Our native Obedient plant (False Dragonhead) is important late-summer bloomer

Late summer is the time for our Obedient plant to go into full gear in the garden bringing in the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds with its soft lavender spikes of flowers on three-four-foot stalks.

Some people are quick to call these fall performers aggressive and invasive, I prefer to call them what they are – great plants that are happy to fill in any open spaces in the garden but are super easy to remove if they get into areas where you really don’t want them. They can be important late-summer bloomers for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds looking for the last sources of nectar before the cold weather hits.

If you are looking for more information on growing native flowers, you might be interested in going to my comprehensive article: Why we should use native plants in our gardens.

For more on photographing flowers in your garden, check out my comprehensive post on Flower Photography in Your Garden.

A bumble bee works the Obedient plant in late summer.

Why are they called Obedient Plant?

With what we already know about this plant’s behaviours, “obedient” seems the perfect description of this native plant.

However, the plants earned that name, not for any of the reasons described above, but for the uncanny ability the blossoms have of remaining in place after being turned in any direction. Great fun for kids but of little value in the garden accept maybe to turn them in the direction of the light to photograph them.

The plant (Physostegia virginiana), is actually a member of the Lamiaceae (Mint Family) and goes by a number of given names including: False Dragonhead and Virginia Lions-heart. Obedient plant, being a member of the mint family, sports the square stems common to the plant family.

Obedient plant can be attractive to both pollinators and humans in our gardens with its showy purple flowers in late summer early fall.

Is Obedient plant easy to get established?

Like many native plants, this perennial is easy to establish and maintain.

In our garden, Obedient plant grows with abandon in a sunny area beside our patio. Although it spreads aggressively by stolons, it’s important to remember that it is also easy to keep in check. Its shallow roots are especially easy to pull out by hand in our sandy soil.

I tend to let plants find their own way and compete for their own space, not unlike the ground covers in our garden. Needless to say, Obedient plant often wins out, growing right up through the ground covers.

For most of the summer they go unnoticed, but by mid-August the 4-6 in. terminal spikes of lavender, tubular flowers – similar to snap dragons – begin showing the first signs of flowers. By the end of August they are in bloom and being visited by a host of native bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

Light Requirement: Sun, Part Shade, Shade
Soil Moisture: Moist
Soil Description: Moist, humus-rich soils.

When does Obedient plant bloom?

Depending on where they are growing, they bloom in August, September, October and, in warmer climates, through to November.

Our flowers are lavender, but white and pink varieties are also available.

Where does Obedient plant grow?

These plants are found throughout the United States and parts of Canada growing naturally from Quebec to Minnesota and south to Florida and Texas into northern Mexico.

In the wild, they can be found growing along river banks, in lowland wet thickets and swamps. These tough perennials will grow in sand, clay and limestone and are at home in areas of poor drainage.

Are Obedient plants easy to propogate?

These plants are easy to propopagate by division of roots or by seed. If you already have plants growing, I would definitely use the division method to increase your numbers and spread the clump forming plants around the sunny areas or your garden.

If you choose to plant seeds, you can sow them in fall or spring after a period of damp stratification (3 months at 40 degrees).

Pentax F* 300mm f4.5 ED IF: My favourite wildlife lens

A 300mm lens is the perfect wildlife lens

This Barred Owl was captured in the nearby woods with the Pentax K5 and a 1.4 converter on the 300 f4.5. The image is heavily cropped but still retains sufficient image quality.

The Pentax F* 300mm f4.5 ED IF full frame lens is the only lens I reach for when it comes to serious bird or wildlife photography.

My best images time and time again are shot with this 35-year-old lens, with its exquisite glass, outstanding build quality, handsome looks and the most beautiful bokeh I have ever seen. What more can a person hope for?

I’ve shot with this lens for years, but it wasn’t until I began focusing on backyard wildlife that the lens came into its own capturing impressive digital images and proving to me once and for all that there is no reason to upgrade to a more modern lens.

Coyote in winter coat

This loan coyote was captured with the 300mm f4.5 in a woodlot near our home. It was photographed at ISO 3200 on my Pentax K5 at 1/2000 sec, at f6.3. The image was cropped and post processing applied via Lightroom.

It’s not perfect, but nothing is really.

It came into its own recently when, while out looking for snowy owls in the woodland and farmlands around our home.Although the light was failing and the owl was at some distance, the combination of the 300mm, a 1.4 converter and some judicial cropping allowed me to get close enough to capture useable images of the owl.

A cardinal takes a drink from the bird bath. The creamy background is almost as beautiful as the cardinal.

The Pentax 300mm F4.5* lens is neither the fastest at f4.5, nor is it the best auto focusing lens with its ancient screw-drive system, but when it comes to bokeh – that soft milky background we all strive for in our images – I think it’s pretty tough to beat this lens.

Be sure to check out my F* 300mmF4.5 photo gallery to see more images taken with this superb lens.

The Pentax F*300mm F4.5 ED IF is an exceptional, compact 300mm lens with beautiful bokeh that gives me 450mm on a cropped sensor.

A great lens is one that you can shoot wide open and still get sharp images. This compact, all-metal lens, with a heft that tells you it was built when quality of build was at least as important as image quality, is sharp wide open. Stop it down to F8 and it’s tack sharp with even better contrast and colours that will leave you almost speechless – grasping for descriptive words that do it justice. The cropped sensor on my K5 and ist-D cameras gives me the equivalent of a 450mm lens.

A Red Wing Blackbird calls out for a mate in spring.

Imagine a Pentax 300mm mounted on the miniature Pentax Q line of cameras. You can do that but you would end up with a 1500mm F4.5 lens.

For my comprehensive post on the Pentax Q cameras and lenses, check out the Pentax Q, why you need one in 2022.

Even in low light, the Pentax 300mm F4.5 is able to capture the moment, and with a cropped sensor it becomes the equivalent of a 450mm.

If this sounds a little too good to be true, then, by all means, don’t take my word for it.

“Great Image quality and small size really impressed me. Exceptional build quality. Similar image quality to the 77 limited. Love it! This lens alone would keep me with Pentax for ever.”

— Pentax Forum User

Consider these comments from the folks on Pentax Forums:

“I can’t add much to the glowing praise of this lens posted by almost every single reviewer on this forum. The 300mm f4.5 F* is sharp enough wide open, becoming razor sharp by f6.7 to f11. Color rendition is outstanding. Chromatic aberration is extremely well controlled. Autofocus performance is as good as any older screw drive lens …”

This white egret was captured in a nearby wetlands with the F* 300mmf4.5 lens.

And more from the Pentax Forums: “As for the quality of the glass, I feel humble and not up to showing it off to it’s full potential. The sharpness and resolution are to my eye amazing. The 300mm focal length gives plenty of reach and while only f4.5, with the low light abilities of modern cameras, I was able to take many shots in what I thought were very challenging low light conditions.”

“Great Image quality and small size really impressed me. Exceptional build quality. Similar image quality to the 77 limited. Love it! This lens alone would keep me with Pentax for ever.”

“This is the lens everyone should dream on.”

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The red squirrel was photographed at the outdoor photo studio/reflection pond with the F* 300F4.5 lens.

In the world of Pentax, this lens has a cult following.

And why not?

• Its compact size makes it easy to carry even on long hikes.

• Its built-in tripod mount features a high mount that rotates to quickly allow for vertical images.

• Its built-in lens hood can be left non-extended maintaining the lens’s compact size, or extended out to provide excellent coverage. An added bonus is the rubberized front that prevents damage both to the lens and the hood itself.

• Its handsome looks, complete with the brand name stamped on its antique-white hood, announces that you are shooting with a premium product.

• Its full-frame design means you are shooting with a 420mm on APS-C sensor cameras like the highly praised K5 (and my ancient *ist-d.

• The gold emblem on the side of the lens screams classy, high-end lens.

• The 67mm filter size is a common enough size that you either have in your collection of filters, or can find high-end B&W filters used on ebay or at your local camera store.

• Manual focus is put into gear by a solid shift of the collar on the barrel of the lens. Shifting into manual focus is just the beginning of the satisfaction of using the lens in manual mode. Focusing is smooth with just enough resistance to make you think you are using a classic SMC manual focus M-series lens.

• Add a 1.4 converter and not only is it still sharp, but it becomes a fast super telephoto lens in the 580mm range.

The bokeh of this lens takes centre stage in this image of a blue jay in our crabapple tree.

I could go on forever but what really matters is how this thing handles out in the field.

Similar modern 300mm lenses are available for Canon Amazon link ( Adorama link) Shop Canon direct; Sony Amazon Link (Adorama Link)(Keh Camera Used) (B&H Photo link); Nikon Amazon link (Adorama Link) (B&H Photo) and Fuji Amazon Link (Adorama link) and, of course, Pentax Amazon link (Adorama Link) so be sure to check them out.

A cottontail stops eating to have its picture taken.

How I like to use the F*300mm F4.5

I like to combine the 300mm focal length on a tripod attached to either my Pentax K5 or ist-d converting it into a 420mm F*4.5.

While this is often enough to capture many of the more friendly birds, chipmunks, red squirrels deer and fox that are regular visitors to the yard, adding a Tragopan photographic blind into the mix along with an outdoor, natural photo studio brings out the magic this lens has to offer.

Be sure to check out my full post on the Tragopan photographic blind.

The lens is exceptional but getting subjects in front of it is key to letting it shine.

The Tragopan blind, together with the home-made photo studio, is almost like bringing an endless line of beautiful models in front of your lens with the background of your choosing.

A red squirrel in winter at the outdoor photo studio where I included grass seed heads from native Northern Oat grass.

The blind gets me extremely close to the subjects. The reflection pond/photo studio puts the subjects in the perfect photographic environment, and one I can easily change for seasonal interest.

In the blind, I set the lens, which is on the heavy side at more than 1200 grams, on a tripod.

Add some well-hidden bird seeds behind a stone or lichen-covered tree branch and get ready for action.

The water itself is a great way to bring in birds and small mammals to a specific location. When I’m not inside the blind photographing the action at the photo studio, the reflection pond becomes a bird bath keeping the birds accustomed to the water feature.

Be sure to check out my post on building a DIY outdoor photographic blind.

A chipmunk appears to almost be praying as she looks into the lens. But look at that bokeh in the background.

The setup allows me to maximize the possibilities of the lens. Add an external flash, a polarizing filter; shoot wide open or stop it down to F8 or F16. Heck, I’ve even experimented with the camera’s built-in filters to create interesting effects.

I’ve also used the blind together with the F*300 F4.5 to capture images of our local fox. Although it is not particularly skittish, by using the blind and the 300mm, I’m able to capture the fox in a more intimate and natural environment.

If I’m out it the field or shooting birds in flight, I’ll often put the lens on a monopod to allow a little more flexibility.

Although I like to think of the lens as primarily a wildlife and birding lens, I will also pull it out to photograph flowers if I’m trying to create beautifully soft backgrounds. The lens has the ability to isolate flowers growing in a busy environment.

It also can be used for larger butterflies and other insects. Although its close-focusing abilities are good at 2 meters, with a maximum magnification at 0.17x, the addition of extension tubes can get you in close. The added magnification of the APS-C sensor enhances the ability to capture smaller insects and butterflies.

Skunk up close and personal with the F*300mm 4.5 lens.

Information below is from the Pentax Forums website

• Image Format: Full-frame / 35mm film

• Lens Mount: Pentax K

• Aperture Ring: Yes (A setting)

• Diaphragm: Automatic, 8 blades

• Optics: 9 elements, 7 groups, (including 3 ED elements)

• Mount Variant: KAF
  Max. Aperture: F4.5 – Min. Aperture F32 Focusing
  Auto Focus (screwdrive)

• Min. Focus: 200 cm Max. – Magnification 0.17x

• Filter Size: 67 mm

• Internal Focus: Yes

• Field of View (Diag. / Horiz.) APS-C: 5.5 ° / 4.6 °
  Full frame: 8.2 ° / 6.9 °

• Hood: Built-in, slide out
  Weather Sealing: No

• Other Features: Push-pull AF/MF Focusing Ring,

• Tripod Mount Diam x Length
  84 x 160 mm (3.3 x 6.3 in.)

• Weight
  880 g (31 oz.) w/ Tripod Foot: +240g

• Production Years: 1987 to 1991

• Engraved Name: smc PENTAX-F* 1:4.5 300mm ED[IF]

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Proven Winners’ Salvia gets our patio containers Rockin’

One of our hummingbirds pay Rockin’ Deep Purple salvia a visit. Notice the dark calyx surrounding the purple flowers that give the plant a cool look even when the flower has faded and fell to the ground.

One season of Deep Purple will make you a fan too

Proven Winners’ Rockin’ Deep Purple Salvia are the rock stars of our patio containers this summer.

All you need to do is spend an afternoon on the outdoor patio and there’s no denying Rockin Deep Purple salvia’s popularity. Like groupies at a rock concert the hummingbirds and bees just keep buzzing around the plants. It’s now September, and these plants have been performing since I planted them in spring.

This image catches the hummingbird’s beautiful green feathers against a dark backdrop.

It’s hard to imagine what they have in mind for an encore this fall.

Last year I planted another Proven Winners’ salvia – Rockin’ The Blues salvia – out in the landscape and missed most of the hummingbird action.

This year, however, I decided to put the plants in large black containers on the patio where I could keep a closer eye on its fans.

Our native Bumble bees are in love with the Deep Purple salvias in the garden. If you are interested, check out my post on the importance of our native bumble bees.

The aerial acrobatics is great fun to watch as the hummingbirds battle over the plants.

Oh man, I was not disappointed. The bees and hummingbirds have been visiting the dark purple flowers almost since the day I planted them in spring.

Besides the attractiveness of these plants to pollinators and hummingbirds, their extremely low-maintenance growth habits have made a real fan out of me too.

These hybrid salvias from Proven Winners are not new. They’ve been around since about 2017, but they’re new to me. And they are new to the hummingbirds in our garden who have put these tough, upright plants on their regular hourly feeding rounds for the summer

In fact, as the end of summer approaches, the hummingbirds are actually beginning their aerial acrobatics over and around these Rockin’ salvias in a show of dominance to keep competitors away.

A female hummingbird works the Rockin’ Deep Purple salvia.

When the dark purple flowers are finished blooming, the calyx, which holds the flower petals, remains a really dark purple almost black and gives the effect that the plant is still in bloom, when it’s actually not. Traditional salvias’ calyx’s turn brown and lessen the appearance of the plants. Not these Rockin’ ones.

The light green foliage on the plants looks good throughout the summer too and there is no need for pruning these neatly-growing upright plants or even deadheading.

A dragonfly takes a quick break on the Deep Purple salvia calyx topping off the plant in fine form.

The only chore is to clean up the fallen petals left lying on the ground. I like to leave the purple flower petals on the patio for a while because they look so good just laying there.

Rockin’ Deep Purple salvia is joined by a lighter blue version named Rockin’ Playing the Blues. The entire Rockin’ series features fragrant foliage, a long blooming time, a tolerance for extreme heat and, most important, are very attractive to pollinators.

The Salvias have been alive with Bumble bees from spring through summer.

In addition there is the Rockin’ Golden Delicious with striking yellow-green foliage and Rockin’ Fuchsia with its unique fuchsia coloured flowers.

This hummer eyes its next flower as it makes its rounds in the garden. I love that the flower is in focus here but the hummingbird is just out of the camera’s focus range as it prepares to move in for a meal.

What to expect in the garden

You can expect a height of between 24 - 36 inches on these upright plants in the garden with a comparable spread.

Keep them well watered and fertilize about once a week for best blooms.

Ours are in sun for most of the day and are doing well. Proven Winners says the plants perform at their best in part sun to sun.

The good news is that the plants will bloom from spring right to the first hard frost.

They are hardy in zones 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11a, 11b. In colder zones, you can just treat them like an annual.

Plant them in the garden beds and use them as thrillers in large containers. I guarantee, you won’t be disappointed.

For those who worry about using a cultivar in their garden, Proven Winners say the plant is “sterile so it will not set seed and that means it will just bloom, and bloom and bloom all season without stopping.”

The company also says the salvias “can easily trim to keep the shape or size where you want it, and it will branch out and become even thicker and more full of flowers.

Proven Winners states that: “Regular watering and fertilizing will keep the plant at maximum colour and growth but it is amazingly tough and once established in a pot it will tolerate lower levels of food and water. However, severe drought will cause lower leaves to drop and if this happens give it a quick haircut removing the upper 1/3 of growth and once it’s back to normal watering it will fill back in.”

I could not resist putting in this B&W photo of the lone salvia flower on the leaf. For more garden B&W photography, you can check out my earlier post A woodland garden: Study in B&W.

Just keep on rockin’

Salvias are a great addition to any wildlife garden and a plant that you’ll want to feature in several areas of your garden. Look for spots that you know will get plenty of sun and plug them into the landscape in groupings of three to maximize their benefits.

I like the drama of Rockin’ Deep Purple, but Rocking Playing the Blues added a nice soft blue to the garden last year. Next year I’ll look for Rockin’ Fuschia to add a pop of colour to a sunny spot. I’m thinking they would be showstoppers in our black containers.

Review: Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-ZS8 in the garden and on the road

Sweet little Lumix performs like a master chef for a fast-food price

Is a $10 camera all you need to capture great garden photography while at home or travelling the world? The short answer is yes, absolutely.

For just about the price of a Big Mac extra value meal, I was able to score a Lumix DMC-ZS8 compact travel camera complete with a Leica 24 to 384mm lens in excellent condition. Admittedly, it was a very good purchase, but these “great buys” are out there if you are willing to take the time to search them out.

The Lumix ZS8 is a categorized as a travel camera, meaning it is the perfect single camera to take on vacations because it can technically handle almost anything you can throw at it while still being small enough to fit into your pocket or purse. The ZS8 fits all those requirements and more.

Getting the most out of your compact, point-and-shoot camera is key to successful photography. Take some time to check out my comprehensive post on Getting the Most Out Of Your Point-and-Shoot Camera.

Check out my earlier post on using the travel camera in the garden and my comprehensive post on Garden flower photography. If you want to see more images from the Lumix ZS8, please check out my Lumix ZS8 Gallery of images.

This little Lumix packs a solid macro feature along with its long reach at the telephoto end.

So many excellent compact cameras that were put away in drawers following the release of the iphone and other smart phones are sitting collecting dust and deserve to get a second chance at life. If you have one or two in a drawer or sitting on a shelf, why not give them a good workout in the garden where these cameras can really show off their stuff? You might be surprised how capable they are and how fun they can be to use.

Click on the link to see a complete list of Panasonic’s Point and Shoot cameras.

If you are looking to upgrade your camera equipment or simply add a few of your favourite lenses, consider checking out the used equipment deals and KEH Camera Exchange. If you are looking to trade in your older equipment, KEH is also an excellent place to consider your trade-ins.

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The very handsome black and chrome Lumix FZ8 is a design found in several earlier Lumix travel cameras.

In my reviews of classic, older digital cameras, I like to use real world images from my garden and on the road to provide readers with the type of images they can expect from the camera if they own one or choose to track one down on the used market. For those of us who enjoy playing with older, digital cameras, I hope these reviews will pique your interest in high-end compact, DSLRs and other mirrorless cameras.

If you want more information on using your compact camera to photograph flowers in your garden, be sure to check out my comprehensive article on Garden Flower Photography.

If you are interested in older digital cameras, check out my reviews of the extremely popular Fujifilm X10, Canon’s PowerShot Elph 500 and the Casio EXILIM Pro EX-P505.

While not easy, capturing fast-moving wildlife is possible with the Lumix ZS8.

When was the Lumix ZS8 released?

