executive decision was taken in the Boughen household the other day. When it comes to buying flower seeds next year we are going to ignore the specialist suppliers and their higher priced, exclusive ranges endorsed by famous gardeners, and stick to the cheap and cheerful varieties. In truth we've never bought many "special" flower seeds, but this year they've proved a disaster, either featuring blooms that are not the colour advertised, producing far fewer plants than is reasonable from the number of seeds in the packet, or simply failing completely. We have not been happy!

In contrast, the inexpensive flower seeds that we bought have been very successful, doing exactly what it says on the packet, and filling the areas of our borders reserved for annuals with banks of colour. The rudbeckia, in particular, have been magnificent. A packet of seeds that cost a few pence, containing a mixture of different varieties in the colour range brown/orange/yellow has drawn me and my camera on a number of occasions. They did so again a few days ago when the wind had dropped, the sky was bright (but not sunny), and the blooms were at their glowing best.

I took several shots of the flower heads, of which the second image is probably the best. It uses a composition that I'm fond of, namely filling most of the frame with a single head (off centre), and making sure the remainder of the image has out-of-focus heads. However, once again the presence of bees led me to come away from my task with another image of the busy little workers, because as soon as I lined up a shot, as often as not one landed on the flower and began collecting pollen. This particular bee interested me because it looked like it was wearing a fur coat that was getting a good dusting of the yellow stuff. I'm aware that there are a number of different kinds of bees that venture into gardens: some I recognise, but this one I didn't.

photographs & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 35 macro (70mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/100 (400)
ISO: 400
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On