Who am I? and other stuff

Spring is right around the bend now and thankfully we have mild temps on the forecast for the next few days. I have tons of work to do in the garden since I haven't really done any this year. A short survey on Saturday found nothing new in bloom since my last post. The hybrid hellebore will open its flowers soon and the Forsythia is in full yellow bud. The main thing that I see when I look out there is~ yikes!~ the ornamental grasses need attention NOW. I love grasses but truly hate the mess that they can make, especially Miscanthus 'Cabaret'



See what I mean?

The reason for the title of this post is this little tuft of grass. Does anyone recognize it? I have a clump of Nasella tenuissima, Mexican Feather Grass or Silky Thread Grass about 3 or 4 feet away. I have not had reseeding from it before to my knowledge but could this be my first? For scale reference the plants surrounding it are common tiny winter weeds.



And now for something completely different~ photo play! This first image is of the winter stems of garlic chives( when do those seeds germinate, btw? That was a big oops.)I used a filter here.



Rudbeckia triloba seedheads~ what should have been my Feb GGW Photo Contest entry for winter light. A different filter used here as well.



I've been having alot of fun with those scripts that I mentioned in my last post. Like giving this garden bunny's fur some rich new highlights...




and making those same garlic chives look sophisticated in bloom...



A fairy tale glow for the Ruellia buds...



and softening this October garden scene.



For these scripts and more visit sheilsoft.com. I purchased the whole collection but many of the individual scripts can be downloaded for free.

A Preview of Spring

Spring is definitely on the horizon here. The pear trees are in full bloom and daffodills everywhere- except here my one clump hasn't bloomed yet. This photo is from a week ago when the weather was warm and these were the first flowers open. This weekend is cold and it has rained continuously keeping me and my camera indoors.

I have been working nonstop between Photoshop and Zazzle. I have added many products and learned new things. What I have not done is much of anything to promote my work( or play as it may be since the promotion would be the work).

Above is an example of a photo that has been altered to look like a painting. Not a dramatic change but what I hope is an improvement. Rudbeckia triloba floats among the foliage of forsythia overshadowed by the seedheads of Eragrostis elliottii, Blue Love Grass.







This is the same planting with a different photo and editing method. With the volume of garden photos in my hard drive and the possibilites of what can be done with them in Photoshop it's no wonder that I can barely pull myself away from the computer. But Spring is on my doorstep and hopefully will return some balance to my world. In the meantime I think I'll do some more uploading...