Back in 2011, when the Lumix ZS8 travel camera was released with a suggested retail price of just under $300 U.S., it was considered one of the leaders in its class competing with the likes of the Canon Powershot SX230 HS, the Nikon Coolpix S9100, Pentax RZ10, Samsung WB210, Sony Cyber-shot HX9V, including the Lumix flagship Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS10 which came with GPS and a different sensor and better video, but is essentially the same camera.

A pollen-laden Bumble Bee on a native Obedient plant is a little easier to capture than a frenetic hummingbird.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS8 has a high resolution 14.1megapixel CCD sensor, with a 16X super zoom (ultra wide-angle 24-384mm (35mm equivalent) Leica lens and 1280 x 720 high definition (HD) video. All this wrapped in a high-build-quality, all-metal camera with a 3-inch TFT, LCD Display with 230K-Dot Resolution.

The rear LCD panel in the Lumix FZ8 and back buttons.

What’s all this jibberish mean?

It means the Lumix DMC-ZS8 was very good when it was released in the hey day of high-end compact digital cameras, and, if these results are any indication, this sweet little Lumix is still a very good camera today.

The camera particularly shines when you can slow down and handle subjects carefully whether you are in the garden or out for a road trip. This scene was captured while out for a drive in the nearby farm country.

Is the Lumix DSC-ZS8 still good in 2024

How does the Lumix ZS8 measure up to today’s modern cameras?

Let’s not fool ourselves. Technology is constantly evolving, especially in the world of digital photography. Today’s cameras can be incredibly good. In fact, for many of us, the evolution of digital cameras including compact, high-end point and shoots have evolved well beyond many of our needs and wants.

That’s where these classic digital cameras fit in.

The top view of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS8 showing the impressive Leica lens 24-384 (35mm equivalent).

Older cameras suffer from smaller sensors, and slower focusing capabilities which might make getting a prized shot more difficult or the quality of the image substandard to today’s cameras if you like to compare images pixel by pixel. Shooting in less than desirable conditions will push the capabilities of these older cameras.

Bump the ISO up to 1600 to get a handheld photograph in the poor light of early morning or late evening and you might be disappointed.

By disappointed, I mean the image may not seem sharp as a result of digital noise – a grainy look that is not necessarily obvious until you move in close to the image on your computer. Today’s larger sensors can better handle low light and produce less grain. The result are images that look sharper.

If that really matters to you, than older cameras like the ZS8 may not be worth using.

For most of us who primarily use our images for social media or make prints no larger than 8X10” or 11X14”, the FZ8 and other compact cameras are more than sufficient to get the job done. Even if you are planning to create your own garden photo book (highly recommended by the way) these cameras, with proper techniques, will give you beautiful results.

Consider using a tripod and setting the ISO to 100 or 200 when lighting is not at its best and chances are you’ll be more than pleased with the results.

In fact, some fans of classic cameras will tell you that the CCD sensor on the Lumix ZS8 will give you better results than you are likely to get on more modern CMOS sensors. I have to admit the files coming out of this camera are very impressive when lower ISO settings are used and/or there is enough light to properly handhold the camera.

The camera does boast an impressive anti-shake feature that can give you up to two stops of light-saving stability.

What does getting two stops of light mean?

It basically means that you can hand hold the camera and still get sharp photos even if the light is low. It’s in reference to the shutter speed. A low shutter speed means getting sharp images in low light is difficult because of camera shake when taking the picture. You gain the ability to take sharp images in low light by anti-shake features built into the camera as well as “fast lenses” that allow more light to hit the sensor.

Okay, so we know that the Lumix ZS8 is capable of taking good photos, but there are so many other factors that play a role in whether you fall in love with a camera or put it back in the drawer.

This camera is not going back in the drawer any time soon.

A grab shot on the road shows the camera’s ability to capture great images with lots of colour in good light.

What are the pros of the Lumix ZS8

Quite frankly this camera is easy to love. From its impressive build quality, including the camera’s feel in your hand and the solid, tactile feel of the control buttons, to the simple yet effective menus that allow users to easily set up the camera to their liking. It all comes together in this sophisticated-looking little camera that has full manual controls.

Add to that:

• Two macro settings will get you in close to flowers, butterflies and other garden creepy crawlers.

• The quick menu button alone will set most of us free from having to search through menus looking for basic commands to get the shots we want. The Quick menu button in the bottom right on the back of the camera allows you to easily set burst mode, autofocus mode, white balance, ISO settings, file size and the camera’s back LCD mode.

• As already mentioned, the camera’s 24 to 384mm F3.4-6.4 Leica lens is reason enough to search out one of these cameras at a great price. It’s not a super fast lens, especially at the long end at F6.4, but, again, using a tripod or a monopod will go a long way toward achieving memorable images.

A city scene in fall shot with the Lumix ZS8.

• The 13-year-old camera uses easy-to-obtain SD cards for memory and has a series of mode scenes (29 to be exact) that makes getting photographs in specific situations, whether portraits, shots of your children, pets, snow scenes and night scenes, or landscapes extremely easy.

• The flash on the camera is also a good performer and puts out plenty of light to use as a fill-in flash or a regular flash if you are working in a close distance.

• In addition to the 29 scene modes, the camera’s top function wheel boast two “my scene modes” that allows you to quickly go to your favourite scene modes whether that’s portrait mode, landscape mode… pet mode…

• The camera has Panasonic’s IA mode (intelligent auto) that looks at the scene and sets the proper scene mode to ensure proper exposure etc. This is excellent for quick shots on the move and beginner photographers who don’t want to get involved in learning the technical details of the camera.

• In addition, the camera has three custom modes that allow you to set camera settings that you can access easily. I have set up a high-quality custom feature where the settings are optimized for the highest quality image for landscape photography, a black and white custom feature, and a high-speed custom feature.

• A solid tripod mount right square in the middle of the camera’s bottom plate ensures a balanced mount.

Lumix DMC-FZ8 is a smart looking camera that is small enough to fit in your pocket or purse but with enough features to be the only camera you will need on vacation.

… and some cons

• The small sensor (like all compact cameras) makes getting good images difficult in low light situations. Trying to photograph fast-moving hummingbirds was an exercise in frustration between the slow focus and movement caused by using lower ISO settings. You will never match the speed of high-end DSLRs or mirrorless 4/3rds sensors, but it is possible if you are patient.

• The camera does not have a RAW setting so everything is in jpeg format. RAW would have been nice to pull the most out of the camera’s impressive CCD sensor but the jpegs right out of the camera are very nice.

• No hot shoe for external flash.

• The camera feels comfortable enough in my hand, but it’s tiny size may not feel ergonomically correct for everyone. Always use the wrist strap in case you drop the camera.

Is a Lumix camera a brand to search out on the used market?

Although this review is for the 14.1 megapixel, DMC-ZS8, there are a number of Lumix cameras that were released using the same or a similar design. As the camera design evolved, Panasonic added larger sensors with more pixels and features, but generally kept the same impressive design.

I think it’s safe to say that all these Lumix cameras with this design are worth purchasing today. They are high quality cameras that feel substantial in your hand and are fitted with high quality Leica lenses.

Panasonic built compact cameras for Leica, while Leica provided lenses for Panasonic. The result is that the companies put out almost identical cameras and simply rebranded them for their buyers. In some cases, Leica released almost identical cameras to the Lumix brand for considerably more money.

The original buyers of these Lumix cameras saved a considerable amount of money by purchasing the almost identical Panasonic camera over the equivalent Leica model. Over the years, the Leica cameras have maintained their high prices based on the prestigious brand. The Panasonics have not fared as well even though they have held up extremely well. Now, the difference in prices between the Leica version and the Lumix has widened ever farther making now the perfect time to purchase one.

You know the old saying – buy low. It’s hard to imagine these cameras going much lower.

Blue Lobelia: A native plant perfect for late summer colour

What plant combinations work well with Blue Lobelia?

The tapestry created by Black-Eyed-Susans, Blue Lobelia and Bee Balm is beautiful to look at but even better for the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

The combination of our native Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica L.), Black-Eyed-Susans and Monarda is a match made in heaven in my garden.

I love the natural look the plant combination creates, but no matter how much I enjoy looking at this combination, it’s the native bees (especially bumblebees), butterflies and hummingbirds that really reap the rewards of this trio of native wildflowers growing together and creating the most lovely tapestry.

Create a pollinator paradise with Blue Lobelia

Add to this trio, four or five Cardinal flower stems shooting up just a foot or two away and you have a perfect pollinator paradise.

And, keeping the entire group happy and thriving is not too difficult.

Our native Blue Lobelia is a low maintenance, moisture-loving plant that does well in shade or full sun. It flowers late in summer into the early fall along with the tough, hard-working Black-Eyed-Susans that are happy in most situations including part-sun to full sun.

It’s not hard to fall in love with the Blue Lobelia. I planted it for the first time in our woodland this year and without a doubt, it has become one of the stalwarts of our garden in just its first year.

This bumble bee was caught climbing into the lobelia to feed.

The Blue Lobelia’s stems produce lavender-blue, tubular flowers that grow close together on the upper parts of the stems. The showy, bright blue flowers grow in the axils of the plant’s leafy bracts forming an elongated cluster on each stem. The flowers have two lips – an upper lip sporting two segments and the lower lip, three.

If you are looking for more information on growing native flowers, you might be interested in going to my comprehensive article: Why we should use native plants in our gardens.

Blue Lobelia’s love of moisture also makes them a nice companion with the Cardinal flower. I have them growing in a part-sun, part-shade area beside our patio where I can keep them well watered along with Cardinal flower and native Bee Balm.

For more on photographing flowers in your garden, check out my comprehensive post on Flower Photography.

Great Blue Lobelia is a tough perennial for the woodland

Let’s take a closer look at this often-overlooked native perennial wildflower that’s at home in hardiness zones 3-7.

The Blue Lobelia is part of the Campanulaceae (Bellflower Family), and is a highly desirable plant for woodland gardens.

It grows from 1-3 feet tall and blooms from July through to October depending on where it is planted. In nature, you are likely to find it growing wild in open, wet woods where sun is able to penetrate to the forest floor. It also grows along stream banks, marshes and open meadows.

Lobelia growing conditions

Light Requirement: Sun , Part Shade , Shade
Soil Moisture: Moist , Wet
Drought Tolerance: Low
Soil Description: Clay, Loam, Sand
Conditions Comments: Keep the soil moist around it by watering it regularly if necessary.

How to propagate Blue Lobelia

The best way to propagate this attractive plant is to divide the clumps in the spring. It’s also possible to plant the stratified seed lightly on the soil surface. Seeds need to be cold stratified (less than 40 degrees) in a moist environment for about two months. A cold winter in Ontario or north-eastern U.S. would get the job done.

Great blue plants for your garden

Blue plants are not easy to find. In fact, only about 10 per cent of the flowering plants worldwide are blue. So finding one that is native to our area and brings with it so much value to native wildlife makes this plant a real bonus and one that needs to find a place in all our gardens.

Five blue flowers to add to your garden

If you are looking for a few more blue flowers to add to your landscape, consider the following:

1. Delphiniums: a popular wildflower that grow tall on hardy spikes and add a lovely soft blue to the landscape.

2. Love-in-a-Mist: A spring bloomer that will be at home in a variety of soil types is a generally sunny location.

3. New England Aster: Another native plant that is a favourite for butterflies, native bees and birds.

4. Forget Me Not: These charming, little early spring wildflowers are at home in damp, shady areas of your woodland garden. Easy to grow and quick to spread when they are happy.

5. Blue Columbine: Native columbine tend to be red-yellow combination but the blue columbines are exquisite and still a favourite of hummingbirds.

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something Blue

It’s not hard to fall in love with the Blue Lobelia. I planted it for the first time in our woodland this year and without a doubt, it has become one of the stalwarts of our garden in just its first year.

The tall spikes of blue flowers are not only a beautiful addition to the garden, they are also a favourite plant of our native bumble bees.

Teamed up with an older drift of Black-Eyed-Susans, these new blue flowers cool down the colours and create a lovely tapestry along with the reds of the bee balm.

If you know someone with a clump of these native flowers, be sure to borrow some either by asking for a clump via division or getting some seed.

You too will soon be wedded to these native blues.

Focus on Casio’s EXILIM Pro EX-P505

From Springsteen to the garden, this little Casio continues to rock

The Casio EXILIM Pro EX-P505 – now that’s a mouthful – spent most of its life in a drawer in my basement after using it as a pocketable snapshooter for the first year or two. Its greatest achievement was taking it to a Springsteen concert in Buffalo N.Y. where it actually performed admirably in the low lights of the concert venue.

But overall, I wasn’t happy with the early results and really didn’t have a lot of use for the camera in those days when carrying a massive DSLR and complete lens system seemed a whole lot easier than it does today.

But the tiny, odd-shaped Casio EXILIM Pro EX-P505, 5 megapixel camera is looking a whole lot better these days after spending some time with it in the garden. Sure, it’s dated, but it’s also packed with features, has a decent lens, makes the most out of its size and even has a fully tilting viewfinder. And did I say it’s a lot of fun to try to squeeze out some impressive images from its tiny 5 megapixel sensor.

Casio’s Exilim Pro EX P505 with its reticulating screen makes taking pictures from a low angle a whole lot easier.

This review is actually part three of my multi-part feature on using older digital cameras in the garden and on the road. You can check out these links to my reviews of the Fujifilm X10 and Canon’s PowerShot Elph 500.

For tips on maximizing your compact, point-and-shoot cameras, be sure to check out my comprehensive post on Getting The Most Out of Your Compact Camera.

Here are a few more links you might want to check out on Photographing flowers in your garden, Best camera for garden photography and Ten tips for great garden photography.

The Casio EXILIM Pro EX-P505 caught this Lavatera flower in full bloom handling the bright pink colour and texture of the flower nicely.

Okay back to this weird looking Casio camera. The P505 was considered quite a departure for Casio complete with its SLR-like appearance, large lens barrel and five times optical zoom. If I recall, I bought the camera for its movie-making capabilities back in early 2006 when using a camera to make movies seemed revolutionary. The camera was unveiled in March of 2005 and YouTube had just been unleashed on the public in February of 2005.

You could say this camera was cutting edge.

This Casio camera was actually the first Casio digital camera to use the MPEG-4 codec for encoding video and can record full VGA (640x480) video at 30 fps with stereo audio –yes you read that right folks – at 4.2 or 2.2 MBit/sec (approx. 30 / 60 mins on a 1 GB card).

The screen can be neatly stored away on the back of the camera for compact shooting.

Cool, but what about the pictures? Can this thing take decent pictures with its tiny 1/2.5-inch, 5.0 megapixels CCD sensor and 5x optical zoom lens, with a macro mode that allows us garden photographers to get a flower photo as close as 1 cm. away?

Quick answer: “Yup, it sure can.” And, guess what, it’s pretty darn fun to use with its 2-inch TFT colour rotating screen that tilts and makes taking angled shots simple.

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The lens is just okay for today’s standards, giving you a 5 X optical zoom with a 35mm equivalent 38 - 190 mm starting at F3.3 at the wide end and going to F3.6 at the telephoto end. For anyone who cares, that’s delivered with 10 elements in 8 groups, including aspherical Focus distance.

The screen is small in today’s standard and the resolution is nothing to write home about. I think it was the relatively poor quality of the screen that made me think the actual files were not going to be good. Don’t make that mistake. It should come as no surprise that the files are much better than what you see on the back of the camera.

All that said, let’s take a look at a couple of those images taken recently in my garden.

The 20-year-old Casio EXILIM Pro EX-P505 captured the reds of the Cardinal flower against the greens of the foliage.

The Casio caught the tapestry of colours in the native flowers from the reds of Monarda to the yellows of the Rudbeckias.

The front garden captured nicely here by the Casio showing the drift of Black-eyed-susans and fine texture of the grasses.

Not bad for a compact camera now pushing almost 20 years old. My battery is still going strong and the camera takes a regular SD card.

One look at the photos above show that the camera can still perform. Colours are good, not great, but totally acceptable for quick hits to social media and the odd print at maybe 11X14 inches. Post processing with Lightroom, Photoshop and a host of denoising programs such as ????????, can make a significant difference when it comes to using these older cameras.

Although the Casio is approaching old age (I notice a few of the pixels have died), it still boasts a host of modes that make getting good shots of difficult scenes just that much easier for photographers who prefer to let the camera do the work. That said, this Casio includes complete manual settings from shutter and aperture priorities to fully manual.

Casio EXILIM Pro EX-P505’s macro feature captured this water hyacinth in the pond.

But let’s take a look at some of the modes this camera offers. Casio calls the modes “BESTSHOT” and incorporates 22 different predefined scenarios plus the capacity for user defined scenarios. There is a flower mode, pet mode, portrait modes, sand, snow, night scenery, fireworks, greenery and fall colour modes just to name a few.

The menus may seem confusing at first, but it didn’t take long to feel comfortable with the camera’s menu system. An EX button on the side of the lens means calling up a quick menu is quick and easy allowing various manual settings to be accessed and set from a single screen. Key functions include ISO, focus modes, exposure compensation… There is also a separate macro button on the lens that puts the camera in macro mode – perfect for flower photography or capturing a butterfly feeding on a flower.

The EX-P505 was, at the time of release, the third camera in the award winning EXILIM PRO range. It incorporated CASIO’s unique ‘EXILIM Engine’, a compact image processing module, that delivered high quality images and high-speed operation, all within extremely compact dimensions.

Looking down on the Casio EXILIM Pro EX-P505 shows the camera’s controls including the pop up flash, and the macro and EX buttons on the side of the lens.

Why did Casio stop making digital cameras?

Since 1995 Casio stopped making digital cameras. Their website explains that they “decided that, after 23 years of developing the visual communication tools which have been highly supported and loved by our users, we will be halting production of our existing compact digital cameras.

The company went on to say: “In the future, Casio will be pursuing product development in entirely new genres, and will leverage the video and image technologies and various unique technologies that we have cultivated over many years. At some later time, we would like to present products that have the potential to become new favorites and the capability to surprise and move our customers.”

Casio points out some of the products it developed that “created a new culture of communication, such as the EX-S1, an ultrathin camera…; the EX-F1, which incorporated a unique, high-speed technology that could capture subjects invisible to the naked eye; and the TR series, which allowed users to enjoy taking beautiful selfies in a variety of free photography styles.”

My Casio EXILIM Pro EX-P505 was not one of their ground breaking releases, but for me anyhow, it continues to make images and movies. I have even used it to create images for this website and although it is not my first choice, it will continue to see service.

A quick look on Ebay and Kijiji shows that the Casio line of cameras continues to bring a smile to the faces of photographers willing to cash in on a brand that is being forgotten in the world of photography. If you are looking for a quality compact camera to have fun in the garden buying a high-end Casio compact camera just might be the ticket. Ebay.com has several pages of Casio cameras available running from under $25 to more than $400 and Kijiji has a great selection at good prices as well.

Grab one and put it to use. You might be surprised how much more fun it is than using your smart phone.

Purple pearl-like berries make Beautyberry a showstopper in native gardens

The bright berries that look more like clusters of elegant purple pearls are the prize at the end of summer that makes the American beautyberry bush a must for native gardeners.

The fact that these stunning, glossy, iridescent-magenta fruit, which hug the branches at leaf axils throughout fall and winter, are favourite food sources for migrating birds makes these shrubs among the most prized of plants for gardeners looking for a native plant that turns the sad end of summer into a celebration.

This bumblebee became covered in pollen after working the beautyberry flowers. The flowers will eventually turn into the beautful pearl-like purple berries.

Beautyberries attract bees and butterflies

In mid summer, when the flowers are in bloom, the shrubs also attract native bees and butterflies.

What more can a native gardener ask for?

How about an attractive, arching shrub at home in a woodland understory or at the edge of a forest where it gets full sun to part sun,

Where can you grow Beautyberries?

