Back Where It All Began

Just a quick post--mostly pictures--of a recent trip that I took home to Kansas. After speaking in Kansas City, I spent a couple of days with my parents and managed to get out with the camera a time or two.  I love sharing the back roads and Kansas has plenty of them to discover!

A sepia tone version of the old grain elevator at Lasita, Kansas. Now a ghost town, Lasita was once an important stop on the LK&W Railroad.

Looking out across the prairie, trees were always an indication that fresh water--a river, creek, stream, or spring, was nearby. Cottonwoods, in particular, were indicators of fresh water.

Watercress (with the round leaves) is an edible green that only grows in the freshest, cleanest water sources. You'll rarely, if ever, find it growing in a sluggish, muddy stream. It is always in the cleanest, clearest streams and springs. Here, it grows with a tiny species of Equisetum, also known as horsetail or scouring rush.

The water in this spring is so clean! Everything in the photograph is underwater, even though it looks like the upper portion of the photo may be the creek bank. I assure you it's not!

There are no trees I love more than these big, old burr oaks that have been standing on the prairie for a century or more (some of them two centuries, easily).

These old back roads are the roads of  my childhood, where we would go fishing, exploring, or just out for a Sunday drive. There were many Sunday afternoons spent on these old roads with my grandfather.

Pillsbury Crossing, near Manhattan, KS, was a flat, shallow, stone ledge in the river where, unless it had just rained, the water ran only 3 or 4 inches deep over the rock. It was a very popular crossing for wagon trains as the settlers expanded westward across the prairie.

Italian Style

One of the fun things I had the pleasure of doing earlier this fall was taking a trip to Italy with a group of five other friends.  We rented a fantastic house (http://www.priello.com/)  up in the hills of the upper Tiber River Valley near the small town of Caprese Michelangelo in the far eastern reaches of Tuscany, where Michelangelo himself was born.  This was my first real vacation in almost 5 years and I have to say, no cell phone, no computer, and no television for an entire week was absolutely divine!  Our beautiful house was surrounded by Tuscan farm land and we backed up to a several thousand acre national forest, complete with wild chestnut trees (the chestnuts were ripening while we were there and I roasted them in the fireplace almost every morning!), wild boar, porcupine and all kinds of other critters, not to mention diverse plant life.

I took more than 1300 photos in the 10 days we were gone and still have many to go through and cull, but I've put together a few of the better ones and thought I'd share them with all of my readers.  I'll show you some of the plant life a little later on, but here are a few of the better landscapes and other shots I took while we were there.

This was sunrise on the first morning we were at Priello, our house in the Tuscan countryside.

Another sunrise shot, with teasel.

This was the largest and oldest chestnut tree on the property.   There were many others, but this was the granddaddy!

Another view out from our house.

The leaning tower.  If you're close by, you have to see it.  The cathedral and baptistry are also magnificent!

A kind of cool black-and-white shot of the outside of cathedral of Pisa.  The leaning tower is "behind" the church and was built as a bell tower.

The town of Lucca.  Exquisite.

The vineyards at Poggio Amorelli, Chianti, where we did a wine and olive oil tasting!

The medieval walled town of Anghiari.  I love the way the statues atop this school are looking out over the city.

The driveway leading up to our little abode, Priello. http://www.priello.com/

Jerome playing with the goats at Valle di Mezzo.  This farm was owned by the same guys who we rented our house from.   They are in the business of making goat cheese and I can tell you, it was fabulous! 

La Bottega, a small restaurant in Volpaia, Italy.  We ate just across the street at a restaurant owned by the same family, but I loved this little entrance garden!

That's all for now!  See you soon!

A Week In Portland

Hi All!  Just a quick note to say hello from the annual Perennial Plant Association conference, this year in Portland, Oregon.  This is my first trip to the Pacific Northwest and it has been absolutely beautiful here.  The weather has been stunning (upper 70's to lower 80's during the day and 60's at night), the plant life is unbelievably beautiful and it's always good to see so many friends who I only get to see a couple of times a year.  Below, you'll find several photos of some of the beautiful places we've had the opportunity to visit this week.

Multnomah Falls

Multnomah Falls

Mt. Hood, from the city of Hood River

Mt. Hood's summit at Timberline Lodge

Portland's Chinese Garden

Portland's Chinese Garden

Portland's Chinese Garden

Portland's Chinese Garden

Terra Nova Nurseries--one of the owners is my good friend Dan Heims, who I've had the pleasure of knowing since he was showing us his latest Heuchera leaves spread out on the hotel room bed during the conference.  We've come a long way since then!

