Earlier this month I posted a photo showing Crocus chrysanthus ‘Prins Claus’ from the side. I love the beautiful purple outer petals (up close, the purple is so velvety you want to reach out and stroke it) and the creamy white interior. What truly amazes me is how such a tiny bulb – typically around 1.5 cm diameter – throws up, every spring, three or four or five flowers. The larger Crocus (below) do this as well, but not, in my experience, with quite such abandon.
Sunset at Weller’s Bay, Prince Edward County, on February 28 2018. Fence, field, flooded field, rocky shore, ice mounds, a bit of Lake Ontario and, finally, a beautiful setting sun.
Although Sunday started out gloomy and wet, a brisk south-westerly soon blew away the clouds and allowed the sun to reveal a glorious late winter landscape. Snow and ice melted away leaving dirty drifts at the side of roads or brown squishy fields and yards that led to much dog paw washing all afternoon.
Around 5:15 p.m. I realized there would be quite a nice sunset so I scooted down to the beach, where I found several other photographers already there, all waiting to capture their version of sunset over water and ice. I wondered what they were waiting for, what combination of descending light source and spray of icy water would produce their perfect image.
I met up with my friend Sylvia yesterday at the Picton Seedy Saturday event and took a few pictures of her perusing the displays and selecting seeds for her garden. I can’t remember if, in this shot, she is engrossed in conversation with a volunteer from the Prince Edward County Horticultural Society, or puzzling over something on their display table. I think it captures the feel of this week’s Photo Challenge.
A multitude of Echinacea purpurea seedheads.
It was a brilliant weekend on The County – just above freezing during the day, just below freezing at night, a bit of rain late Saturday, a lot of sun on Sunday. Pretty perfect.
Sunday morning there was a very light frost covering everything; I went out just before the sun hit and melted it away.
Rolling mini hills of Veronica ‘Whitley’s Speedwell’
Cotoneaster leaves dipped in frost – January 28 2018
Part of the beauty of winter is discovering shapes, textures, colours and relationships in plants that you can’t see in the growing season. Tree trunks growing in weird and wonderful directions. Fat buds waiting to burst. Bronzed coniferous foliage or bright red deciduous branches. The weathered leaf of this Cup Plant (Silphium perforliatum) is an example. From afar it’s just a deaf leaf. But up close, for me, on a silent, cold, frosty morning, it’s a mini sculpture. In colour or in black and white.