American beautyberries (Callicarpa americana) are found in warmer parts of Canada and throughout the United States from Virginia to Arkansas and south to Florida and into Texas. They are generally hardy from Zones 6-1.

If you are looking for it growing naturally, look in woodlands, moist thickets and other wet areas including low rich bottomlands, swamp edges and pine woods.

If you are looking for more information on growing native flowers, you might be interested in going to my comprehensive article: Why we should use native plants in our gardens.

Other shrubs known for their berry production include a long list of viburnums. If you are looking to add more berry producers to your garden, check out my comprehensive post on Seven Viburnums that attract birds to your garden. In addition to Viburnums there are many plants, shrubs and small trees to consider. My post Best plants and shrubs to feed birds naturally and save money will help get you thinking about using plants and shrubs as natural bird feeders.

Are Beautyberries low maintenance?

If you are growing Beautyberry in your garden, you’ll be happy to know it is a low-maintenance shrub that is happy enough in moderately moist soil in part shade. Beautyberries grow in moist, rich soils as well as sandy soils, sandy loam and even clay-based soil.

Beautyberries boast spectacular, magenta fruit born in clusters on arching branches that can remain on the shrub into winter.

Is my Beautyberry dead?

Don’t be surprised in late spring if there is no sign of life in your Beautyberry. These shrubs are slow to bud out in the spring, but the American beautyberry can reach an average of 3-5 feet tall and often about the same width. In good soil, don’t be surprised if it reaches up to 9 feet high with a similar width. it can be cut down regularly to keep it in check if necessary.

During the summer, the shrub with its arching branches and ovate to elliptic, leaves. that grow in pairs or in threes up to nine inches long, are fairly inconspicuous blending in with other shrubs in the garden border or filling in under larger mid-canopy trees.

If used as a specimen, it can be an elegant understory shrub with a naturally loose and graceful arching form.

Plant it as a mid-size understory shrub at the edge of the landscape where it can get partial sunlight during the day, preferably in morning or late afternoon.

In late summer – mid august in our area – small, pink flowers appear in dense clusters at the base of the leaves. These delicate clusters of flowers are easily overlooked.

Gardeners familiar with the shrub know however, that the more flowers they have on their beautyberries the more berries they can look forward to in late summer into fall.

Flower buds on a Beautyberry bush getting set to emerge and eventually turn into the purple pearl-like fruit that is attractive to a variety of birds including robins, cardinals and mockingbirds.

The fruit or berries can be rose pink or lavender pink and about 1/4 inch long. The extremely showy clusters cling to the branches through the fall and into winter if the birds and garden mammals don’t get to them first.

Do Beautyberries have good fall colour?

Fall is really the time the shrub comes into its own as the leaves slowly turn yellow revealing the incredibly showy clusters of glossy fruit. The combination of the yellow leaves and magenta fruit is a combination that you will want to ensure is front and centre in the garden.

What birds eat the fruit of Beautyberry?

You can count on American robins, cardinals, finches, towhees and even mockingbirds visiting your shrub in search of the pearlescent, purple fruit. Foxes, raccoons, chipmunks and squirrels will also be lining up for the fruit.

Unfortunately, if you live in deer country, don’t be surprised if deer have a little nibble on the shrubs. Our deer have more or less left the plants alone, although there is so much more in the garden they obviously seem to prefer.

Although American Beautyberry shrubs are commercially available, (you may have to look for Callicarpa americana on the tag ) they are relatively easy to propagate from seeds, root cuttings and softwood tip cuttings. If you have a friend with one, take a cutting and get a couple for your garden.

Sophisticated elegance makes Beautyberry a late summer standout

The American Beautyberry shrub is another example of a native plant that is often overlooked by gardeners focusing on massive, showy blooms that dominate the landscape but often fall short once the blooms are spent.

This is not what the Beautyberry is all about. Although these understory shrubs have a certain elegance in the woodland garden with their arching stems, don’t expect them to steal the show during the spring and summer months.

But that’s okay.

There are plenty of flowers, shrubs and flowering trees that can do the heavy lifting in May and June. Gardens need colour and interest in late summer into fall and that’s when the American Beautyberry really delivers. As already discussed, the berries/fruit are the showstoppers, but don’t underestimate the fall foliage. The green and almost lemon-yellow foliage of the Beauty-berry is the perfect contrast to all the reds and burnt orange that tends to dominate the landscape at this time of year.

Not only do Beautyberry carry their weight in fall, but they add much needed winter interest to the landscape with their purple berries popping out of the drab landscape. Imagine watching a cardinal feeding on the colourful fruit and you will know why native woodland gardeners have a special place in their hearts for Callicarpa americana.

How to capture great sunflower photos: Including ten top tips

A Lumix DSC-LS50 compact travel camera was used to move in close and capture the vibrant colours of the small sunflower from a low angle that shows off the details of the plant’s fine hairs.

Flower photography with the Lumix DSC-ZS50 /TZ70 compact camera

Everyone need to plant flowers, especially sunflowers in their gardens for the butterflies, bees and birds. But don’t stop there. Sunflowers’ magnificent blooms will bring a smile to your face and brighten any corner of the garden where you choose to grow them. More importantly, however, are the images these flowers offer to creative garden photographers who are willing to spend a little time exploring details and creating memorable images of these great plants.

All flowers, but especially Sunflowers have long been a favourite of photographers, but capturing memorable images can be a challenge.

For more on photographing flowers in your garden, check out my comprehensive post on Flower Photography.

Whether it’s a single bloom in your garden, a small grove of sunflowers in a corner of the yard or a massive field stretching as far as the eye can see, doing these cheery colourful flowers justice involves different approaches, techniques and a creative eye.

This grouping of sunflowers were photographed growing in a small field. The red barn adds a nice touch of colour to the image.

Give your lenses a workout shooting sunflowers

Sunflowers offer the opportunity to give all your lenses a workout, from wide angles to capture an expansive field of flowers, to short telephotos capturing a selective group of flowers. Longer telephotos will bring the flowers in close if you are shooting from a distance, but also compress the field, stacking the flowers so they appear almost on top of themselves. And finally, that macro or close focusing lens will get you in close to capture the interesting colours and details sometimes overlooked by the sheer beauty of the flowers.

Be sure to check out my post on how to grow your own sunflowers in your garden.

This field of sunflowers was taken with a telephoto lens that helped to compress the image.

What’s the best time to photograph Sunflowers?

If you have not planted your own sunflowers, (and you really should) late summer is the best time to look for patches of these growing in private gardens.

Remember that trespassing on private property to get the ultimate selfy is never a good idea. Use your longer lenses to photograph from the road, or ask the landowner if it would be possible to get some images of the flowers while they are in bloom. Possibly, offering to share some of your images with the landowner would open the door to allow you a closer approach.

If you are considering upgrading your camera gear, consider checking out the offerings at KEH Camera Exchange. You can also trade in your older gear for some new gear that better gets the job done.

Depending on where you love and how early the sunflower seeds were sown, expect to start seeing them bloom as early as July, and reaching their peak in mid- to late-August, and ending in September, when you can explore the photographic possibilities of capturing the dying foliage.

Be sure to check out my post Fields of Gold: Sunflowers and Goldfinches.

Once the flower bloom is out in full, you can expect up to about 20 days of bloom from a single large specimen. For the smaller multiple flower varities, the bloom time can be much shorter, so take advantage of them once they begin. One of the benefits of the multi-flowered varieties, is that you will have new flowers coming into bloom at the same time as you have flowers in decline. It’s a great time to attack the plant from multiple angles, filters and creative approaches.

Sunflowers offer endless potential for great photographs

Here are ten tips to inspire you to get out with your camera and capture images of these magnificent blooms

This image taken with a Lumix DSC-ZS50 uses backlighting that makes the flower petals and leaves translucent, and adds drama to the photo.

1) Look for the right light: Just because the subject is exciting and colourful, does not mean you should ignore the basic principals of good photography. Look for dramatic lighting to take your images to another level. Backlighting at sunset or sunrise offers photographers an opportunity to capture the petals with a translucent glow and a beautiful rim light. Don’t forget to also use backlighting to catch the fine hairs that cover the plant.

Sidelighting can also be used to bring out texture in the individual flower heads or even an entire field of sunflowers. A little underexposure will enhance the effect and a polarizing filter will help to make the colours pop by removing any glare on the plants.

Using filters on the Lumix DSC ZS50 adds a little creativity and fun to the photo shoot.

2) Get in close: Don’t be afraid to move in close with your macro or close focusing zoom lens. These flowers are so large that there is no need to move in that close to capture the finer details of the flower petals. Most compact cameras or close-focusing lenses are able to capture interesting images up close. Try including portions of the flower’s inner circle of seeds with several petals for a very graphic effect.

3) Get down low: By shooting up at the plant with a wide angle lens, you will emphasize the sheer size of the plant and make the viewer think the plant is even bigger than it actually is. The view from below is also the one most people (especially children) get when they look at the larger plants. Wait for a clear blue sky and darken it even more by using the polarizing filter for best results. If you have a Cokin Yellow/blue polarizer in your arsenal, this is the time to pull out and get it on your camera. The Blue/Yellow polarizer is an interesting effect filter that works like any polarizer accepts it enhances, depending how it is positioned, the blues and yellows in your image.

A reverse processing filter on the Lumix gives this image some interesting colours, especially in the sky.

4) Look for a blue sky background: A solid blue background isn’t usually an ideal backdrop for most images but it works well for sunflowers, especially when a polarizer makes the yellow flowers pop out against the deep blue sky. Of course, if you are not including the sky in the image, a good overcast sky will give you a soft, even lighting that will work for more intimate images of the flowers, either in small groupings or in close-up mode.

Again, the Lumix filters were used to create this dramatic B&W image.

5) Shoot in B&W: Sunflowers shot in black and white have a timelessness to them that can result in excellent art images that you will want to frame and hang in your home. Most cameras whether they are DSLRs, mirrorless or compact point-and-shoots include black and white settings. Some, like the Fujifilm X10 (Link to my separate article on this popular camera) and other Fujifilm cameras include red, green and yellow filters to enhance tones in B&W images. Use the red filter for dramatic skies and the green filter to lighten the sunflower plant but not the flower itself.

6) Look for interesting angles: Get down low, shoot up. Get high and look down. Shoot the flower from the back, the side, in silhouette. This is your chance to “milk” every angle out of the plant. It’s important to take advantage of the opportunity when you have it.

Moving in close with the Lumix DSC LS50 showing its macro capibilities.

7) Watch for birds, bees or butterflies: Sunflowers are not just flowers with a pretty face. These things attract everything from butterflies to birds and you would be wise to spend some time being ready for garden wildlife to pay a visit to the flower in search of pollen or the prized sunflower seeds. If you know one of your prized sunflowers are coming into seed, pull up a chair, grab a coffee or glass of wine, set up your camera on a tripod and wait it out. You may not be waiting too long before you have a visitor and a memorable image.

8) Photograph them as they emerge: Don’t just wait until the flower has a emerged to begin photography. Consider capturing the flower in all it’s stages to create a little photo essay.

Don’t forget to photograph the flower in all phases of its life.

9) Beautiful in death: Don’t pack up the camera when the flower fades, a dead or dying sunflower can be simply beautiful especially in B&W. Besides the symbolic value of capturing these flowers as they fade away, there is something touching about an image of a sunflwer in severe decline. Maybe it’s a reminder that the end of summer is upon us and the cooler temperatures of Fall are about to begin. Late fall can be especially great for capturing sunflowers. Get up early on a cold morning to capture a coating of frost on the dead flower head, maybe you’ll be lucky to capture a little hoarfrost on one of your flowers.

10) Fun with filters: There is something about a magnificent sunflower that just lends itself a multiple approaches. I’m not a huge fan of the built-in filers available on today’s cameras. Some are just silly, others are overused, but sometimes the situation calls for a full-fledged filter attack on the subject. The flower is not going anywhere, milk it for everything its worth.

The filters in the Lumix offer a huge range of possibilities. This was shot using the “impressive art” filter which creates a dramatic low key image.

Lumix DMC-ZS50 filters exposed

I recently did just that with a multi-flowered sunflower planted in a container in our front yard. My camera of choice was the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS50 (ZS70 in Europe). See my earlier post on the Lumix travel camera in the garden.

This full featured 12-megapixel compact travel camera complete with a 30X Leica super zoom lens (24-720 mm on a full-frame 35 mm camera) is packed with built-in filters.

The number of “creative exposure modes” on this camera seem endless: Panorama Shot, Scene (Portrait, Soft Skin, Scenery, Sports, Night Portrait, Night Scenery, Handheld Night Shot, Food, Baby1, Baby2, Pet, Sunset, High Sensitivity, Glass Through, HDR, Starry Sky, High Speed Video, 3D Photo), Creative Control (Expressive, Retro, Old Days, High Key, Low Key, Sepia, Dynamic Monochrome, Impressive Art, High Dynamic, Cross Process, Toy Effect, Miniature Effect, Soft Focus, Star Filter, One Point Color (15 filters).

Above are just a few images of the sunflowers, taken with the filters built into the Lumix DMC-ZS50.

Most compact camera, DSLRs and mirrorless cameras sold over the past 10-15 years including the Canon Powershot elph series of camera’s and Fujifilm series including the X10, offer a host of interesting and creative modes or filters that enable the photographer to experiment with to create memorable images.

Of course, these modes have their place and are probably best left to specific situations where they are appropriate. I consider sunflowers the perfect opportunity to give them a try. These flowers have an air of fun about them, so why not take advantage of it and get creative.

Filters are a convenient way to add a little creativity to your images, but don’t forget to consider your sunflower photography as potential images to create beautiful painterly images using post processing software. Check out the link for a closer look at how I have used Photoshop and Painter to turn many of my photographs into painterly works of art.

Collecting a series of great sunflower images might even create a perfect opportunity to put them all together in your own photography book. Their are many companies the now make that process simple and inexpensive, and the results can be incredible. Rather than printing the images into 4X6 pictures and stuffing them into plastic sleeves, having them printed and put into book form allows you to leave them out as coffee table books or give them to friends as Christmas gifts. Check out my earlier post on creating your own photographic book.

In Conclusion

What may have begun as a gardening project to grow a few sunflowers could very well become an exciting photographic project to document everything from the emergence of the seedlings in early spring, to the rapid growth throughout early summer, and finally leading to the incredible blooms of these magnificent flowers. Then there are the visitors, birds, bees and butterflies that love the flowers and the seeds they offer.

The photographic possibilities are endless and the images themselves can become more than just a collection of digital files to share with friends on your social media accounts.

This may be the year to create a lasting memory of your summer in love with sunflowers with your own photographic book, or a print on your wall that you turned into a painterly masterpiece.

All it takes is a couple of seeds to get going and your imagination.

Why is the tree in my front yard stressed and losing its leaves?

Why is the tree in our front yard dying?

It’s a question that is asked on gardening groups daily especially in the heat of summer.

The simple answer is almost always a lack of water getting to the roots of the tree, but that is an oversimplification of a series of complex problems many inner city and suburban homeowners are facing and most are, unfortunately, choosing to ignore.

Chances are good that the tree is not dying, but under stress. Chances are also pretty good that, if action is not taken, the tree will begin to show more serious signs of decline. Over time, a lack of action will result in such decline that the tree will eventually die or have to be cut down or left as a snag for birds and other wildlife. It may take several years for the tree to finally give up and give itself over to the borers and woodpeckers.

But that tragic ending is not inevitable.

For more on dealing with trees showing stress, check out these posts:

• Why Birch Tree leaves turn yellow and fall off prematurely

• Birch clumps at home in the woodland

• The Internet of Nature

• Do not cut down that dead or dying tree

Don’t give up on your stressed tree too early

In a recent Facebook post a homeowner showed a picture of a maple tree in her front yard. She had already concluded that it was dying, and it appeared nothing anyone was going to say would change her mind. Despite assurances from others that the tree was just under stress and needed help, she maintained it was too late. The helpful posts from other gardeners were simply ignored because "other maple trees in the suburban neighbourhood,” according to the poster, “had already died or were in the process of dying.”

I don’t doubt that most of the neighbourhood trees were dying out.

One look at the picture, and it was clear the tree was a good example of a “street kid tree,: an orphaned tree, if you like.

Chances are, most of the trees in the neighbourhood were suffering from the same problem and dying off one by one. Their deaths certainly pointed to a major problem, but it most likely wasn’t what the homeowners all believed – that a disease was running through the neighbourhood.

In a woodland garden, there are more trees to cast shade. Here a large shade tree casts a delicate shade on smaller, understory trees and help them get through times of less rainfall. In addition, the ground is covered with a mulch to hold the moisture in the ground and ferns grow around the larger shade tree to help hold the moisture in the ground.

Now, there are many factors that could cause the trees to die off – including a disease spreading among them – but judging from the picture and what I could see on neighbouring properties, I’m pretty confident that the problem was water.

To be more specific, a lack of water getting to where it needed to go.

I’m also confident that the neighbourhood residents would tell you that they water diligently and assure anyone who asked that “there was no way watering was the problem.”

Make no excuse, the real problem is water and the role it plays on our suburban and inner city “Street trees.”

Watering the grass is not the same as watering a tree.

Five reasons suburban trees may not make it to adulthood:

• Most of the trees being pushed at local nurseries are meant as understory trees, meaning growing under the shade of larger trees like maples, oaks and other shade trees. Growing alone in the middle of a lawn means full sun. These trees are not prepared to deal with that much sun, especially these days when temperatures are soaring to new heights and staying there for weeks instead of just a few days. If the trees survive it’s likely because they benefitted from the two-storey home that might shade them for a period during the day.

• In most of today’s new neighbourhoods, water is diverted from the roofs of homes to underground pipes and shipped directly to the waste water plant where the already clean water is “cleaned” and fed back into lakes and rivers offering nothing of value to the plants and trees it was originally meant for. Again, it points back to a lack of water. In addition, these same trees are often planted close to a paved driveway that blocks any water from seeping through to roots that may have travelled under the pavement.

• The tree is often planted in the middle of a sea of grass that also sucks up what little water makes it to the ground, leaving little to no water for the tree. And, because it is planted in grass, it is susceptible to the gas-powered whipper snapper that trims the grass around the tree while it carves out the tender bark of the young tree and leaves it unable to send water and nutrients up its trunk if it could even find any.

• The volcano effect where homeowners pile up mulch around the trunk of a young tree sentencing it to a slow death.

• Finally, our little tree is an orphan in a sea of well fertilized and pest-free turf grass. Unlike its cousins in the forests that have a mother tree, siblings, cousins and a whole community to support it, our little guy is on its own to face the weather, harsh conditions and a lack of shade all on its own.

“Not only is turf grass a non-native species offering little to nothing of value to wildlife, pollinators and other insects that feed our birds, it’s sucking the life out of our suburban trees by stealing most of the water meant to give them life.”

Are suburban trees in trouble?

What’s a “street” tree you ask?

The term is explored in great detail in Peter Wohlleben’s best selling book, The Hidden Life of Trees, where the author uses it to explain the complex association and communication that a healthy woodland or forest exhibits and compares it to the everyday struggle inner city and suburban trees face.

The Hidden Life of Trees was clear about the benefits of forests over singular trees planted on a front yard surrounded by non-native grass and facing the world – the beating sun, the cold winds, freezing temperatures – on their own. He compares the “street trees” that are found in most urban environments, to “street kids.” These lone trees face difficult and almost always shortened lives compared to trees that share resources as a family group in a proper forest or woodland setting.

(You can read all about this excellent book in my earlier post The Hidden Life of Trees, and more here on Dr. Nadina Galle and her revealing work at her website “The Internet of Nature.”)

Dr. Galle, a Canadian living and working in the Netherlands, is focused on how we protect the urban forest into the future and she wants technology to be leading the way.

