Internet responds to the challenge

Well, now I know.

You know 20 years ago if you wanted to identify an unfamiliar plant you would have to spend hours in a library, or perhaps find a horticultural expert at a nursery or botanical garden. It could take months. And you could actually spend a lot of time and never find a satisfactory answer..

But now, apart from many other wonderful things the internet provides, it gives us the opportunity to submit our questions to a large, knowledgeable and most supportive group of people. I just found such a group at the 'Name That Plant' forum at Gardenweb.com.

I posted my plant photo on 'Name That Plant,' the same photo you seen in the previous post here. I asked for help, and within 12 hours I had my answer. Yes, it's a (or should that be an) Hellebore, probably one of those variously called a Lenten, Christmas or Winter Rose.

This is no small feat. Before turning to 'Name That Plant' I had asked several experienced gardeners what the plant could be. No one knew the answer. This is not a common plant in gardens!

Needless to say, I'm delighted. Not only do I have the answer to this question, I now know where I can get answers to the many questions that will no doubt arise in the future. It's a great time to be interested in botanical imagery.

-Gardenspotter

The Challenge of Identification

Here's a Spring flower that blooms at the same time as daffodils. But what is it? Other than finding that expert who knows everything or spending countless hours thumbing through the pictures in a plant encyclopedia, how do you find out?

Click the thumbnail to see a larger image on Flickr.

I'll let you know if I ever find the answer.

-Gardenspotter

Technorati Links

Seems I have to post this to get this blog indexed by Technorati:

<a href="http://technorati.com/claim/mda7e9szp&quot; rel="me">Technorati Profile</a>

Technorati Profile

Hope this works,

-Gardenspotter

A tricky spring bulb

This was a tricky one, for me anyway. I first mistook this for some unknown (to me) species of Scilla, but it turns out it is probably Chionodoxa gigantea. Also known as the 'Glory-of-the-snow' this one also blooms very early, like the Scillas.

.(Click the thumbnail to see a larger image on Flickr.)

First Spring Flower

This is one of the first flowers to bloom in cities in the northeast. They escape gardens and turn entire lawns into a delicate indigo carpet. Sometimes called bluebells, the flower is distinctly different from the common English species of that name.


Scilla siberica (click thumbnail to see larger image on Flickr)

An African daisy

These Gerberas are new to me. There was nothing like this in gardens when I was a kid. The variety of sizes, petal structures and colors are glorious. This one seems ready-made as a symbol for the sun and seems better to me than any sunflower.

Click the thumnail to see the larger image on Flickr.

Narcissi on Flickr

Let's see if this works… You should be able to click on the thumbnail of Narcissi to take a look at the full-sized image on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59132314@N00/123537594/

Better photo posting

Phew! That’s better. Getting the full image instead of the thumbnail is not exactly intuitive, however.

First post – Spring Tulips

Well here goes. Talk about just diving in without reading the manual.

This blog is all about plant imagery, both photography and painting. Plants, and especially flowers are exciting and inspiring. They embody all kinds of good stuff about life, growth and regeneration.

So here’s a recent shot of Spring tulips, taken in Allan Gardens, Toronto, on March 12th. (I hope this upload works. Don’t know what the storage limits are for these WordPress accounts yet, so I’m hoping eventually to find out how to link this blog to photo postings on Flickr.)

-GardenSpotter