Image of the day - 2012

[cohan]

Especially choice view/location of the Gentiana, Cliff!

[Howey]

Mark - Ahhh..  Anyway, I have not collected seeds for the seedexes and my single plant is quite a distance from the lawn - however, I'll keep my eye on it.  As you say, it is probably Campanula punctata.  Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

[Tim Ingram]

Crocus are such ephemeral but beautiful plants and I am still surprised to see them in the autumn despite having grown this one, C. speciosus, for many years. These are growing in a bed strongly devoted to bulbs and because it changes so much during the year I have started taking daily pictures with the idea of putting them together as a video. Does anyone have any experience of doing something similar? I think this will probably be a strong learning experience.

[Lori S.]

Very nice, Tim! 
Reminds me of my pitifully small number of Crocus speciosus which have been snow-covered for the past couple of weeks.  It's supposed to melt off this weekend (though the timing for this return to more normal temperatures keeps getting pushed further and further out!) and I'll have to see if they've shown themselves yet.  It won't be much of a display even so.   

[Booker]

Quote : Cliff, like the way you have whited out the corners of your flower photos - makes the flowers look even more precious.  Fran

Thanks Fran ... it works with some images but, unfortunately, ruins others. LOL.

Thanks Trond and Cohan for your very kind comments.

[Hoy]

Crocus are such ephemeral but beautiful plants and I am still surprised to see them in the autumn despite having grown this one, C. speciosus, for many years. These are growing in a bed strongly devoted to bulbs and because it changes so much during the year I have started taking daily pictures with the idea of putting them together as a video. Does anyone have any experience of doing something similar? I think this will probably be a strong learning experience.

I can't advice you, Tim, but here are two similar videos (maybe I have shown one before) but not as nice as your bed will be!

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9GbU8AfERU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9GbU8AfERU</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGRnpkWDPJM" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGRnpkWDPJM</a>

And here is the receipt how to do it (in Norwegian)!

http://nrkbeta.no/2010/01/05/hele-2009-paa-120-sekunder/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOF42_OcZ3Q&hd=1

[Tim Ingram]

Thanks Trond! Those are tremendous - I particularly like the children coming through the snow at the end of the first one. If I could set a camera up in our local woods and follow the anemones and bluebells flowering in spring that would be something else; those have given me more food for thought. Will see if I can discover more advice in English before I delve into Norwegian!

[Booker]

These vidos are superb, Trond. The site must be very secure and preferably on one's own land - a camera wouldn't last twelve hours in the woods near us, let alone twelve months - and the individual images seem to be taken when the weather conditions are clement i.e. no 'active' precipitation.

An image from 2004 now - Globularias & Violas, Wengen.

[Hoy]

Thanks Trond! Those are tremendous - I particularly like the children coming through the snow at the end of the first one. If I could set a camera up in our local woods and follow the anemones and bluebells flowering in spring that would be something else; those have given me more food for thought. Will see if I can discover more advice in English before I delve into Norwegian!

You are welcome! I would love to see your local bluebell wood through a year - or at least a spring

These vidos are superb, Trond. The site must be very secure and preferably on one's own land - a camera wouldn't last twelve hours in the woods near us, let alone twelve months - and the individual images seem to be taken when the weather conditions are clement i.e. no 'active' precipitation.

An image from 2004 now - Globularias & Violas, Wengen.

Cliff, I think he places his camera on his balcony

More nice summer reminder!

[Lori S.]

Beautiful, Cliff! 
I enjoyed the time lapse videos, Trond.  Sometimes, I think time really does flash by like that... or is it just me? 

A couple of mountain pix - Salix sp. in bloom and dramatic scenery:
 

[McDonough]

I love when in nature plants intermingle; the view of the dwarf pink-flowered salix (any idea about what species it is?) and the leaves of Dryas mixed in, give inspiration to try emulating the combination in the garden.

As usual, the vastness of mountain scenes in your area leave me breathless, it would be superb to have such access to remarkable mountain terrain.

[Hoy]

I enjoyed the time lapse videos, Trond.  Sometimes, I think time really does flash by like that... or is it just me? 

No, it is not just you, Lori   The time is accelerating!

Nice scenery - hope I sometime get the time to view it in person!

[cohan]

Crocus are such ephemeral but beautiful plants and I am still surprised to see them in the autumn despite having grown this one, C. speciosus, for many years. These are growing in a bed strongly devoted to bulbs and because it changes so much during the year I have started taking daily pictures with the idea of putting them together as a video. Does anyone have any experience of doing something similar? I think this will probably be a strong learning experience.

I know there is some sort of software on my computer for making short animated gifs from  series of photos, but I have not used it personally.. if you do find something that works, let us know- I regularly take photos on daily drives and around home from the same spots (though maybe not exact enough?) through the year - and years! would be interesting to put them together somehow..
Lori- I was wondering if the fall blooming Crocus would flower earlier here to avoid early winter, but based on your comments, I guess not...lol.. This has been a long/early bit of winter- interesting to know what will happen in weeks to come.. We are also still waiting for that long delayed warm up.. wondering how much of the snow will melt- in spite of some warm forecasts, snow will be slow to go in shady places...

[Lori S.]

...the view of the dwarf pink-flowered salix (any idea about what species it is?)...

Mark, I'm pretty hopeless with willow IDs but I've been put onto the names of a couple of willow experts recently!  I will send some of my better photos off to see if it's possible to ID them.
I'm still hopeful that if a few can be positively ID'd, then I can read the key in relation to those species and then be able to understand the differentiations better.

[Tim Ingram]

Cohan - we have something similar on our computer for putting pictures together in a video. My wife has tried it with the first batch of photos I have taken. But even with a tripod permanently positioned I can't leave the camera in situ and the smallest difference in the image each time shows up. I hope we can get round this by adjusting the images individually so they line up correctly? I am already learning!