“Roughly 50-70 per cent of the urban forest in any given city is on private/homeowner land, which means only 30-50 per cent is actually in the maintenance area of the city,” Dr. Galle tells Ferns & Feathers from her home in the Netherlands.

“This is crucial because it shows the massive role homeowners can have in the development and longevity of the urban forest,” she explained via email.

That “role homeowners play” begins with taking care of the “street trees” on our properties that are part of the urban forests.

The importance of “community” in the natural world is brought home by the work of a group of women in Ireland who have taken the term micro or “pocket forest”to new heights.

By planting intensive miniature forests on tiny lots, some as small as a single shopping mall parking space, the team are proving that a full grown native forest does not have to take hundreds of years to grow into maturity, but can be done in as little as 20 years. For more on their work, check out my earlier post here.

City trees just need a little help

To better explain the concept of “street trees,” think about a teenager trying to grow up in the inner city without parents, a real safe place to call home and no friends or support to help them get through difficult times. Chances are that “street kid” is not going to make it to adulthood, but that doesn’t mean that without a little help that the same kid can’t become a successful adult.

The same can be said for our “street trees.”

Street trees under stress need our help to survive more than ever.

Our lonely trees are struggling

Let’s get back to the tree under discussion.

The picture showed a well-established maple tree surrounded by a sea of grass and a tiny garden around the base of the tree trunk edged with larger river rocks.

It’s a recipe for disaster that, unfortunately, is not that uncommon in many subdivisions.

(Just for some background, Street Trees in the inner city have a life span of as little as nine years. In human terms, that’s not much older than a toddler.)

The homeowner assured readers that the little garden around the tree was not the problem because other maple trees in the neighbourhood had died and had not had a garden around the trunk.

Wrong. The little garden wrapped tightly around the trunk may not have caused the tree’s decline, but is certainly another part of the bigger problem. The garden was climbing up the trunk suffocating the tree and possibly bringing disease to its trunk.

Removing the grass around a tree is an excellent idea that should be encouraged, but make it large. If you can spread it out beyond the drip line of the tree’s canopy. Every few years make it larger as your tree continues to grow and the drip line spreads out. This will allow water to travel to the roots much easier than having to penetrate the fibrous, thirsty roots of turf grass.

Remember that street kid. Let’s compare the garden to taking a winter coat away from the street kid in the middle of winter. Probably not the only reason the teenager is going to struggle during the winter, but a significant contributing factor. If the teenager gets sick, has no support structure and the temperatures continue to drop, there is a good chance the child will perish from the cold and sickness. The coat would certainly be considered a contributing factor, but death would likely be the result of pneumonia or hypothermia.

A little help with a warm coat and chances are the teen would have not gotten ill and survived winter just fine.

The right amount of water for our struggling tree will result in the same life-saving result.

Many homeowners, think a quick watering of the front lawn is all that the tree needs.

In other words, if the grass looks good, we are good to go,

Nothing could be further from the truth.

A need for deep watering

Trees need water and the bigger they are, the more they need. So as a tree grows in your front yard you need to take this into consideration. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to water more and more as the tree ages. It does mean, however, that the tree needs to be able to access water deeper in your soil. Tree roots will find that water, providing there is sufficient water to find.

A huge problem in suburbia is, you guessed it, those acres of turf grass so many homeowners like to worship from the sidewalk.

Not only is turf grass a non-native species offering little to nothing of value to wildlife, pollinators and other insects that feed our birds, it’s sucking the life out of our suburban trees by stealing most of the water meant to give them life.

Even a heavy rain is likely only going to water the grass and the first few inches of the soil.

That’s likely not enough.

We need a deep watering. The kind our suburban trees often get in spring when 3 feet of snow slowly melts and the water works itself slowly and deeply into the ground.

That’s a deep watering.

How do you deep water a tree?

In other words, pull out your garden hose, turn it on to a little more than a trickle (not full open,) put it at or around the drip line of the tree (approximately where the outer leaves of the tree are located) and let it run for three hours. Then move it about a quarter of the way around the tree and let it go for another three hours… and then do that at least two more times until you have watered around the entire circumference of the tree. Yes that’s up to 12 hours of watering, but not 12 hours of all-out watering.

You don’t need to do this on a weekly basis.

On a good year, where we get lots of rain, you may not have to do it at all.

If you have a woodland garden where the tree roots are shaded for most of the day and enjoy the company of other trees, you may not have to ever do it.

But if you are going to plant a tree, in the middle of your yard, in the blistering sun, with turf grass all around it sucking up what little moisture there is, plan on doing it several times over the summer.

That’s the reality.

If that’s too much to ask, be prepared to lose your priceless tree just when it is beginning to look good and add value and some shade to the property.

What other factors cause stress in trees

One look around a typical suburban neighbourhood these days and you would be hard-pressed to find a property with more than a single sad tree growing in the front yard.

Too often the properties are small and the thought of a large oak or maple tree growing in the front yard is too much for new homeowners to imagine. They worry about the roots heading straight for the foundation, or worse, the tree falling on the home and demolishing it in one full swoop. Needless to say the oak tree won’t reach anywhere near that size in the homeowner’s lifetime.

Instead, miniature trees (more properly named under story trees) guaranteed to grow no more than 10 or 12 feet, are purchased and proudly planted in the middle of the grass where they are exposed to 12 hours of searing sun day after day, are open to salt spray from the roads and freezing winds in winter.

They have no protection, are usually non-native trees so likely can’t deal with the harsh conditions we throw at them, and they are asked to do this all alone. But, and this is important, they have pretty double flowers that are infertile so they don’t bear fruit and make a mess (sorry for the sarcasm). Some, in fact many homeowners, would unfortunately call that a win-win. Not for wildlife it isn’t.

Unfortunately, the chances of that under story tree surviving are slim. If it does survive, it will most likely struggle its entire life and never perform the way it was originally meant.

And the more of them that are planted, the more our suburban forest is threatened. As our large native shade trees slowly give way to weeping whatevers, so too will the birds, insects and mammals that depend on the large native trees for the caterpillars and other insects they provide.

If you live in a typical new subdivision, take a drive to an older, nearby neighbourhood where the houses are older and lot sizes are also on the small size. Notice the large Maples and Oak trees growing and recognize the character the surviving trees provide to the neighbourhood. These trees were likely planted at a time when today’s miniature, weeping variety of trees were not yet available. Imagine, one of these in your front yard or towering over your patio in the backyard. Imagine the shade, the birds singing and the whisper of the leaves in the evening.

Now go out a plant one for the future. The under story tree can go in next year or the year after when the shade tree can protect it from the heat of our ever increasing mid-day sun.

Can Canon’s PowerShot Elph 500 hold its own in the garden with flower photography

Garden Elph is great for flower photography a decade after introduction

It was 2011 and Canon released its PowerShot Elph 500 HS complete with a modern touch screen to help combat the popularity of the emerging smartphones equipped with some pretty decent built-in cameras. About two years earlier, Apple had unleashed its iphone and it was gaining popularity in the world of point-and-shoot cameras. Something had to be done.

It was also the year of uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Syria, a devastating tsunami in Japan and the death of Osama bin Laden. On a lighter note, The King’s Speech and Toy Story Three were big hits, the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series and the Bruins won the Stanley Cup.

It was also the year we bought our daughter a Canon PowerShot Elph 500 HS. For the next couple of years, that camera would travel the world with her throughout Europe, the United States and Canada taking thousands and thousands of pictures of her synchronized skating adventures, concerts, vacations and who knows what else.

Be sure to go to the end of this article for links on Canon’s refurbished items as well as cameras that competed with the PowerShot 500 back in its day. Also, at the end of the article are new cameras you might want to consider purchasing if a used camera is not what you want or you cannot locate a good used camera.

It served her well during those first few years but eventually the iphone more or less made it obsolete. The camera wasn’t actually obsolete at all, but it was no longer cool for young people to carry a point-and-shoot camera around when a phone made sharing on social media so much easier.

Be sure to check out my comprehensive post on Getting the Most out of Your Compact Camera.

If you want to see more garden images taken with the Canon Powershot, please check out my Canon Elph 500 Gallery of images.

For more on photographing flowers, check out my post on Flower Photography in your Garden.

The impressive back screen of the Canon PowerShot Elph 500 HS showing its menu.

The Canon Elph with its simple yet elegant front face.

Looking down from above on the Canon Elph’s top plate.

So it was tucked away in a drawer and almost forgotten.

Camera is ideal for flower photography

Fast forward 11 years and this little point-and-shoot that cost my wife and I more than $400 from Costco way back then, is a high performing part of my garden camera arsenal and a stellar performer when it comes to flower photography.

The tiny Canon Powershot Elph 500 HS is more than capable of capturing exquisite images in the garden. It’s extremely wide 24mm equivalent lens is fast and sharp. Eperimenting with the filters including the vivid colours used here can make the images really pop, especially considering the camera is approaching 12 years of age.

Who said an 11-year-old, high quality point and shoot digital camera is no longer usable?

In fact, this little blue-grey and silver beauty with its 12.1 megapixel CMOS sensor and 4.4x optical zoom lens (equivalent of 24-105mm lens) is becoming the perfect companion for me on my morning strolls around the garden. The fact it takes a regular SD card and shoots HD movies means it continues to challenge even the most modern point and shoot cameras.

The Canon Elph’s 24-105mm lens has the pulling power to capture detailed garden vignettes in vivid colour.

Some Key Features in the Canon PowerShot Elph 500 HS

• 12.1MP CMOS Sensor

• 4.4x Optical Zoom 24-105mm Lens (35mm Equiv)

• Optical Image Stabilizer

• Good Low Light/High ISO capability for its age

• Full 1080p HD Video complete with stereo sound

• Hi-speed burst shooting that can take up to 8.2fps

• Slow Motion Movie Mode – at 240fps

• Effects Include Toy Camera, Monochrome, vivid, portrait and foliage settings

• Smart AUTO Has 32 Scene Modes

• Movie Digest Mode that automatically records a short video clip every time you shoot a still image. The camera will then combine the clips into a single video. Perfect for a day of shooting in the garden with your children or grand children.

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The lens allows a close approach to fine garden details like this moss growing between stepping stones in the Japanese inspired garden.

Is this little Elph worth buying today?

A quick search on Ebay and used camera outlets puts this little gem of a camera at between $50.00 for a well used model to almost $300 for a new-in-the-box-model. Expect to pay about $100 for a good used one. You may be able to get one much cheaper if you keep your eye on Kijiji and other more local on-line marketplaces.

Capturing more intimate scenes in the garden is easy in the auto mode where you let the camera recognize the scene and provide the best settings to capture it.

That’s a lot of camera for under $100. Its performance in low light makes it great for everything from travel photography to, of course garden photography. Its multiple frame bursts and best-image-capture settings make the camera ideal for parents and grandparents to grab shots of children, pets and vacation images. Set it on auto and it’s good to go but if you want more control it’s there for the taking.

What features does the Canon Elph 500 boast?

The fast f2.0, 24mm lens is more than enough to take in long garden vistas, in early morning light, while the 105mm has enough pull to capture more intimate garden vignettes, and with a little effort some garden wildlife.

It all comes in a package so compact that it slips into my pocket so easily that I forget I have it with me at times.

But what about the pictures?

The Canon PowerShot Elph has the ability to capture garden images in fine detail.

These images should speak for themselves.

The Canon spits out sharp images, with punchy colours and features enough built-in filters to keep the creative juices going year round.

I particularly like the “vivid” setting which gives the images the look of Fuji’s Velvia film on steroids. Add to that, an impressive “foliage” setting that enhances greens and fall foliage colours, a B&W setting, Cyanotype setting (blue cast), sepia setting, colour accent and poster settings just to name a few.

It would be easy to think this camera is nothing more than a simple point and shoot with very little extras to offer.

Afterall, there are no knobs and wheels on the camera’s exterior, and very few buttons outside of the on switch and image review button. The smartphone may have made the camera obsolete in some ways, but it wasn’t because it lacked the latest touch screen technology. Hidden inside the large LCD screen on the back of the camera is a wealth of settings buried in the settings menu.

A foliage setting on the camera is perfect for capturing the subtle colours of green in the garden as well as the pop of fall colours in the woodland.

Once you get into the menus, this camera is loaded with all the settings; Program, AV aperture value, TV time value, a portrait setting, pets and children setting, a total of 32 scene settings… . It even has a smart setting where the camera automatically selects the best shooting settings for optimal quality based on subjects and environmental factors to provide point-and-shoot simplicity.

It also features optical image stabilization, hi-speed burst shooting at up to 8 frames per second and full 1080p HD video with stereo sound.

What’s not to like about the camera?

I like lots of exterior buttons and dials to control the primary functions of a camera. This camera has none of these.

In fact, there are only a total of three buttons on the exterior of the camera: one to turn the carmera on and off; the shutter button to take the picture and an auto switch that allows the user to put the camera in complete automatic mode. If you are happy letting the camera make most of the decisions, put the camera on auto and snap away.

The camera’s functions – and there are a lot of them packed into the camera – are all accessed through menus from the large screen on the back of the camera. If you are comfortable sorting through digital menus to find the settings you need, than this camera is for you. It only took me about a half hour of playing with the camera to get a good feel for where the various modes and features were hiding, but when I needed to find burst mode quickly, I struggled to find it buried in the menus.

Who should own the Canon Powershot 500 Elph?

Anyone looking for a high quality, pocketable point-and-shoot camera and are not put off by sorting through digital menus rather than using old-school dials, will enjoy this camera. If you are looking for a camera that pushes you to be more creative then you will love the camera’s extensive filter capabilities from Black & White images to vivid, toy camera effects, portrait and even a foliage feature that brings out the best in greens and fall colours.

What more could you ask for?

The vivid feature in the camera results in nice punchy colours reminiscent Fuji’s Velvia slide film.

Can’t find a good used Elph, here are some new and used alternatives

If you like what is possible with a good point-and-shoot camera, but can’t find a good used version of the Canon PowerShot Elph 500 HS, here are a few recommendations you might want to consider.

Around the same time as the Elph 500 was released, Canon released the Powershot S100. Almost instantly, the camera took on a cult following and was considered by many to be the pro photographer’s backup Point-and-shoot camera.

This was also released in 2011 and sported a 12.1 megapixel sensor, a slightly longer 5x telephoto lens ranging from 24mm up to 120mm, a better performing sensor similar to the one used in its EOS SLRs including an on-chip noise cancellation system, and microlenses that improve its light-gathering characteristics. At the time, Canon said the improved sensor results in reduced noise and increased dynamic range; improving the the maximum available ISO to 6400.

The camera is elegant wrapped in its black case and it relies much more on a host of buttons and wheels for photographers who like the old-school approach to photography. A lot of these cameras were sold so finding one used should not be that difficult. Expect to pay a premium for this fine photographic tool.

If you are looking for a good deal on a Canon camera, consider checking out the company’s refurbished models on their website.

Here is a complete review of the Canon S100, from dpreview.

Other cameras on the high end include the Fujifilm X10, (link to my earlier review) released around the same time and also sporting a 12 megapixel sensor.

In addition, here are links to earlier Photography articles you may be interested in reading

• Macro Photography in the garden

• Ten tips for great garden photography

• Best camera and lens for Garden Photography

• Tips to photograph wildlife in your garden

New compact point-and-shoot cameras to consider

Fujifilm X100V (Amazon link) (Henry’s link) that looks much like the X10 and handles like a Leica rangefinder.

Olympus Tough TG-6 (Adorama Link)for those who want to take their camera underwater for some real cool shots. Known for its excellent macro capabilities. Amazon Link.

Sony Cyber-shot (Adorama link) DSC-RX100 Vll for those who like the Sony brand Amazon link.

Ricoh GR lllx (Adorama link)for those who like to shoot with a prime lens. Amazon link

Canon Powershot G7 X Mark lll (Adorama link) (Henry’s link)for those looking for a high-end point and shoot that both fits in your pocket but carries a large 1-inch sensor, a fast zoom lens and 4K video at a price under $1000. Amazon link

Saving our native Humble Bumble Bee

What’s the big buzz about Bumble bees?

Could there be a better bee than our humble Bumble?

A tireless worker that really does not get the credit it deserves. While the non-native honey bee gets the spotlight in the media and just about anywhere climate change comes up, our native Bumble Bee just keeps going about its business and getting the job done.

And quite the job it does.

The Humble Bumble Bee deserves a lot more credit for the work it does in our gardens and agricultural fields.

In case you are not aware, the Bumble bee is the one that brings those juicy tomatoes to your table. In fact, without them, there’s a good chance you wouldn’t be chowing down on that spaghetti or toasted tomato sandwich.

It’s the Bumble bee that is the primary pollinator of tomatoes, not the honey bee.

Why? you may ask.

Bumble bees, unlike honey bees, are capable of buzz pollination. The problem with pollinating tomatoes is the fact that on most flowers the pollen is located out on the end of a stalk on the anthers and easily accessed by most pollinators.

However, explains Paige Embry in her informative book Our Native Bees, “some flowers, including those of tomatoes, hide their pollen inside the anthers so it has to be shaken out. A Bumble bee does this by grabbing the flower in its mouth, curling its body around the anthers and rapidly contracting muscles in its throax, causing vibrations that shake the pollen right out of the tiny holes in the anthers, like shaking salt from a shaker. This activity makes a buzzing noise, and so, buzz pollination.”

So the next time you pick a tomato from your garden, you can thank our humble Bumble Bee.

For more on how we can help save our native bees, check out my story on making a lawn for native bees.

But most tomatoes these days are grown in greenhouses throughout the year. The challenge that faced commercial growers was how to pollinate these tomato plants in a greenhouse, in the winter when there are no Bumble bees around to get the job done.

Going back to 1891, scientists tried to unlock the secret to pollinating tomato plants without the Bumble bee, to very limited success.

Then, according to Embry: “in 1985, Roland de Jonghe a Belgian vet and bee enthusiast put all the bee rearing information together with the fact that a colony of Bumble bees could pollinate a greenhouse full of tomatoes way better than a bunch of people with vibrators or blowers. Since Bumble bee nests only last a few months, people would need new nests every year, and de Jonghe saw the business potential of those Bumble bees. In 1987, he started the first business rearing Bumble bees for commercial use. … By 2004 close to a million colonies of Bumble bees pollinated nearly 100,000 acres of greenhouse tomatoes worldwide, with an estimated value so large that I thought it was a typo accept it was written the same way twice. 12,000 million Euros (about $14 billion) per year.”

Okay, so we now we know the value of our native Bumble bees.

Let’s now take a closer look at these interesting, almost cuddly little creatures with the furry backs.

Do Bumble bees live in hives?

Bumblebees, of the genus Bombus, are common native bees and are important pollinators for many of our woodland wildflowers. Like honeybees, they are social and live in a hive, but one that is the fraction of the size of a honey bee colony – think hundreds rather than thousands.

How many different types of Bumble bees exist?

In the United States alone there are 49 species of these native bees, separated into three different classes depending on the length of their proboscis, or tongue – short, medium, and long. The length of their proboscis will help dictate which species pollinates the various flowers, although some short-tongued Bumble bees have come up with an ingenious way to feed on Long-tube flowers by biting holes in the flowers near the nectar source and feeding through the hole.

Are Bumble bees threatened?

According to the United States Forest Service, Bumblebees have become a conservation issue, resulting from habitat fragmentation caused primarily by human activities, the use of pesticides, as well as disease transmission and the loss of native floral resources.

In the U.S., just in the past few years, two species of Bumblebees have likely gone extinct: Franklin’s bumblebee (Bombus franklini) originally found in a restricted geographic range from southwest Oregon to northwest California; and another species from the eastern United States, which was once found from Canada to North Carolina.

In Ontario alone, there are three at-risk bumble bee species: Rusty-patched (Bombus afinis), Gypsy Cuckoo (Bombus bohemicus) and Yellow-banded (Bombus terricola).

