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Friday, May 23, 2008

A Blast from the Past

This morning my husband asked if he could take the camera to work. There's a Blue Angels air show today at the airport right by Don's office and he wants to take photos.

My mom suggested I go through some old photos and post those and as I was going through my files I came upon one titled 'Garden 2001'. These photos were the earliest digital photos I took. They were shot with an Olympus camedia that had a whopping 1.3 megapixels :-).

As I went through the photos it struck me how different my gardens look today and yet how similar too. The opening shot shows one of my favorite daylilies back then, 'Jeanne Fitton'. It still is a favorite which is amazing in the fast moving daylily world. Not planted in the same spot but still much adored. I have so much of that bluish leaved Sedum telephaeum 'Ruprectii', I need to move it near 'Jeanne Fitton' as they really play nicely together.

This Dicentra spectabilis 'Alba' is still in this spot although it's been divided at least once. The purple alliums are there too although I don't know their name.

Myosotis (Forget me nots) are not in this spot any longer and neither is the Cerastium tomentosum but they have both been reintroduced to my garden last year and now I need to plant them together again!

Another bleeding heart, this one is Dicentra eximia 'Aurora' and it has not survived in this dry root-bound area. Looking at this photo I'm filled with plant lust and must find this cultivar to put in my better shade garden.

A dwarf Platycodon (Balloon flower), not in that spot either now but I do believe it's in another spot along my pool patio.

This statue was photographed in Saratoga Springs New York and I wanted it more than anything I had ever seen before. Although I saw it for sale once thereafter, I did not purchase it as I realized that I'd also need to purchase a bridge. Both troll and bridge are still on my wish list....sigh...

A little vignette in front of my breezeway. This old patio is now covered with lovely stone pavers but all the elements in this photo are still here scattered around the garden. Even many of those stones are now in my sedum/succulent area.

Another incredibly beautiful daylily, 'Tune the Harp' has been divided often but still grows in my garden. As for the Campanula punctata in the back drop, I couldn't get rid of it if I wanted too. Good think I like it :-)

My daughters Lauren and Emily were quite serious about grooming daylilies to enter in the Long Island Daylily Society flower show. I still have them here (the girls) but they're not quite as into the garden as they were back then.

As a closing shot, this was my cottage garden and it made my heart leap with joy when I stood there and gazed upon it. This bed had to be removed when we did the masonry work in front of our house but I still can close my eyes and see the beauty that was there.

Until today I didn't realize that I rarely look at these older digital images.

How far back do your digital images go? Do you look at them often?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is always nice to take a walk down memory lane--and so nice that we can do it so much easier with digital pictures. Your shots were lovely.

Amy said...

This is only my first year photographing the garden, so my images only go back a couple of months. I do look forward to looking back on them someday, as everything right now is a "first". Thanks so much for sharing some photos of your garden's history.

Frances, said...

September 2002. I got my first digital camera and immediately took pictures of the garden, which according to the pictures was planted with nothing but ornamental peppers! Hundreds of pictures of only the peppers, I guess they were the mail colorful thing in the garden then, and some marigolds and zinnias. Why didn't I take photos of the entire garden? Who knows! Thanks for reminding me to go look at the old photos.
Frances

Gail said...

I love looking at older photos of the garden...boy is that a record of change! It also records successes...you have many and failures...don't we all!

I totally get your feelings about your cottage garden, melanie, it was indeed beautiful!

Gail

Unknown said...

Not nearly often enough. I've been thinking about getting one of those digital picture frames so I can look at them more often. I forget what I took pictures of even.

WiseAcre said...

A garden is in a constant state of change. As the moment passes so does the garden never to be the same again. Thank goodness I have a camera to help me remember what once was.

I should look for a homeless Troll for my unoccupied bridge. I'm willing to try anything to keep the Gnomes from using it to get to my garden.

Hermes said...

Thanks for the inspiration about that Dicentra, a real classic. Your daughters will come back to gardening as they stop being distracted by growing up.

Anonymous said...

Your garden was as lovely in 2001 as it is now. I love the troll under the bridge!

One of my favorite things about a garden is that it isn't static...change is good!

Have a good holiday weekend!

Daphne Gould said...

I never took photos of my garden with our first digital camera. We bought it to take pictures of our trip down the Grand Canyon. That was back in '99. I've done so many travel journals since then, but until this year never took photos of the garden.

tina said...

Melanie, That bloom with the forget me nots looks more like candytuft than cerastum tomentosum. It sure is a pretty combination.

garden girl said...

Hi Melanie! I wish I'd taken more photos of my gardens in the past. I'm very new to digital photography - got my first digital camera only about 3 years ago, and it was a far cry from the very nice one I have now. We do have some digital shots of our current garden though, back two years ago compliments of my dear husband who's a much better photographer than I am. I love having the pictures and being able to compare progress from year to year.

Anonymous said...

Always enjoy looking at your pretty garden and the stroll down memory lane was great.

Happy Gardening-

Bev J. in Missouri