One of Dan's newest Echinaceas (coneflower) called 'Daydream'

Dierama 'Blackbird'.  Unbelievably beautiful and unfortunately one of those plants that most of us don't live in the right climate to grow--or at least grow well.

And finally, whether you love it or not, Echinacea 'Pink Poodle'.  More Portland updates to come!

A Nice "Geographic" Surprise!

So I was working on a few things for the website yesterday--technical stuff mostly--and as part of the process I typed my name into "Google" to make sure that if anyone searched for me by name that it did, indeed, direct them to my website. It does. Good news.

While I was there (on Google) I thought I'd nose around a bit and see what people were saying about me and where I've ended up over the past few weeks and months. It's always interesting to see because the various magazine articles, newspaper interviews and other media appearances are now frequently shared in digital, online formats and you never know for sure who's going to pick it up and print it in another part of the country or world. I've been amazed at some of the places I've found myself! All good, mind you.

Much to my surprise I saw a headline that said something about "National Geographic". I immediately dismissed it as another Troy Marden (oddly, there are a couple of us running around) and went on. About two pages later, though, I saw a second headline that said "National Geographic" and had my name in the bylines, so I thought I'd better check it out. I'm so glad I did! National Geographic magazine has an online photo forum that anyone in the world can join--professional or amateur photographers--and post their photos for ratings by others AND the opportunity, just maybe, to have your photo selected as "Photo of the Week".

Needless to say, I clicked on the link and the surprise that awaited me was that TWO of my photos had been selected to run in an article for National Geographic Traveler magazine. What a nice surprise! Between that and the absolutely stunning weather we're having right now, it has been a good week. You can see the National Geographic Traveler piece here:

http://traveler.nationalgeographic.com/drives/brandywine-valley/1

The opening shot of the gazebo at Longwood Gardens is mine, as is the photo on page 2 (scroll to the bottom of the page and click "next") of the oval spiral staircase at Winterthur.

Coming next week--"Bluebird Blog"!!! I've had a pair of eastern bluebirds nest in an open box atop the potting bench and there are four beautiful eggs. While staying away as much as possible, I can't help peeking from time to time. I'll post some photos of the babies as they grow and develop!

Pumpkin Artistry

Never underestimate the creative mind! For those of you who thought that pumpkins were only good for carving and, perhaps, the occasional pie, I'd like to introduce you to the work of a good friend mine.

Every autumn at the University of Tennessee's West Tennessee Research Station in Jackson, TN, Jason Reeves and his staff create one of the most fun, exciting and dramatic displays of pumpkins, squash and gourds that you can imagine! Not only do they create this incredible display from scratch every year, they also re-design it from the ground up AND (with the help of a few of the research folks) they grow all of the squash, gourds and pumpkins they use in it.

This is a short entry, but I really wanted everyone to see the photos. C-C-COOOOLLLDDD here tonight! 17 degrees fahrenheit. Uggh!

Beauty Unexpected

As a creative person--a designer--I've come to learn that I see things differently than most people. As a gardener and plantsman and someone who appreciates, or at least tries to appreciate, the smallest details of the world around me I've learned that I see beauty and opportunity in places that most people just walk on by. As a photographer, I've learned that even the minutest of details share a kind of beauty that is lost on so many.

Each day I try to find something that offers me a glimpse into this natural beauty that is all around us. Many writers will tell you that they write SOMEthing on a daily basis. It might not be any good, but they write. It might only be a few lines, a scribbled down thought on a legal pad, an idea that has been floating around but never put into words. In much the same way, I carry the camera with me every day. I try take a photograph of something on my way to or from work. Some days it might just be a few snapshots of a job site. Some days I try to be artistic and creative. Some days it works. Some days it is an absolute and utter failure. On the best days, you come away with a few shots that please you. On the rarest days, you come away with something that may eventually get published. But even on the bad days it keeps you looking through the lens, focusing on your subject.

This shot may or may not be one of the greatest shots I've taken, but it's one of those that offers that intimate glimpse of inner beauty that most people just walk on by. I mean, really, how many people do you know who get down on their hands and knees to look underneath a mushroom? Have a beautiful day!

Rare Beauty

Once in a while you time it just right. You're in the right place, at the right time and you actually have the camera in hand! Such was the case the day I was at the Atlanta Botanical Garden in October of 2006. It just so happened that I was visiting on one of only a handful of days that their variegated ginkgo was in its full autumn glory. Those of you who are familiar with ginkgo know that the fall color is stunning, but fleeting. They color up seemingly over night, they show off for a few days to maybe a couple of weeks and then, as quickly as they showed their color, they drop every leaf on the ground. One day they're there and then next, gone. Poof! So I lucked out. I was in the right place at the right time and the accompanying image is the result. And people wonder why I find plants so fascinating.