Where do Bumble bees live?

Bumble bees, like most native bees, are primarily ground nesting bees. In spring, the queens begin to emerge from underground where they have spent the winter, and begin to look for a nest site, which can include an already existing but abandoned mouse or rodent burrow.

Bumblebees visit flowers where they feed on the the nectar and pollen. Once their eggs have hatched, they use the plant resources to feed larval worker bees. Unlike honey bees that store large quantities of honey in order to survive winter, Bumble bees may use empty cocoons for short-term storage of nectar.

In a single summer, the Bumble bee queen produces a few generations of workers, which then take over the task of collecting nectar and pollen and help rear the final generation of the colony, which includes queens for the next summer, and males to mate with them.

The colony has all but died out by late fall. All that remains is a few workers and males, as well as the the new queens. These bees burrow into the ground to wait out the cold winter to, once again, begin the process the following spring.

How can we help Bumble bees?

There are reasons you often see native gardeners promoting the practise of leaving your leaves where they fall to help insects and other fauna survive winter.

Well the Bumble bee is a good case in point. Queen Bumble bees overwinter in our gardens in underground burrows and the leaf cover provides protection and helps hold in heat that is vital to their survival.

Check out my earlier post on Why We Need to Leave Our Leaves.

So, in addition to leaving your leaves on the ground in the fall and over the winter, it is also important to provide the native bees with plenty of fall flowers, especially native plants like asters and goldenrods. These late blooming plants are an important food source to enable next year’s queen bees to build up stores of food to last them through the winter in their dormant state.

In addition, refrain from digging up your gardens in early spring to allow the queen bumble bees to leave their underground burrows and begin their new hives.

Macro photography: How to get up close for flower and insect photos

This image of Aphids on a milkweed plant is a fascinating study in nature. If you look close you can see ants “farming” the aphids while two lady bugs wait in the wings to devour the aphids. These are the fascinating images that macro photography offers photographers.

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You don’t need expensive equipment to get great garden and flower close-up shots

Getting up close and personal to flowers and insects in the garden can be an eye opening experience.

Even on the worst of days, when the flowers look spent, the trees are tired and the unbearable heat saps the energy out of any hopes of capturing a beautiful image, there is always macro or closeup photography.

Somewhere out there in the garden – probably very close by – is an insect, a butterfly, a tiny flower, maybe a mushroom just begging to be photographed. And, depending on your expectations, capturing these images is not really difficult. Close-up images are available with almost every camera including more inexpensive compact, point-and-shoot cameras. If you have never used the closeup/macro mode, I encourage you to give it a try.

Closeup photography will open an entire new world to you that maybe you never knew even existed in your garden. The impressive colours in a beetle, the incredible detail of the wings on the butterfly, the daily life-and-death-struggle that largely goes unnoticed in the garden – all open up to us as we move in close.

For more on photographing flowers in your garden, check out my comprehensive post on flower photography in your garden.

For more on garden photography, be sure to check out my Ten tips for Great Garden Photography.

If you are looking to purchase a new or used camera, Check out my article on The Best Camera and Lens for garden photography.

If you are looking to upgrade your equipment, be sure to check out KEH Camera Exchange for excellent prices on used gear. You can also trade in your old gear to help you purchase new gear.

And, if you are wondering how a point-and-shoot digital camera that’s more than 10 years old can perform in the garden, be sure to check out my post on the Canon PowerShot Elph 500 HS.

If most of your garden images are pictorial approaches showing wide vistas of flower beds probably taken with a wide angle lens, or, even more intimate vignettes of groupings of flowers and maybe a birdbath, you owe it to yourself to experiment with macro or closeup photography.

Macro/closeup photography enables you to tell a whole new story in your garden. If you think there are no more images to be taken in the garden, think again.

If you are looking for more information on taking closeup or macro images in the garden, be sure to check out Kelbyone’s many online photography courses.

This native Bumble Bee on salvia was photographed with a manual focus 105mm macro lens on a 20-year-old DSLR camera with a flash equipped with a small, inexpensive flash mini softbox.

The image of aphids and ladybugs on the milkweed is a perfect example of the everyday struggle in our gardens that is easy to overlook. I was on my hands and knees trying to find a monarch caterpillar to photograph when I saw the scene playing out under the leaves of the milkweed. The scene would have gone completely unnoticed if I was not looking for close-up images down low in the garden.

What equipment is needed to shoot garden macro photography

Don’t get confused by the terms macro or closeup photography. Macro technically means getting so close that you photograph your subject at lifesize or 1:1. Closeup photography is simply getting in close enough to your subject to create an image that satisfies you. For example, neither a monarch butterfly, nor a large dahlia, need to be shot at life size for an effective closeup image.

For true macro, a specialized lens or accessories are needed. Most of today’s compact cameras come equipped with a closeup setting that allows you to photograph flowers, butterflies and insects up close.

A macro lens shot wide open probably at f2.8 creates this lovely soft background in this flower photography image. This effect would be difficult to achieve with a compact lens set on close focus.

In the image of the ladybugs and aphids, it certainly helped that I had my macro setup with me that included a DSLR, a manual focus 105mm manual focus macro lens and a flash equipped with a mini-softbox attached to soften the light. Although I consider this setup my more “serious” macro setup, the DSLR is 20 years old, the lens is at least 22 years old and even the flash is an older model. I shoot it all on manual – manual exposure, manual focus. Nothing fancy here.

This is an example of the images that are possible with a high-end point-and-shoot on macro mode. This Bee balm was photographed using the FujiX10 compact camera with a 28mm-110mm (in 35mm terms). Notice the soft background that is made possible by the speed of this outstanding lens.

Garden photographers may not want to invest in a more “serious” macro setup like this. No problem. Chances are you already have a perfectly useable closeup or macro lens on your compact point-and-shoot, travel, or bridge camera. Even your smartphone has the capability of getting up close to most subjects you will want to photograph.

Check out this link for my ten-year-review of the Fujifilm X10 that I used to take the Bee balm image above.

If you are looking to upgrade your camera equipment, be sure to check out the excellent equipment at KEH Camera Exchange. You can also trade in your gear to make the upgrade even less expensive.

The important factor is getting comfortable with using these features on your camera and learning to work with light to capture interesting images. Macro photography is no different than any other types of photography in that light is the key component to capturing interesting images. Harsh, mid-day light may not be the best time to photograph.

This Iris was again shot with a 100mm macro lens to give an extreme closeup. The size of the flower means it could have been photographed with many close focusing compact cameras possibly equipped with a closeup filter accessory.

Digital has changed the world of macro photography

If you are like me and struggled to obtain usable macro images during the film years, you might be surprised how digital has completely changed the approach to macro or closeup photography.

In my film years, I would not have thought of shooting closeup or macro images without the use of a tripod. The combination of wind blowing the subject around and film sporting ISO settings of 25 (Kodachrome), 50 (Velvia), made getting good macro images a real challenge.

Impossible without a tripod.

A monarch feeds on a thistle in late summer. Capturing these images takes time and patience but are beautiful natural snapshots in time.

Today’s modern cameras allow you to pump up the ISO to astronomical levels and still get excellent results without lugging around a tripod.

In fact, if you are shooting with a Fuji camera, you can shoot the digital equivalent of Fuji Velvia at pretty much any ISO you like. Even “Kodachrome”, which Fuji calls classic chrome, can be photographed at pretty much any ISO you like. That’s a far cry from using the ridiculously low ISO settings of ISO 50-64 for the original slide films.

ISO levels of between 1600-3200 would be unthinkable during the Kodachrome and Fujichrome years. Today, these ISO levels can be starting points for many of today’s modern cameras, especially if you use software like On1 NoNoise to reduce the noise in your images.

I like to stay below ISO 1000, but shoot as low as 200 ISO if given the opportunity and when I use flash.

What does all this mean to the garden photographer?

It means you can grab your compact camera, set it on closeup mode and get excellent hand-held images of a butterfly, or a closeup of your favourite flower in full bloom.

With a little more planning, you can set up a tripod beside your favourite flower, move in close and wait for a butterfly or insect to come land on it.

In this macro image you can see the extremely limited depth of field resulting from using the lens wide open (f2.8) with only the eyes being in focus. Today’s modern cameras offer “focus-stacking” which allows the maker to take several images focusing in different areas of the subject and then blending them together to make the entire subject tack sharp.

Modern technology has even made firing the camera from a distance with a wireless remote a whole lot easier. Heck, with some cameras, (a Lumix for example) you can even trigger it with an app on your cell phone while you’re sipping on a glass of wine or your morning coffee 10 feet away from the camera.

Times have certainly changed for today’s photographers wanting to add macro or closeup photography to their arsenal. All we gardeners need to do is take advantage of what today’s modern cameras and lenses offer us.

What accessories are good for garden macro photography?

As noted above, excellent macro images can be taken on anything from a good compact point-and-shoot camera with its built-in lens, to a modern high-end DSLR or mirrorless camera equipped with an expensive macro lens that enables extremely fine detail and close approach.

The quality of the image and your success rate will generally increase in direct proportion to the amount of money you invest in the equipment, but don’t let that stop you from getting the most out of the equipment you already have in your bag.

There are, however, accessories you can add to improve your results significantly no matter what equipment you are using.

• A good off-camera flash, for example, goes a long way to opening up possibilities in the macro world. I’ve added an attachment from Fotodiox that goes over the flash to create a mini soft box. This combination has certainly improved my macro images.

• Small LED lights, like this one from B&H Photo are another example of how technology has changed the world of macro photography. These small, battery powered lights that fit in the palm of your hand, provides a continuous light source that is easily manipulated around the subject even as you are looking through the camera.

• Similar to the LED lights mentioned above, is the Godox RING48 Macro Ring LED Light that fits around most lenses a provides perfect, but controllable light.

• Collapsible reflectors, like these from B&H photo, are available in gold, silver and white, and allow you to reflect light into dark areas of the image.

• Closeup lenses, like this kit made by Lensbaby at B&H Photo that thread on to the front of your lens are an easy way to turn any lens into a close focusing lens. I like to use one of these on the Fujifilm X10 which, although the camera already has an excellent close-focusing capability, only gets better with the Nikon close-up filter.

• Extension tubes can only be used on cameras with interchangeable lenses. Extension tubes like these at Adorama photography have no glass elements inside of them, are inexpensive and do not degrade image quality. Their prime duty is to allow any lens to focus more closely. That makes them a useful addition whether you are using a 50mm or a longer telephoto lens. Using them with a telephoto lens is exceptionally helpful to allow you to get images of small subjects from a distance.

An up close macro image of this native bloodroot provides details that easily go unnoticed by the naked eye.

Just get out in the garden and give macro a try

There was a time when macro was a specialized area of photography. It involved expensive lenses and approaches that required meticulous attention to detail and exposure. That’s no longer the case. Getting great shots of your garden up close has never been easier with today’s modern cameras and accessories.

Take a few mornings to wander through the garden and catch the light skipping across your favourite flowers. Move in on the insect waiting for the sun to raise the temperature enough for it to begin its day.

Focus on what you want to capture up close in your garden and consider adding accessories that make it possible to capture those images. Close-up photography can open up a new world for you and hep you become much more intimate with your garden and the critters who call it home.

The Garden pond vs. Container pond

Adding water offers opportunities to grow new plants

Everyone loves a little water in the garden, but not everyone wants a full fledged garden pond.

For some, it’s the potential danger a pond might pose to children or grandchildren. For others, it’s the perceived maintenance a full in-ground pond requires to keep it looking and performing its best that convinces them not to install a garden pond.

No matter large, small or simply in a container, a natural pond will transform your garden probably more than anything else you can add to your garden and attract more wildlife to your yard than you could ever imagine. Install it right, and it will perform and look spectacular for years to come with minimal maintenance. If it’s a container pond, lower your expectations, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself falling in love with your tiny container pond and the plants that call it home.

I would love a pond in our current backyard.

In fact, at our previous home, I installed a lovely little in-ground pond complete with a waterfalls. It was the focal point in a massive backyard DIY landscaping project that took an average suburban backyard surrounded by pools, outdoor decks and acres of grass, and installed an island of natural plantings. To say it was a magnet for backyard birds would be an understatement.

It’s difficult to not love the beauty of a water lily in a pond. The same lilies can be grown in a container pond.

Installing a backyard oasis

My little backyard oasis began soon after we moved into the home. I noticed the builder was digging up massive boulders around the neighbourhood and looking to get rid of them. I was more than happy to take them and asked him to drop them in a corner of the yard. The massive boulders weighed close to a ton but through a series of levers and a whole lot of muscle (which I had back then) I was able to manipulate the boulders into a semi circle that became the perfect little secret garden in corner of the yard.

The circle of boulders in the corner of the yard became the “source” of the perceived water that would eventually run along a dry river bed surrounded by birch trees and grasses before flowing over some rocks and spilling over a small waterfall into a pond.

The recirculating waterfalls helped keep mosquitoes at bay and the moving water created sound in the yard to drown out much of the typical noise related to suburban gardens. Fish and frogs were added to the pond that eventually resulted in more fish and tadpoles and frogs. Insects, dragonflies and lots of birds visited the small pond in the middle of suburbia.

A full-sized pond really needs a proper combination of plants to keep it healthy and looking its best. The large pond needs a mix of plants including:

• Aquatics – a group of plants that have their roots submerged. Aquatics include water lilies, and lotuses as well as golden club, water hawthorn, and water violet.

• Floaters – plants include water lettuce and duckweed, which float on top of the water. This group of plants help reduce algae by blocking sunlight and competing for nutrients. Unfortunately, they also block you from seeing the water and can quickly overwhelm a smaller pond because they reproduce so quickly.

• Oxygenating – plants are mostly submerged, though it’s not unusual that part of them protrude above the water. Their ability to add oxygen to the water is particularly important if you include fish in the pond. Look for plants such as cabomba, anacharis and myriophyllum.

• Marginals – these plants take up residence in the shallower areas of the pond, along the edge or in the boggy area around the edge. They include both deep- and shallow-water plants and include cattails, forget-me-nots, sedges and rushes.

• Bog plants – These are the moisture-loving plants that thrive in extremely soggy soil and include Irises and sweet flag, ferns, astilbes as well as shrubs including dogwood varieties.

Container water gardens really only need a few of these plants to maintain a healthy balance. Most often an Aquatic plant like a water lily is combined with a few floaters like water hyacinth and an oxygenating plant.

Getting back to our former home and small pond. I truly loved that pond and was particularly proud of how it turned out. Eventually, I added a large overhead pergola with random flagstones that overlooked the pond. Large pines and cedars across the back increased the sense of being in a natural environment.

But there was no hiding the fact we were in the middle of suburbia.

So we moved.

The container pond is an option that can allow the gardener to grow plants they would not have been able to and attract wildlife at the same time.

Going from a garden pond to a container

In our current home, although I would love an in-ground pond, I knew that unless the pond was large and deep, it would be an ongoing battle with local wildlife to keep the pond from becoming a playground for racoons and other critters. I also did not want to fence off our large property partially for the cost, but more important, it would keep out much of the wildlife I was trying to attract to the yard.

Therefore, I settled for a patio pond container which I was able to find used on Kijiji . The pond involves almost zero maintenance but still gives me some of the benefits a full, on-ground pond brings to the landscape.

Let’s not kid ourselves, however, there is no comparison between an on-ground pond and a container pond.

I also installed a small DIY bubbling rock to give wildlife access to fresh water at ground level without the maintenance of a pond.

If you can and are willing to install a pond in your yard, I can guarantee that you will not regret it. I will add though, make the pond bigger than you think you want it. You will thank me later.

But, even a small pond will create an environment in the yard that is attractive to all types of fauna – frogs, toads, snakes and dragonflies – not to mention the birds and the mammals that will come to depend on the reliable source of water.

If you live in an area where winter brings freezing temperatures, keeping even a small area of the pond ice-free could become a lifesaver for a number of animals and birds. A small bubbling device is usually all it takes to keep an area of the pond ice free.

The benefits of a garden pond to area wildlife is undeniable, but for many it’s the ability to grow water plants and possibly even bog plants that make ponds and container ponds irresistible.

Marsh marigold, one of our native plants, are just one of the beautiful plants that can be grown in a bog area on the edge of a pond.

Water lilies in the garden

Water lilies (Nymphaea) are a good case in point.

In her informative book Natural Landscaping, Gardening With Nature To Create A Backyard Paradise, Sally Roth writes: “It’s amazing how satisfying even a tiny water garden can be. If you only have room for one plant, grow a water lily. They may seem costly when you compare the cost to perennials , but even the most common types are exquisite. A single water lily, partnered with a glimpse of dark, shining water, is a delight to the soul.”

Water lilies grow to between 3 and 6 inches tall and can spread out to between 4 and feet wide. Full sun will bring out more flowers which can vary in colour from blue, purple, yellow, red, white and even pink. Hardy waterlilies can survive in zones 4-10, whereas the tropical varieties, which often have larger flowers and a better range in colours, need to be brought in during winter or treated like annuals. The tropical varieties tend to be more fragrant and are available in day-blooming and night-blooming varieties. Hardy varieties only bloom during daylight hours.

I remember the first time a water lily bloomed in my pond. (see image below) That was an exciting time. Water lilies alone offer a wealth of possibilities for the gardener.

You don’t need a huge pond to grow one or two of the colourful flowers. Even a small pond will allow you to experience the joy of these plants.

But don’t think a large pond in the only way to grow a water lily. I have successfully grown them in my container pond.

What can you grow in a container pond?

Many of the plants that can be grown in a large on-ground pond can also be grown in a small patio container pond.

But, as Sally Roth writes in Natural Landscaping: “The biggest problem with container water gardens is that they’re too small. Water plants move faster than Napolean, an their aim is the same – to expand theri empire. Even if you choose well-mannered plants, you’ll soon run out of room for more than a few. What to do with the rest? If you are still not ready to install a pool, try a metal horse trough,” she explains.

She suggests painting it black with a can of matte-finish spray paint. I’m not sure how that would look in every garden but it certainly would give you the room to grow more plants.

Unlike a traditional pond, our container pond is always emptied at the end of the season. Mine is concrete based so leaving it full all winter could result in damage. I empty the container, turn it over for the winter, and refill it in the spring.

I try to store the plants over the winter from year to year. Some survive the winter in the shed, others do not and must be purchased each year. The good news is that the container is small and takes just a few plants to fill it up.

Duckweed and Water hyacinth help to quickly cover the pond and create shade which helps to keep the water free of algae.

Besides water lilies, I always grow Water hyacinth, (Eichhornia crassipes) whose roots help to keep the water clear and whose purple blooms can be stunning in the container pond.

Ruffled Water Lettuce (Pistia Stratiotes), Water Mint (Mentha aquatica), Corkscrew Rush (Juncus spiralis), Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) and Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia spp.) are some of the best plants for containers as suggested by the website Pondinformer.

Build a bog garden for the ultimate in plant varieties

A bog garden is the ideal addition to a backyard pond, but it can also be installed in isolation by using a perforated plastic liner that holds water for an extended period of time and keeps the soil moist (almost wet).

Better still, if you have an area in the garden that stays wet just plant bog plants and let them take care of the wet area of the garden. Consider adding Cardinal flower for a dramatic effect and lots of hummingbirds and pollinators. The bog garden opens up a whole new world of opportunities.

Marsh Marigold is a local native plant that also does well in a bog garden. Also consider plants like the Ligularia with its tall yellow spikes.

Staying in the yellow family, Iris pseudacorus ‘Variegata’ can be a good choice.

Another plant to consider if the bog area is large, includes Cornus Alba a dogwood shrub with bright red stems.

Conclusion: Be sure to include a pond in your garden

A good size garden pond is an outstanding addition to any garden and one that will likely change the relationship you have with your backyard. The wildlife that the pond will bring into the landscape, the new plants and the movement the pond creates is difficult to overlook.

For the most part, the ponds are too shallow to pose serious danger to older children. My first pond was installed when my daughter was about six years old. The pond quickly became a hit in the neighbourhood with my daughter’s friends who took turns searching for the frogs, fish and other wildlife. Rather than being looked at as only a danger to children, consider them like an outdoor science classroom and an incredible learning experience for our children and grandchildren.

And, if the pond makes you too uncomfortable, consider the benefits of a container pond, which offers many of the same benefits a full-fledged pond brings.

Either way, a pond will be a great addition to your deck, patio or even in a corner of the yard where you enjoy taking in the early morning sun.

McGee & Co. brings indoor style to the garden

Gift, design and accessory ideas for the home and garden

If the name Shea McGee is unfamiliar to you, it may be time to become familiar with this outstanding young designer. Her decor style is comfortable, cosy and yet has a nice touch of modern that easily transitions into today’s most beautiful home decor style whether its indoors or in the garden.

I first discovered her on the company’s YouTube channel, but it wasn’t long before her decorating show was picked up by Netflix. Good news for Netflix subscribers and Shea lovers, the second season of shows were just picked up by Netflix.

Her Southwest roots brings a style to her work that makes the transition from inside the home to the outdoor garden totally seemless.

Shea McGee brings timeless decor design to the home and garden. Now Ferns & Feathers readers can enjoy discounts from Shea’s impressive on-line market.

So, it’s no surprise that McGee and Co. markets an outdoor line of garden decor elements ranging from beautiful garden pots and other accessories, to outdoor rugs and furniture, to incredible exterior lights that bring an elegance to the garden. Her indoor accessories are also beautiful, but we’ll focus on the garden.

Take a moment to browse through her extensive lineup of beautiful outdoor decor and garden items. Her decor elements are meant for the most distinguished and elegant garden rooms and patios, but even if you are not a buyer, we can all be inspired by the exceptional offerings.

The small, handheld garden shovel is a just one example of the exquisite garden tools that, in themselves, worthy of hanging on a wall of the most luxurious she shed.

“With quality and craftsmanship, we bring beauty into everyday spaces. Our collections of furnishings and decor inspire you to live well.”

— McGee & Co

The McGee & Co website greeting says it all: “With quality and craftsmanship, we bring beauty into everyday spaces. Our collections of furnishings and decor inspire you to live well.”

In my mind, living well begins in the garden and McGee & Co. has that covered. Below are three garden utensils that are exquisitely made and have a made-to-last look and feel to them.

Click on the images below to get information on the items.

Let me introduce you to a few of my favourites. Unfortunately, at this time, McGee & Co. does not ship any large goods outside the United States. They did inform me that they will ship smaller items such as pillows outside the U.S.

We’ll start with some small items and go from there.

These brass garden tags add a sophistication to any container planter while helping forgetful gardeners remember what was planted. They make perfect gifts for gardening friends, but order two sets to make sure you have a set for yourself. This year, for example, I planted a number of natives from Ontario Native Plants and I can’t remember what I planted where. When the flowers come out, I’ll know what’s what, but in the meantime the tags would help and look good in the process.

The striped, handmade Clay Planter is just an example of the many containers available (see below image for more). These containers are a good example of the simple rustic style that is so prominent in Shea McGee’s decor style.

Again, simple elegance takes centre stage in these Striped Clay Planters finished with a coloured glaze to create this rustic look that is perfect, in its inperfection. McGee & Co. say the material is not entirely waterproof and recommend adding a saucer or using an insert to prevent damage. I can see the pieces taking on a mossy look over time if they were simply filled with soil and allowed to age gracefully.

If you are in love with rustic pots be warned. McGee & Co.’s selection of charming, rustic pots are hard to ignore. Imagine a collection like these gracing your patio or front entrance? Spend a few moments on their site exploring various combinations that the on-line store offers.

These Wood-handled-secateurs are another example of combining beauty in an item that looks as good in your hand as it does on the patio table. If you are like me, having these handy for a quick Chelsey chop is important when you just can’t let it go until tomorrow. The secateurs are just an example of the outdoor accessories available on the website store.

The Hamlet Hanging Chair just might be the perfect spot for a morning coffee or evening glass of wine. It’s an example of bringing the indoors outdoors. McGee & Co. describe it as “an intricately woven rattan design, that is crafted from a semi-sanded frame and natural Kubu Core. Providing extra seating from kids rooms to outdoor covered spaces, this unique and eclectic chair envelops you with its rounded form and comfortably soft cushion.

Finally, no backyard is complete without a comfortable spot to settle into with a glass of wine, the birds and a cool breeze rustling through the leaves. McGee & Co. offers a line of outdoor furniture that brings style and elegance into the garden, sun room or patio. Whether you are in the market for outdoor furniture or just looking to add a piece or two, these designs are certainly an inspiration.

Fujifilm X10: Ten years on, can it still compete with modern compact cameras?

The Fujifilm X10 captured this model at a glower display at a local public garden. The colours of flowers are lovely as are the skin tones of the model. This hand held shot was taken at ISO 800. 1/110th sec, at f2.8.

Camera review 10 years of use in the street and in the garden: Sample pictures

Back in 2012, I decided to simplify my photographic life and purchase a Fujifilm X10 high-end compact camera.

To this day it continues to be an important part of my photographic arsenal and a camera that is often beside me in the early morning when I’m out in the garden. Fuji’s X10 is really the ultimate street photography camera, portrait and travel camera, but many of the same qualities that make it a great shooter for street photography and portraiture also make it ideal for garden photography.

There is something inherently satisfying about the feel of it in my hand; the smoothness of its mechanical zoom ring and the click of the shutter when I find a subject that piques my interest. But what most Fujifilm fanatics will tell you is that the camera’s multiple film simulations provide the ultimate in creative possibilities. More on Fuji’s brilliant film simulations later in this article.

The small rubber thumb grip and the perfect weight in your hand reminds you that this is no cheap compact camera.

And it wasn’t cheap. In fact, despite its age, it continues to hold much of it’s value on the used market. There is a reason for that and it has to do with the build quality of the camera and the fact it has developed somewhat of a cult following in the world of Fuji lovers.

If you are considering upgrading your camera equipment whether it’s a new camera body or new lenses, consider checking out what KEH Camera Exchange has to offer. Their equipment is all fairly rated so you can rest easy knowing that you are getting exactly what you are paying for in your used cameras and lenses purchases.

An afternoon with this chipmunk and fun setup in the garden resulted in this adorable image. The colours and sharpness of the images is a tribute to Fuji’s fine 28-112mm lens and the 12 megapixel, '2/3" type' CMOS sensor.

Be sure to check out my comprehensive article on Getting the Most out of Your Compact Camera.

For more images from the Fujifilm X10 please check out my Fujifilm X10 gallery.

The 10-year-old Fujifilm X10 is an excellent camera for street photography and just as good for capturing the activity in the garden.

“My goal is to show gardeners what they can expect if they purchase a used, decade-old Fujifilm X10 or even a similar high-end compact camera from that era.”

— Vic MacBournie

Who is the market for the Fuji X10?

I think the Fuji marketing team had me in mind when they designed the camera. Back in 2011, Fuji marketers set out to design a camera meant to bridge those of us looking for a digital compact camera that retained the feel and features we enjoyed in our traditional film cameras.

As the highly respected dPreview website wrote back in July of 2012 when the camera was introduced: “Its retro design aesthetic bears the DNA of the company’s X100 and X-Pro1 models with a magnesium alloy body, sleek rangefinder-inspired design and a wealth of external dials and buttons.”

This image was made using the extract colour feature in the Fujifilm. Red was the chosen extracted colour to emphasize the single colour used in the display.

The Velvia setting in the Fujifilm X10 helped to make the colours in this scene pop, to say the least. ISO 200, f2.5, 1/140 sec.

And, if you are wondering how a point-and-shoot digital camera that’s more than 10 years old can perform in the garden, be sure to check out my post on the Canon PowerShot Elph 500 HS.

In fact, one of the features that drew me to this camera in the first place was the quality of the dials. All steel, all with an extremely satisfying click with each turn. The under/over exposure wheel is exquisite. To be honest, the entire camera reminded me of one of my all-time favourite cameras – the renowned Pentax 35mm LX film camera of which I owned many over the years.

Is it possible to capture garden wildlife images with the 28-112mm lens and the FujifilmX10. This sample image helps to answer the question. It was shot from a Tragopan photo blind on my homemade reflection pond. Wildlife images are possible even with a compact camera and a little planning.

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Can the Fujifilm X10 be used to capture wildlife images?

Fujifilm’s 28-112mm lens is really not long enough to capture wildlife images, but with a little thought and a little more work, it’s possible to make solid garden wildlife images as the sample image of the chipmunk above illustrates.

You either need to befriend the animals or birds so that they allow a close approach, or use a blind to get in closer than usual.

The good thing about garden photography is that most of the animals in the garden recognize you as a friends rather than a threat and some will allow a close approach. Some effort on your part to befriend backyard wildlife will go a long way. In the above image of the chipmunk, I used a Tragopan photographic blind to help get in very close.

In fact, I was maybe 3 feet from my homemade reflection pond. Add a few peanuts to the scene and there’s a good chance you’ll get opportunities to catch wildlife.

Still, the Fujifilm X10 does not make catching active wildlife easy. Shutter lag and slow auto focus means that the animal is often gone by the time the photo is taken, but it can be done and done well with some practise.

My first move will always be to grab the DSLR and my 300mm F4.5 lens, but I like the challenge of turning a terrific street shooter and garden photography camera into a wildlife camera/lens.

This series of images shows the intelligent digital zoom in action. The above image is taken with the 112mm optical zoom. The image immediately below shows the above image cropped in Lightroom to approximately 233mm image. The final image shows the intelligent zoom at 233mm. All the images are straight out of the camera.

Cropped to 233mm in Lightroom.

Intelligent zoom image at 233mm.

How to turn on the intelligent digital zoom feature

One feature that makes it easier to capture backyard wildlife is the intelligent zoom feature which increases the range of the lens from 112mm to a whopping 233mm. Granted, it’s digital not optical, but whatever “intelligence” Fuji has used to more than double the lens length certainly works.

Turning on the digital zoom feature can be a little tricky. First off, it only works in jpeg mode and single frame mode. The feature is easily assigned to the tiny function button on top of the camera beside the shutter button.

You can assign Intelligent Digital Zoom to the Fn button by holding the button for 2 seconds, and then selecting the feature.

Once it is assigned, you turn it on by pressing and holding the Fn button again briefly for about a half a second. You will know it is turned on when a sliding zoom scale with a magnifying glass icon appears in the upper left of the LCD screen.

This fall scene was captured on the Fuji X10.

More Great Garden Photography posts

• If you are looking for more great Garden photography content, take a few minutes to check out some of my other posts including:

• Ten great garden photography tips.

• Best camera and lens for Garden Photography

• Tips to photograph wildlife in your Woodland Garden

Where was the Fuji X10 made?

It should come as no surprise that the Fujifilm X10 was made in Japan. And, in case you might not have noticed, Fuji proudly stamps “Made in Japan” right in the middle of the back panel where it is impossible to miss.

After my initial purchase, I immediately ordered a lens hood that came with a filter thread that allows me to use 52mm filters, including the all important circular polarizer that removes glare from leaves and other reflections including those in water. In addition to the polarizing filter, I have used a Nikon close-up filter that allows me to use the 112mm focal length in a macro capacity, and a series of Cokin filters that bring even more of an old-school feel to the camera. (For more on Cokin filters, go to the end of this post.)

The vivid Fuji colours taken with the Fuji X10 of a wetlands in fall.

All this is great, but can Fujifilm’s X10, with its 12 MP, 2/3-inch type sensor, still compete with today’s modern cameras when it comes to the quality of the photographs and, in particular, when it comes to garden photography? The answer to that question is a resounding yes. However, there are several areas where the camera is showing its age and may not be the ideal choice for every photographer.

In this post, I’ll review the camera ten years after purchasing it brand new. Over the course of one week, I am going to put the camera through its paces in the garden and elsewhere to decide whether it can still hold its own against the competition. Unlike many camera reviews, this is not aimed at photo geeks or pixel peepers. I am including real-life sample images that help provide realistic expectations. My goal is to show gardeners what they can expect if they purchase a used, decade-old Fujifilm X10 or even a similar high-end compact camera from that era. It’ll be a hands on review with lots of example images and still enough geeky camera details to leave you with a solid understanding of the camera and why it’s still being used by thousands of people in the field.

If you ever wondered how sharp the Fujifilm’s X10 lens is capable of being, this critically sharp sample image of a very mobile chipmunk should help answer that question.

Ten years photographing with the X10

After ten years of using the camera – it’s been with me on vacations to Boston, New Orleans, Nova Scotia and two cruises – I have developed an understanding of the camera’s strengths and weaknesses, but I’ve never really explored the full menu of features the camera offers.

It’s just too easy to put the camera on Auto, Program or even Fuji’s unique EXR technology setting and let it do all the work. I’ll admit, setting the camera on auto is what I do most on vacation and I’m not against using these settings in the garden for quick shots. The results are always excellent so why dig deep into the menus on the camera’s 2.8-inch, 460,000 dot LCD screen?

This camera has too much to offer not to dig deep into the menus and maximize the opportunities the camera offers. Too often on auto the camera is set to wide-open aperature, which can give a pleasing background on this outstanding image-stabilized, 28-112mm F2 to 2.8 (35mm equivalent) built-in lens. But, the shallow depth of field can be too easily mistaken for a soft lens if too many of the images are set wide open.

By moving the main control knob to Aperture priority, we can begin to see the real potential of the lens and realize truly sharp images. (see the image of the chipmunk with the peanut in its mouth to appreciate the sharpness of the lens.)

“Okay great,” you say. “What about the images?”

Expect warm vibrant images. Beautifully toned B&W photography, gorgeous soft portrait’s and, most importantly, vibrant flower, garden and nature images. How the heck does Fuji do it?

Fuji X10’s digital film simulations are brilliant

For photographers who still remember the film and transparancy days, Fuji has developed in-camera settings that are digital simulations of their former films – Provia for everyday use, the softness of Astia for portraits and the vibrant colour so many of us nature photographers remember of Velvia for nature. For lovers of B&W photography, Fuji not only gave us a B&W setting, they also gave us Yellow, Green and Red built-in filters to provide dramatic skies, softer skin tones and more contrasty foliage.

All this to say that using these historical films is just too much fun not to go into the menu and dial them in.

Sample images from the Fuji X10

Below is a series of sample images taken in the garden and around my home.

Hay field with Cokin Blue/Yellow polarizer

This image was taken in the farms around my home and features a Cokin Blue/Yellow polarizing filter.

Hay field in B&W

The Fujifilm X10 features a B&W setting that includes Yeelow, Green and Red filters t add contrast to skies and soften skin tones in portraits.

Fields of Gold

Another example of the Cokin B/Y polarizer shot with the Fujifilm X10

Fencepost in B&W

Fujifilm X10 offers photographers exceptional B&W possibilities including Yellow, Green and Red filters.

Dalia

A close up of a Dalia flower using the macro feature in the Fujifilm X10

There are also two macro features that let you get absurdly close to let’s say flowers or insects on flowers, multiple drive modes to capture fleeting subjects, “best picture” mode that takes a series of images and helps the photographer pick the best one. There’s a handy feature that takes an image with flash and without flash so that you can compare which is best. In addition, dig into the menu to find the feature that takes a series of images (very quickly) in and out of focus to create a blurred background (bokeh) in an image that never had one.

To get a little more specific, the CMOS sensor means the camera can shoot up to 7 frames-per-second at full resolution, and 10fps at 6MP. The sensor also enables 1080p 30-frames/sec movie shooting. There’s also a panorama mode to capture the entire sweep of your garden.

Can the Fuji X10 shoot RAW?

Add to the list the fact the camera shoots RAW and can process it in camera, and you are left with, even in today’s exacting standards, a camera that is capable of delivering seriously great results in the woodland, on vacation and especially on the street if that is what you enjoy shooting when you’re not photographing your garden.

All this seems just too good in a 10-11-year-old camera.

This sample image of a Monarda flower shows the intense colour that can be achieved by the Fujifilm X10 on the Velvia setting.

Fuji X10 28-112mm lens is all a garden photographer needs

A garden photographer really needs a camera/lens to excel in three different areas: wide angle with the ability to capture large vistas, medium telephoto with the ability to move in close to a group or a single flower, shrub, butterfly or even a small mammal or bird, and Macro to move in close or very close to a flower, butterfly or insect in the garden.

The Fujifilm X10 excels in all these categories. The image above of the scarlet Monarda is an example of the camera’s macro features combined with the Velvia film setting to maintain the flower’s vivid colour.

With the macro setting, and a Nikon closeup filter, I was able to capture the chipmunk and roses.

The 28mm (35mm equivalent) at the wide-angle end of the Fuji lens is more than enough to capture wide vistas of a garden bed or interesting section of the garden. It’s also wide enough to accentuate a foreground element, such as a bird bath or colourful grouping of flowers, in the foreground while still including a wide expanse of the garden.

Is the FujiX10 good for portraits?

The moderate telephoto is great for moving in closer to a grouping of flowers, but it really takes its place at the head of the table when it comes to garden portraiture.

Let’s face it, our gardens are the ideal place to capture family members – children, grandchildren and pets – in a natural setting, and a fast 112mm lens is the perfect tool to capture garden portraits.

Fuji obviously recognized this and added additional features to the camera to make portraiture a focus of the camera, the most important being the built-in feature that enables a soft background in images. The camera takes a series of photos and then merges them together to reveal a sharp main image with a lovely soft background. This is important for nice portrait effects, but more difficult to achieve with smaller sensor cameras like the Fuji X10 and other compact or point-and-shoot cameras. The built-in software, handles this issue beautifully in-camera.

The ability to easily dial in the portrait film Astia, which creates beautifully soft skin tones, and excellent bokeh makes the camera a real asset to portrait photographers.

Would I like to go beyond the 112mm magnification? Absolutely. As a wildlife photographer, I am always looking to get more telephoto capacity to get in closer but that’s just me. If you are more of a traditional garden photographer, extreme telephotos are not likely a critical need. In addition, a longer lens would have forced Fuji to make an entirely different camera losing much that has made the Fujifilm X10 the prized camera it has become.

So, is this enough to crown the X10 a gardener’s camera extraordinaire? I think so. But there is more.

More features in the Fujifilm X10

• A tiny, built-in flash that actually kicks out enough flash to fill in harsh, mid-day shadows or light up a patch of the garden when the sun is setting.

• A hotshoe that allows the photographer to use a mounted or external flash.

• A shutter button that can be fired with an old-fashioned cable release.

• A panoramic feature for the ultimate in wide angle views of your garden.

• A real and useable optical viewfinder for those who hate using the screen on the back of the camera.

• The ability to shoot 7 frames-per-second at full resolution, and 10fps at 6MP.

• The ability to use 1080p movie shooting.

• A solid tripod socket on the camera to assist in getting a sharp image on the camera.

Fujifilm’s X10 in the garden, in the woodlands on the street and at the party

Is the 10-year-old Fuji X10 the perfect camera on the market for garden photography?

Of course not.

Its sensor is small in comparison to many of today’s compact high-end cameras. Its lens, though exceptionally good, lacks the telephoto pull to being able to easily capture small wildlife and fast-moving birds and butterflies in the garden. Its focus is on the slow side and its ability to take a full range of filters can be a little challenging.

But will you wake up in the morning grab a coffee and head out into the garden with the camera in hand ready to capture everything your garden has to offer?

You bet you will.

Not only will you have it with you, you’ll be fondling the dials and zoom ring like you would the interior of a fine Italian sportscar. And the results will both satisfy you and inspire your photographic aspirations to the point where the pocketable camera will be the only one you take when you go on vacations, out for a day of street photography, on day outings or parties and special occasions.

It’s a camera for gardeners looking to capture their creative vision; for street photographers looking to discreetly capture the spirit of their favourite inner-city; and it’s a camera for parents/grandparents looking to capture the beauty of children and other family members in exquisite portraits.

In other words, the Fujifilm X10 is a camera that will inspire you to be the best you can be, and it’ll do it in style.

New compact point-and-shoot cameras to consider

Fujifilm X100V (Amazon link) (Henry’s link) that looks much like the X10 and handles like a Leica rangefinder.

Olympus Tough TG-6 (Adorama Link)for those who want to take their camera underwater for some real cool shots. Known for its excellent macro capabilities. Amazon Link.

Sony Cyber-shot (Adorama link) DSC-RX100 Vll for those who like the Sony brand Amazon link.

Ricoh GR lllx (Adorama link)for those who like to shoot with a prime lens. Amazon link

Canon Powershot G7 X Mark lll (Adorama link) (Henry’s link)for those looking for a high-end point and shoot that both fits in your pocket but carries a large 1-inch sensor, a fast zoom lens and 4K video at a price under $1000. Amazon link

Cameras that compete with the Fujifilm X10 with 12 megapixel sensors

(Below are B&H Camera links to cameras that are no longer available)

Olympus XZ-2 iHS

Nikon P7700

Nikon P7800

Fujifilm X30

Samsung EX2F

Canon G16

Fujifilm X10 fitted with the Cokin system filter holder.

Cokin filters help bring back the fun factor in photography

In a number of the images in the mini slideshow above, you may have noticed images with a strong yellow/blue cast. These images are the result of using a Cokin Yellow/blue polarizer on the camera. The filter is one of many in the Cokin line of filters that can be effective even in this age of digital manipulation.

Polarizing filters can be critical to getting saturated colours in almost any image, but especially garden images when the sun is reflecting off of leaves. They are also extremely effective when trying to take the glare off of water.

Graduated filters, soft focus filters and other fun filters, if used effectively and sparingly in your photography can add a little fun and an old-school/retro look to your images. Also, although many of the filter effects can now be done digitally with Lightroom or Photoshop, it can take a certain expertise in these programs to make the result look natural. Creating the effects in-camera can be more effective at times and add a fun factor back to your photography.

The Cokin system allows photographers to purchase one filter that can be used on multiple cameras with different filter sizes by simply purchasing an inexpensive step-up ring for your lens. For those cameras that have no ability to add filters, the Cokin system allows the photographer to simply hold the square filter up to the lens to create the effects.

I continue to use Cokin filters in my photography as well as traditional screw-on polarizing filters, and urge readers to consider adding a set to your photographic arsenal.

How important are skunks in our gardens?

An evening of garden photography with a friendly skunk

There is no reason to be afraid of a skunk in your backyard. In fact, skunks are gentle creatures that benefit nature and our environment by controlling insect populations and other unwanted garden visitors particularly the dreaded Japanese beetle, cutworms, hornworms and grubs, along with small rodents like mice and moles.

So, I was thrilled to recently spend some time in the garden and add images of skunks to my collection of garden photography wildlife images.

The negative publicity these animals have to live with struck me the other day when I was sitting in my favourite chair in the garden waiting for the neighbourhood fox to show up. The skunk came in from behind me, (paying no attention to the guy sitting very still in the chair) and proceeded to walk by on her way to another part of the garden. She went unnoticed until I caught the white tail out of the corner of my eye. A beautiful, white fluffy tail carried proudly above her for all to see.

A few weeks earlier the skunk decided to pay me a visit on the patio. I would have let it join me on the patio accept my dog, Holly, was sitting beside me. Thankfully she did not notice the skunk until I quietly asked it to leave the patio with a gentle hand motion and soft, persuasive voice. As soon as it saw me, it moved away just as Holly noticed her. I had my hand on her leash to keep her from going after the skunk. That was another fun adventure but much more stressful with a dog at my side.

There’s no mistaking a skunk for, say, a black squirrel. Although they look similar, they carry themselves quite differently. Unlike the sometimes frenetic pace of black squirrels, skunks move slowly and deliberately, possibly because of their relatively poor eyesight and possibly to let other woodland animals know that they are around.

Our gentle skunk spent the evening with me showing off her beautiful tail and looking for grubs and other insects.

I was lucky enough to spend a few minutes with the skunk as it rooted about the garden not far from me (but far enough.) She did not seem bothered by my camera and flash going off with her every movement. Although I did not hide from her, and was not in my Tragopan blind, she seemed quite happy to go about her business.

Actually, because of her poor eyesight, I’m pretty sure she didn’t even realize I was there, especially considering she was more than happy to make a bee-line directly toward me.

That’s the time our evening photographic adventure came to an abrupt end. When she started moving toward me through the grass where I was sitting, all it took was for me to wave my hand slowly and speak gently to her for the little skunk to realize it might be better for her to head in another direction. She abruptly turned around and waddled off into the ferns to go dig up some more grubs.

It was a great garden photography encounter and one I’ll not soon forget.

What’s my favourite garden photography wildlife lens?

What made the encounter a little more unusual was that there was still plenty of light left in the sky and, although I used the flash at times hoping to create a catch light in the skunk’s little eyes, I much preferred the more natural images taken without flash on my Pentax K5 DSLR fitted with my favourite wildlife lens – the FA300mm F4.5. Originally built for film cameras, the smaller sensor in the K5 gives users an effective 420mm F4.5 focal length. I have a 1.4 converter that I use occasionally to get in even closer.

The white stripe starts on its head, runs the entire length of its body and explodes on its magnificent tail.

Skunks help rid your garden of snakes

Did you know that, much like opossums, skunks are immune to snake venom and are more than happy to rid your garden of poisonous snakes. We don’t have any poisonous snakes where I live so I’d prefer our little skunk keeps mice and voles and other critters in check rather than kill the few snakes I’ve seen in the garden.

Keep skunks safe in your backyard

In our backyards, as long as we do NOT use pesticides, skunks are safe from their biggest cause of death.

Weak eyesight means that skunks’ greatest threat is being hit by cars and trucks while they are trying to cross a road. The evidence is hard not to notice when out for a drive. If you don’t see them lying dead on the road, you certainly smell the results of the collision.

In our garden, it is more likely they will fall victim to a Great Horned Owl who are one of the few birds or animals that see the little stinkers as prey. Turns out Great Horned owls’ lack the sense of smell needed to be repulsed by the odour skunks use as a self defence. That makes them easy, slow moving prey for the owls massive claws.

These fox kits seemed to enjoy playing with the dead skunk more than anything else. The den was situated beside a road so I suspect that it was killed by a car and salvaged my the mother fox for her kits. And yes, it did smell but not too bad.

Do fox consider skunks prey?

I have photographed a dead skunk outside an active fox den (see above) but I suspect that the skunk was a victim of a car rather than the mother fox. In fact, I have watched on our trail camera video of a fox and skunk interacting, and neither was looking for a fight.

Although coyotes, foxes, dogs, bobcats, mountain lions, badgers and big owls are known to eat skunks, few put it anywhere near the top of their list of fine dining.

So I don’t think skunks need to fear a fox or other large predators despite the fact that they will eat them if they find a skunk as road kill.

Are skunks a threat to my family?

Skunks are not a threat to our families. They can be an annoyance for dog owners if a family of skunks decide to build a nest under our deck or shed. If you don’t want them there, ensure that efforts are made to keep them from getting under decks by installing fencing that reaches under the ground and makes it difficult for them to dig under it.

It’s not fair to the animals to move them once they have had their families under your deck. Take steps to encourage them to eventually move on from under the deck (playing music in the area of the den), in the meantime, keep your dog away from the area until the skunks leave. Your dog will survive with daily walks or visits to the local dog park until the skunk family moves on its way.

Skunks can carry rabies, but there is apparently no known deaths caused by contracting rabies from a skunk.

Know when to back off

It’s much more likely you will be sprayed by a skunk rather than bitten by one. It’s important to know, however, that skunks don’t just run around spraying people and dogs at the first chance they get.

The skunk sprays a very strong musk oil from 2 anal glands. Even baby skunks, whose eyes have not yet opened, are capable of spraying in self defence.

Spraying is, however, the last thing skunks want to resort to in self defence because, once they use all their spray, they are left completely defenceless for up to ten days – the length of time it takes for the skunk to replace the musk.

Well before a skunk sprays, it will give you a warning to back off. First it stomps its feet on the ground and hisses making it clear it is very uncomfortable with your presence. It will make their bodies in a u-shape before aiming its anal glands at its unfortunate victim. That’s a good time to gently and slowly back off making it clear that you are no threat.

Why did I get sprayed by a skunk?

People are most often sprayed when they surprise a skunk in very close proximity and don’t have time to assure it that you are no threat. It’s a good idea to always expect a skunk as evening sets upon us. Keep an eye out for them when stepping outdoor into your garden and avoid sudden movements that might be mistaken as a threat. If you are with your dog, be sure to keep it on at SHORT LEASE rather than a retractible one that is best left for walks during daylight hours.

Are there different varieties of skunks?

There are actually 12 different species of skunks but not all of them live in North America. Skunks can also be found in South America, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Striped skunks: Most of us are familiar with the cat-sized striped skunk with the white stripe down the middle stretching through its long black tail. They are the ones at home in the woodland as well as in suburban areas.

Spotted skunks: have three white spots on their faces and four more on their backs in addition to six stripes on their tails. These guys are more the size of squirrels and like to climb trees. These are the fellas who stand on their front paws to take aim at their victims. These skunks can be found in the eastern U.S., Mexico, and more rarely in southern Ontario, Canada. The Mexican pygmy spotted skunk is more the size of a rat and is considered the smallest and rarest of our skunk species.

Hooded skunks: An interesting skunk with faces that are framed by a shaggy white mane that covers the tops of their bodies from head to the tip of their tails. It’s unlikely you will come across this species unless you are hiking in rocky areas of southwestern North and Central America where they live in burrows near streams where they survive primarily on insects.

Hog-Nosed skunks: These skunks feature pig-like snouts that help them root for food in their southwestern U.S. homes or in Central and South America where three other species of the hog-nosed skunk can be found.

Stink Badgers: Recently welcomed into the skunk family in 1990 are found in parts of Indonesia, Philippines.

Check out my article on getting prepared in advance for a skunking. Hint: make sure you have hydrogen peroxide and baking soda handy. Forget the tomato juice unless you enjoy smelling like tomato juice and musk.

Monarda and Cardinal flowers: Native reds Hummingbirds can’t resist

A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird works the bright red Bee Balm.

Add these two fine reds to your garden and enjoy the pollinator party

Hummingbirds love reds and the combination of Monarda and Cardinal flowers prove just too irrisistable for them.

You could almost say these native red flowers combine the natural sweet flavours that keep our hummingbirds, bees and butterflies drunk with excitement over the natural abundance of their favourite food. But, that might be pushing the whole red wine thing a little too far.

In our garden, the Monarda begins to bloom in early July and the hummingbirds quickly add them to their daily feeding rounds. I notice, however, that the Cardinal flowers – growing just a few feet away – are not far behind the Monarda. Within weeks the area beside our patio will be a haven for hummingbirds looking to fill up on the sweet natural nectar that these two native reds provide.

If you are looking for more information on growing native flowers, you might be interested in going to my comprehensive article: Why we should use native plants in our gardens.

Our feeders, too, are nearby but given the choice, Hummers will prefer to visit the more natural nectar sources. It’s a good idea to keep this in mind when you are trying to attract hummingbirds and other garden pollinators. Provide their natural food and chances are they’ll visit more often and stay longer.

If using native plants to feed birds and pollinators in your garden interests you, you might want to check out this post on feeding birds on a budget.

Create a natural stage for Garden photography

In addition, the more natural stage for the hummingbirds and butterflies will turn you into a master when in comes to garden photography. There’s nothing like the male Ruby-throated Hummingbird, with its red throat, working the bright red Monarda and scarlet Cardinal flowers. Set up your camera and telephoto lens nearby, grab a glass of your own favourite “red” and just wait for the hummingbirds to arrive. It shouldn’t take long before you are rewarded with some great photographs.

How to grow Bee Balm (Monarda)

Monarda (Monarda didyma) often referred to as Bee Balm is a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae). It joins Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), that features light lavender to pinkish-white flowers, in the Lamiaceae family that counts 16 species native to North America.

(Go here for my full story on Wild Bergamot )

Monarda can really put on a show. Blooming for up to 6 weeks through mid summer to early fall on tall (up to 4 feet), sturdy square and hollow stems, these attractive perennials have deep roots with shallow rhizomes that account for its spreading habit. It can form large drifts in your garden creating a magnet for hummingbirds and other pollinators including those cool Clearwing hummingbird moths, native bees including bumblebees and, of course, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.

Like it’s sister, Wild Bergamot, the Monarda flower is actually a cluster of 20 or more flowers (fistulosa) arranged in a round head. The fistulosa (tubular or pipe shapes) make them ideal for long-tongued insects, bees, moths and butterflies to feed on. The plants’ nectar is so sought after by insects that you may notice holes carved out of the flower stems where “tongue-challenged” insects have bore through to get at the nectar.

The plants easily take to a garden and are at home growing along other garden plants, in a sunny meadow-style planting or as specimens in sun, part-shade. Bee balm actually prefers average soil (too rich and you are liable to have tall, lanky plants that don’t hold up well on their own.) Powdery mildew can be a problem if the plants are grown in a wet, humid area without good airflow.

Keep the plants watered but not wet and you’ll be blessed with a great show all summer.

• If you are considering creating a meadow in your front or backyard, be sure to check out The Making of a Meadow post for a landscape designer’s take on making a meadow in her own front yard.

How to grow Cardinal flowers

Cardinal flowers prefer a more wet environment than Monarda so growing them side-by-side will be difficult. Ours grow several feet apart and through hand watering I am able to keep the Cardinal flowers’ feet in more moist soil. Our Cardinal flowers have found a home on the outside edge of a yellow magnolia so also get get less sun than the Monarda plants.

Take a moment to check out my full feature on growing the native Cardinal flower.

Cardinal flowers are considered short-lived perennial but by spreading the seed in your garden, you can enjoy the flowers for years to come. Try placing the spent flower heads atop the soil in a moist part of the garden and you should be blessed with more and more flowers each year. They grow on long spires that can reach up to 4 feet. The flowers bloom as they make their way up the stalk.

In conclusion: Two reds can make a right

Planning your patio should involve more than where the best seating options are, unless, of course, you’re planning the seating options around the best wildlife viewing spots. By making an effort to plant attractive native plants such as Cardinal flower and Bee balm that attract hummingbirds, butterflies and birds, your patio or deck transforms from just a place to sit and entertain, into a place to be entertained.

As summer heats up, I can’t imagine a better time than being outdoors on the patio or deck with my favourite red and a couple of feathered friends dropping by on regular visits.

Ten tips for great garden and flower photography

This female Ruby-throated hummingbird was caught feeding on the Monarda. An off-camera flash helped to freeze motion and create a lovely highlight in the bird’s eye.

Grab a coffee a camera and get some great garden and flower photos

Capturing memorable garden and flower photographs involves a combination of great light, creative vision and attention to technique.

It might be hard to believe – given the push for better and more expensive cameras – but these three factors are more important than the type of camera or lens you use.

Having a good camera can certainly take your flower photography images up a level and, at times, help you capture photographs that might otherwise be almost impossible to obtain with lower quality equipment or cameras and lenses that are less capable. But don’t let the quality or the price tag of your camera stop you from jumping in with both feet into garden and flower photography. In fact, your smartphone might be all you need to begin exploring the joy of garden and flower photography.

Be sure to check out my comprehensive post on Garden Flower Photography for more information.

It’s better to have a camera you understand and know how to get the most out of, than carry around an expensive camera that you set on auto and hope for the best.

Is the Fujifilm X10 possibly the best camera for garden photography? Check out my review of the high-end compact camera after owning it for 10 years and find out if it may be the perfect choice for the Best Garden photography camera.

A hummingbird sips nectar from salvia. This image is the result of sitting out in the early morning and watching the hummingbird visit the flowers in a nearby container. A little flash added sparkle to the image.

Getting the best camera you can afford either new or used will help set you on the right path. If you are thinking about upgrading from your smart phone, be sure to check out my comprehensive look at the Best Cameras and Lenses for Garden Photography.

If photographing birds and wildlife is your goal but you lack the expensive lenses to get you in close, there are options that you can take advantage of to help you capture these images. I have found a backyard photo blind from Tragopan Photo blinds to be incredibly helpful to get in close to birds, foxes and other wildlife. If you are interested in pursuing backyard wildlife photography, be sure to check out my article on Photography blinds.

It’s easy to put your garden in the best light

One of the greatest benefits to photographing your own garden is that you can return regularly to ensure you capture the subject in the best light, whether that’s in the early morning, in spring when the greens look their best, or in the dying days of summer when late-season grasses steal the show. When I say best light, I don’t mean strong mid-day sun.

Look for soft overcast light or situations when there is a lot of cloud cover to soften the shadows in your pictures.

Having your subject outside your back door certainly has its benefits. The fact the garden is right outside your door allows you to wait for days with good lighting to take your images. During or right after a rain is usually an excellent time to photograph your garden. Light foggy days in early morning also lends itself to potentially great images.

Moving in close with a true macro lens will allow you to create interesting images that are not easily seen by most gardeners.

Understanding great light for photography will also prepare you to capture beautiful images on vacation or on special occassions.

Be sure to check out my article on some of the best public Woodland gardens in the United States, and the best Woodland/public gardens in Canada to plan your vacation around.

Here are ten tips to help you capture memorable images of your garden or a public garden.

1. Get up early with your coffee and a camera

2. Take a walk with your favourite camera

3. Move in to get up close and personal with your subjects

4. Get down and dirty in the garden

5. Put something cool or colourful in the foreground

6. Telephotos aren’t just for wildlife

7. Who said everything has to be sharp?

8. Filters are great fun in the garden

9. Be a rebel: just go ahead and break the rules

10. Don’t be afraid. Show some courage and creativity

Morning light filters through the trees onto our fern glen. Underexposing the scene helped to bring out the rays of sun in the image.

Tip #1: Capture the early-morning light

Get up early. That’s the first and most important tip I have. If you do anything, make sure your first cup of coffee in the morning is outdoors and your camera is at your side. The earlier the better. At times, you’ll be blessed with morning dew, other times maybe a little fog or sunbeams streaming through the trees.

There is nothing like sitting on the patio or deck with your coffee watching how the early-morning light kisses the tops of trees before it bathes the garden in a beautiful, soft, warm light. You never know what subjects might present themselves. Many times I’ve been out and a young fox comes into the garden, or a doe and her fawn. Maybe a bird lands in a nearby tree within range of your camera and provides the perfect opportunity to capture a memorable moment.

Early morning dew on this skipper is the result of getting up early and capturing this tiny butterfly before the sun has burned off the dew and warmed the butterfly enough to allow it to fly off.

You need to be out there, sitting quietly with your camera at ready and watching for these special moments. And if the weekends are the only time you can swing it, make a date with yourself, your camera and a good coffee this weekend and every weekend possible in the spring through to the fall.

There is no question that having a small, high quality compact camera to carry around the garden is a real benefit. A compact Travel camera or a Bridge camera might be the perfect option for the morning walk about.

If you are considering upgrading your cameras and lenses, be sure to check out the daily offerings at KEH Camera Exchange.

Not many people want to carry a large, heavy DSLR around the garden in the morning.

Capturing a memorable moment in the garden is great, but simply being out in the garden in beautiful light studying how it moves across your landscape is a valuable learning opportunity. Knowing that at a certain time in the morning, light skips across the Monarda lighting it up against a dark background is an opportunity to set up a tripod and capture the moment a hummingbird or butterfly visits.

Tip #2: Take a walk in the garden

While you are up early enjoying your first cup of coffee, go for a walk in the garden. Notice what flowers are about to bloom. Notice how, when you are at the far end of the garden, the rising sun lights up the drift of rudbeckia in a way that is unnoticeable from the deck.

Take that picture now remembering to expose for the brightly lit flowers and not the entire scene. You are probably going to need to underexpose the scene to capture that ray of sunshine on the flowers, rather than setting the camera on automatic and accepting the resulting image. (Or you can walk up to the flowers and take an exposure reading directly), lock that in and step back to capture the scene.

Most mornings, I take my camera and walk around the garden looking for unusual lighting situations and noticing what flowers are preparing to bloom. Maybe there’s a butterfly sitting quietly warming its wings in the morning light, a toad taking shelter under a leaf or a flower about to bloom. Maybe it’s just the way the light hits the fountain grass.

If you are not a morning person, or it’s impossible to get out in the morning with your camera, take the time, instead, to walk the garden most evenings. The warm evening light has many of the same qualities as morning light and can show the garden in different but equally beautiful ways.

Walking around the garden with camera in hand, whether it’s morning or evening, is both an opportunity to capture images as well as get in touch with the finer details of your gardens.

A longer lens helps to create a soft background in this image, which helps to make the chipmunk stand out more.

Tip #3: Make sure your camera has a macro or close-up lens

Being able to capture close-up images of flowers, butterflies and insects is an important part of making interesting images of your garden. Mastering macro photography involves specialized, expensive equipment, but getting good close-up images is not that difficult with today’s modern digital cameras and lenses.

Most compact and Bridge cameras have macro or close-focus capabilities built into them. These may not allow you to get a 1:1 magnification ratio, but we are not doing scientific work here. If they allow you to move in close, it’s probably all we need.

For true macro capabilities you will need specialized macro lenses likely in the 50mm to 100mm range. There are 200mm macro lenses that allow you to get much closer to subjects while being able to keep a good working distance between you and the subject. These lenses demand the photographer use a tripod and or flash systems to get the best results.

If flower photography is your goal, close focus capabilities in most compact cameras are more than enough to get the job done.

If you are hand holding your camera to do close-up images, it’s a good idea to boost your ISO up to increase your shutter speed and help you get sharper images.

Following a butterfly around your garden trying to get it to rest on a flower can be challenging, but if you find one in the morning before the sun warms it, you will be blessed with the opportunity to capture the image without it quickly flying off. If you are lucky, you may be able to capture it covered in morning dew.

In the film days when ISO topped out at between 64-100, taking macro shots involved almost always using a tripod. Today’s digital cameras’ ISO can be boosted to astronomical numbers allowing you to hand-hold many of the images. Try setting your ISO at 6400 and check out the results. If the images are not to your liking, bring it back to lower numbers until the noise (grain) is acceptable.

Experiment with your close-focus capabilities to get comfortable with it so when the Giant Eastern Swallowtail visits your garden and spends some time on your butterfly weed you’ll be ready for it.

Getting down close to ground level helps create a more pleasing image of these anemones. Shooting them from a higher angle would have resulted in a background that included either soil or mulch.

Tip #4: Get down low

It’s rarely a good idea to stand over a plant and shoot down at it. That also holds true for animals, birds and most insects. It’s usually best to shoot your subjects at eye level. For flowers, that usually means getting down on your knees to capture images and eliminate the garden soil or mulch from the image.

By getting down low on a drift of flowers, you can use the other flowers to give you a pleasing background, or shoot through the foreground flowers to create a dreamy look using the out-of-focus foreground and background flowers to isolate a single in-focus flower.

If getting down low is getting difficult, having a screen that tilts up and allows you to look down at the screen can be a valuable feature when you are considering purchasing a camera. Many of today’s cameras offer screens that can be tilted.

The foreground flowers create a centre of interest and help to create a more three dimensional feeling.

Tip #5: Include a strong foreground element

Photographing large expanses of your garden may seem like a good idea, but unless you include a strong foreground object chances are you’ll be unhappy with the results. A wide angle setting on your campact camera, or a wide angle lens on your camera really benefits from having a strong foreground object such as a drift of flowers, garden art or another element that helps to draw your eye into the garden. Having a dominant foreground element helps to give depth to the image and provides a strong centre of interest for the viewer.

Focus on the foreground element and use a large depth of field (higher aperture like F8- F11 or even F16) to ensure the entire image is in focus.

Tip #6: Use your telephoto to simplify the image

A telephoto lens is not just for capturing wildlife and they are not designed for photographers who can’t be bothered to get up to walk over to their subjects. (Although they can be helpful in this regard for us lazy photographers.)

The telephoto lens has many redeeming factors, not the least being a great tool to simplify an otherwise busy garden scene. By moving in close, it’s easier to isolate one flower or a group of flowers to simplify the image. Of course, they are useful for capturing wildlife in the garden as well. A 200mm lens, for example, would enable you to photograph a butterfly while still giving it enough space to not feel threatened.

A telephoto lens allows you to move in close on small subjects and create a very soft background.

Tip #7: Use the telephoto to soften the background

It’s much easier to soften a background to isolate a subject if you are using a longer telephoto lens. Fast lenses (ones that open to F2.8 for example) can create beautifully soft backgrounds.

Lenses that do not usually open up enough to soften the image to your liking, can still be used to create a soft background. Try finding an angle to your subject where the background is farther away. That longer distance will help create the softer, out-of-focus background even for lenses that normally do not create that effect.

Public gardens can be a great place to practise your garden photography.

Tip #8: Experiment with your tools and camera settings

Photographing in your garden is the perfect opportunity to experiment. All those built-in filters in your camera are there for a reason and many of them can be used to great effect in garden photography. For example, consider shooting your garden entirely in B&W. (Check out my full story on B&W garden photography). Most cameras these days have a black and white setting. Look for strong graphic elements in the garden like backlighting or strong side light.

Experiment with the vibrant colour filter setting to punch up the colour on your flowers. My Fujifilm camera, for example, has a setting for shooting Velvia-style images. If you are not familiar with Velvia, it was a highly praised slide film that eventually edged out Kodachrome as the favourite film used by nature photographers looking for more saturated colours. Kodachrome was ISO 64, while Fuji’s Velvia came in at ISO 50. Fuji cameras are now able to offer a Velvia-like image at much higher ISO ratings. A feature that film photographers couldn’t even dream about back in the day.

Other cameras offer similar highly saturated colour filters, some better than others.

While many of the built-in filters look unnatural in garden photography, the soft focus filter can create beautiful results. Most often used for portraits, a soft focus filter can add a dreamy almost romantic look to your garden photography.

Another filter worth experimenting with is a high-key filter that enhances images with light-coloured flowers in white, pink or soft blues and violets.

Don’t be afraid to have fun in the garden, wither by using filters or using selective focus to create dreamy images like the one above.

Tip #9: Follow the rules and then break them

There are a lot of long-standing design rules in photography to help you create pleasing pictures. The first, and probably the most important is the rule of thirds. In fact, most cameras have a built in grid to help photographers with their compositions and take advantage of the rule of thirds. A setting in the camera’s menu gives photographers the choice of setting up a grid system that is digitally overlaid on your camera’s screen. Where the lines intersect on the screen represents strong points to place a centre of interest in your image.

I almost always set up my cameras to include a grid system which also helps me keep the horizons straight.

Take some time to learn basic rules of composition and then, when you understand them, feel free to break them. By breaking the rules, you create tension or intrique in your photographs that, when done successfully, can result in a dynamic image.

One helpful rule is ensuring that any movement in your image has more space in front of it than behind it.

The rule: A bird flying left to right needs more space in front of it to fly into than is behind it. Ideally, you would want the bird at one of the intersecting lines in your rule of thirds grid pattern on the left side of the frame. That would give you a pleasing, natural image which would score well at your local camera club.

Try putting that bird in the intersection of lines on the right side of the frame and your image becomes potentially more dynamic. A bird flying out of the frame rather than into the frame of view is often seen as an error by the photographer. If, however, it is balanced by say a beam of light filling the left side of the frame or maybe a colourful drift of plants, than the image could be a show stopper despite breaking the rule.

The key to success is knowing the rules of composition and knowing when to break them.

Know the rules of composition and then feel free to break them. In this image the bird appears to be looking out of the image, but the tree branches leaning in from the left help to balance the image and makes breaking the rules of composition work.

Tip #10: Don’t be afraid to fail

It’s garden photography folks, there is no pressure here.

Shoot often, shoot regularly, experiment and have fun. Many of us have cameras that sit in a desk drawer only to get pulled out during holidays or special events. Your garden gives you the opportunity to get out daily or weekly to use your camera and experiment with it. It should be fun creating images.

Bring your kids or pets out to the garden and photograph them in it. Set up a bird feeder or bird bath near where you normally sit and experiment with your camera(s).

Finally, when you have built up a large collection of garden images, consider putting them together in your own personal Garden photography book. (Link to my story on creating a personalized garden book). Putting the book together is a wonderfully creative exercise that results in a keepsake, a memory of your garden and the wildlife that visit it.

Tips for Sharing your images on social media

Sharing your garden images on social media is one of the benefits of modern digital cameras. Here are some suggested sizes for posting your images on some of the popular social media sites.

If none of this makes any sense to you, just upload the pictures and don’t worry about it.

• Facebook: For your Facebook feed, try 1080 X1350 pixels. For Facebook stories, try 1080 X 1920

• Instagram: photos were once optimized as square 1080 x 1080, but have evolved to become more vertical to better fit smartphone screens. The ideal Instagram portrait aspect ratio is now 4:5, and the best photo size is 1080px by 1350px. For Instagram stories try 1080 X 1920 for best results.

• Tumblr: 500 x 250

• Twitter: For best profile image try 400 X400 pixels. For header photos, try 1500 X500 pixels and for in-stream photos go with 1600 X 1900 pixels.

Focus on Cardinal flowers to attract hummingbirds

North American native flower that attracts hummingbirds and butterflies

The Cardinal Flower is as close to a guarantee of attracting hummingbirds to your garden as anything, other than maybe a commercial feeder.

But the cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis L.), with its spires of scarlet tubular flowers, is certainly more attractive growing throughout the garden than any commercial feeder could ever hope to be.

Be sure to check out my earlier article on how to photograph hummingbirds in the garden and my comprehensive post on Flower photography in the garden.

Adding to its attractive qualities is the fact it is native throughout parts of North America in both the United States and Canada, blooms for a month or longer later in the summer, is slightly aromatic, and is a nectar source not only for hummingbirds but also swallowtail butterflies and other insects and butterflies. The scarlet-coloured wildflower, with delicate blossoms that open from bottom to top on spikes that can reach between two to four feet in height, is a member of the Bluebell family.

If you are looking for more information on growing native flowers, you might be interested in going to my comprehensive article: Why we should use native plants in our gardens.

Here, a Ruby-throated hummingbird feeds at a Cardinal flower a little later in the season. You can see how the flowers on the very top of the plant after earlier blooms have died off leaving a pod of seeds which should be sprinkled about the ground.

What are good companion plants for Cardinal flower?

It’s as much at home in a woodland or shade garden surrounded by hostas and ferns that also enjoy plenty of moisture, as it is as a specimen plant stealing the show in a small, contemporary garden alongside a man-made stream. Look to pair the Cardinal flower with moisture-loving plants that will live happily alongside Cardinal flower.

Where to plant Cardinal flower to easily capture great hummingbird photos

For garden photographers, the plants’ elegant spires stretching up against a blue sky is reason enough to include them in the garden. But the real reason to plant Cardinal flower en-masse is to catch an image of a hummingbird in its natural environment. It’s hard to imagine a more perfect flower to plant in your garden to show off our beautiful hummingbirds in a more natural setting. Plan to spend time, however, working the hummingbird/flower combination. Getting the right light to stop the frenetic motion of the hummingbird requires patience, luck and good lighting.

“Hoping to bring the plant back into the fold, this time in a lower garden within the stone terrace, I picked a seed stalk and placed it on bare soil in a gap next to the flagstones. The next year a seedling sprouted from the gap, and the following year it flowered and went to seed. hundreds of seedlings emerged in the cracks between the stones in the terrace next year. The year after that, a few of these plants flowered and the following year the terrace was a sea of red cardinal flowers. A pair of hummingbirds hovered over the terrace all summer, and my main task was to remove enough of the lush red flowered growth to create paths and a place for my dining table. ”

— Larry Weaner, Garden Revolution

I have a nice patch of the flowers growing near my favourite patio chair allowing me to easily photograph the tiny, frenetic birds from the comfort of my favourite chair with a coffee – or even better – a glass of wine.

One of the other benefits of planting Cardinal flowers near a patio is the ease of keeping the soil around the plants moist. Hanging baskets and other container plants around our patio get watered daily, so it’s easy enough to water the Cardinal flowers at the same time.

Don’t mistake the plants for weeds. The plants themselves, which appear in spring as dark green leaves, are tapered at both ends. The flowers appear later in summer – July and August – depending on your location.

A cardinal flower in full bloom with the flowers running up the large 2 to 4ft spikes.

Do deer eat Cardinal flowers?

For those of us who are lucky enough to share our backyard with deer, Cardinal flowers have proven to be extremely deer resistant. This might be because all the parts of the plant are considered toxic if eaten in large quantities.

Where do Cardinal flowers grow?

In nature, you’ll find them growing on the edge of woodlands, the banks of streams, near lakes or ponds and swamps. Yes, you can often find them growing happily in moist, wet areas, but you’ll also find them along ditches, along roadsides, in ravines prairies, meadows and even in pastures.

Are Cardinal Flowers native to New England and other areas of the United States?

In the United States they are found growing naturally from Minnesota, south to Florida, Texas and California. They are also native to New England. They are also at home throughout Mexico and through Central and South America.

In Canada, Cardinal flower is native from New Brunswick through parts of Ontario, including down through southern Ontario and throughout the Carolinian zone. In colder areas, adding a mulch layer of leaves over the winter will provide needed protection.

To grow them successfully the plants’ roots need to be kept moist, even wet, but the plants can grow in sun, part shade right through to deeper shade. They prefer to grow in a humus-rich soil, but can do well in medium loam, clay loam and sandy loam.

Cardinal flowers can be easy to grow

In the right conditions, Cardinal flowers are easy-to-grow perennials and will spread in the garden to create lovely drifts of intense flowers. They can, however, disappear quickly if they are not provided with the right conditions because individual plants are actually short-lived perennials. It’s important to allow the plants to reseed themselves in the garden to keep them prospering for years.

Do not cut down the dead and dying stalks without at first distributing the seeds around where they are growing. The seeds need cold stratification to germinate the following spring. One way to better ensure success is to lay the flower stems with seeds in them on top of soil so the seeds disperse and spread on their own. In the picture below, from the book Garden Revolution (link to my review of the book), seeds from a single plant made their way down the terrace following heavy rains a reseeded.

The image of Cardinal flowers taken from the inspiring book Garden Revolution, shows just how spectacular the plant can be in the landscape. These flowers were all grown from a single plant’s seeds spread about the terrace from rains.

In conclusion

It may take a little effort finding native Cardinal flower, but the effort is certainly worthwhile. Not only are they impressive in the landscape all on their own, but the fact they bring our landscapes to life with hummingbirds, butterflies and other pollinators makes them indespensible in our woodland gardens.

In the book Garden Revolution, How our landscapes can be a source of environmental change, (Ferns and Feather book review link) authors Larry Weaner and Thomas Christopher tell the story about how Cardinal flowers played a major role in shaping how they changed their approach to landscaping. Weaner describes his special relationship with the plant in his garden: “A number of years passed and I saw no Cardinal flowers in my yard until one spindly plant emerged from between a grouping of stones. Hoping to bring the plant back into the fold, this time in a lower garden within the stone terrace, I picked a seed stalk and placed it on bare soil in a gap next to the flagstones. The next year a seedling sprouted from the gap, and the following year it flowered and went to seed. hundreds of seedlings emerged in the cracks between the stones in the terrace next year. The year after that, a few of these plants flowered and the following year the terrace was a sea of red cardinal flowers. A pair of hummingbirds hovered over the terrace all summer, and my main task was to remove enough of the lush red flowered growth to create paths and a place for my dining table.”

The image included in the book (above) of a sea of red spikes surrounding the terrace should convince everyone who is not growing Cardinal flower to track them down and get them into the ground as soon as possible.

Solomon’s seal is solid choice for the woodland or shade garden

Is Solomon’s seal a native North American wildflower?

Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum), with its elegant arching stems that rise up in clumps through the forest floor, deserves a prominent place in any woodland garden.

This unassuming, eastern North American native plant is completely at home in the woodland or shade/semi-shade garden where it forms patches of attractive plants that spread – always under control – through underground rhizones.

The Graceful arches of the Solomon’s seal reveal the drooping creamy flowers dangling from beneath the leaves.

Like a lovely hosta, Solomon’s Seal is more of a textural plant that might not steal the show with colourful flowers in early spring or even striking berries. Instead, this native wildflower quietly reveals itself in early spring as individual, zig-zag arching stalks that will eventually stretch out to 1-5 ft. long, begin to emerge from the soil. Solomon’s seal has alternate, smooth leaves that grow up to six inches long and about three inches wide with parallel veins. A waxy coating on the round, smooth stems creates a blue-green colour.

How to use Solomon’s seal in the landscape

In the landscape, the Solomon’s seal are best used as an understory plant that helps create height with its arching stems and attractive leaves.

Eventually, clusters of up to one to four white or off-white tubular-shaped flowers dangle beneath the lance-shaped leaves. The flowers grow to about half-inch to 1-inch long.

A variegated form is available that adds a little more interest to the plant if the all-green variety just doesn’t cut it for you.

Although the plant is attractive throughout the spring and summer, its fall foliage really shines in the woodland garden. The arching stems turn a bright yellow as they age and become tattered over time.

For more on using Solomon’s seal in the garden, take a moment to read my article on using textural plants in the landscape.

How to grow Solomon’s seal

Like many native woodland flowers, Solomon’s seal will grow best in moist, loamy, woodsy soil in light shade. Don’t be afraid to cover them in late fall with fallen leaves to protect the clumps during freezing temperatures and eventually build up the soil around the plants.

Solomon’s seal arching branches show off the cream flowers following a spring rain.

In our landscape

We have had both the more common green native plant as well as the variegated form in our front woodland garden for several years where it happily grows through the ground covers creating interesting form for visitors walking up our garden path.

Do Solomon’s seal attract pollinators?

Because it is another early spring bloomer, Solomon’s Seal is an important plant for pollinators ranging from a variety of native bees, including (Bumble bees, digger bees) that gather nectar and pollen from the white or creamy flowers.

Do Solomon’s seal attract hummingbirds?

In addition, Ruby-throated hummingbirds take advantage of the early flowering plants as a source of nectar flying beneath the leaves to sip from the druping, tubular flowers.

Solomon’s seal shows its early fall colours in this image. The native plant is a highlight in the fall garden as yellow slowly envelops the entire plant.

What birds eat the berries from Solomon’s seal?

In late summer, woodland birds will zero in on the resulting blue berries providing nourishment to the birds that help to spread the seeds throughout the garden. The berries are eaten by Eastern Bluebirds, Hermit Thrush, American Robins, Veery and Wood Thrush. In addition the native wildflower attracts insects, which, in turn, help to attract insectivorous birds looking for a quick meal.

I would like to say that the native plants are deer resistant, but they are not. Don’t be surprised if you go out in the morning to find many of the plants munched by our four-legged friends. Deer predation is no reason not to grow these native plants. Instead, think of them as a little natural food for our forest friends.