Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Wide Shots for October 2013

The wide shot is an angle that you don't see on many blogs, or at least you didn't until Xericstyle in San Antonio started encouraging bloggers to share their wide shots.

Why don't we bloggers publish wide shots? Well, for one thing it's hard to hide the garden hose and the dead plants we haven't cleared out yet. For another thing, it's difficult to tell what you're looking at. Green plants meld into one another and flowers look like little blobs of color from far away.

Still, the wide shot has it's merits. The wide shot gives you a better glimpse of the over all design, structure, and spacial relationships. The challenge of the wide shot is to do a thorough cleanup of the area, or forgive us readers, you shall have to see our dirty laundry.

Since I've never posted wide shots before, let's take the full tour. Driving down the street, it's pretty obvious that someone at this address likes to garden.  But where's the house?


Gates open.  Come on in.


The sunny garden to the right of the driveway is overgrown and out of control.  I love it!  It looks great from my kitchen window, but up close I can see a lot of work in my future pruning back all the annuals and woody perennials.


I know these are supposed to be wide shots, but I couldn't resist this one of the candlestick plant, Senna (Cassia) alata. The candlestick plant is one of the larval hosts to the cloudless sulphur butterfly. The plants were visited early in the season by the caterpillars.  They munched them pretty good, but you'd never know it now.


Looking to the left side of the driveway, you can glimpse the house.


Oh, there it is! I knew there was a house there somewhere. When I get home, I feel I've reached an oasis. The sounds are peaceful. The wild birds are abundant. Our bird feeders, which can be glimpsed in this photo, sit in the middle of a wide open space in front of my kitchen window. The reason for the feeders location is two-fold. First, I can see the feeders perfectly from inside the house and second, the wide open space means the squirrels can't perform aerial dive bombing maneuvers from the trees.


I think the reason most bloggers steer away from wide shots is all the stuff and clutter that is part of life.  My 4 gallon Ground to Ground buckets are drying on the cement driveway pad along with bricks staged for the completion of the garden wall.  Our little used basketball hoop and rain water collection tank round out the less than attractive photograph subjects.


Ah, this is a much better perspective.  Just a smidge to right and light on the zoom.


This wide shot is from the rear of the garden looking back at the house.  The fire pit can be seen on the left.  Way in the back, the storage shed, which looks over the vegetable garden, can barely be seen.


I hope you've enjoyed these wide shots and will visit Xericstyle for links to other bloggers who are posting their wide shots this month.

18 comments:

  1. I am IN LOVE with your gardens - I am trying slowing to achieve what you have done so well. You have all the key areas that I have been working at creating....I just love all your mature plants and TREES (my focus this fall).
    AMAZING - thank you for sharing!

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    1. I lived in San Antonio for many years. Trees were in short supply in my suburban neighborhood near Sea World, but San Antonio is a lovely place with or without trees. I'll be interested to see what trees you select. I've lost some trees due to the drought and I'll be doing some replanting soon.

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  2. It certainly looks as though you have a lot of room to garden! Thanks for the ID on the Senna - I've seen this plant growing in my area but haven't come across it in the local nurseries. I may need to try it, although its size could present a problem for me.

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    1. Yes, Kris, I have 2 acres. That does give me plenty of room, but like you, water is a limiting factor. I started the candlestick plant in my greenhouse during the winter, so they were good sized plants by spring. I have found that the candlestick plant is reasonably drought tolerant and definitely worth making a spot for.

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  3. Great wide shots.

    Having seen it up close and personal, I have to say it's even more amazing in person.

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    1. Thanks Linda! It was great having you over for a visit last weekend!

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  4. Fun to take a tour of your garden starting at the street. I love when I visit a fellow gardener for the first time because you can tell from a few blocks away. Even though you often show the big picture in your blog, I found I have a better idea of how it all fits together.

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    1. I belong to a group of gardeners that takes turns visiting each others gardens every month. With just a street name, I think I could pick the house every time. I've loved every garden I've seen. They are never boring and as a fellow gardener I definitely appreciate the work it takes to make something so beautiful.

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  5. I agree that wide shots are great to have so people can get a sense of space and an overview, I usually start my posts with a wide shot taken from the same spot every time so people can see how my garden changes within the seasons. It is also a good record for me to keep. I often get amazed when seeing other people’s wide shots of their gardens, like yours – most people’s gardens are so huge compared to the tiny spot they call gardens here in London!

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    1. Yes, it's true, we have plenty of space here in Texas, but you have such lovely charm in London. I can't wait to visit some day.

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  6. I agree with Linda. Nothing takes the place of an actual visit to your garden.

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    1. Thanks so much. It was great having you and the other bloggers out for a visit. I loved the feedback and suggestions. I'm brimming with ideas and super motivated to make even more improvements.

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  7. I particularly enjoyed your wide shots since I missed seeing your garden in person recently. You have created such an oasis out of such a big lot! It's lovely.

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    1. So sorry you had to miss the tour, but I'm glad you got to see the wide shots. September was a good month for a tour, but October is going to be fabulous. The first fall aster made it's appearance yesterday and the gulf muhly should be blooming any day. I love fall!

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  8. Your garden is so beautiful! Showing it from a wide angle provides so much more perspective. The candlestick plant is impressive. Your garden does look like an Oasis. What a wonderful place to call home!

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  9. Glad to have gotten to see the garden- it is so hard for me this time of year to get away on a Saturday. So sorry I missed it. Everything looks beautiful though I am sure even more so in person. No doubt it feels like an Oasis driving in.

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  10. Thanks Ally,
    I moved back to the SA area, Helotes specifically about a year and a half ago and it has been fun discovering blogs about gardening here. I have given up the addiction to landscaping with non-natives and yard sprinklers to keep it all going. My yard here is very similar in size to yours! The most used parts of our yard are our swimming pool in the heat and the fire pit in the cold.. Really the best things ever! Thanks for taking the time to give the full names of plants you have. We moved a Senna Surattensis small tree 2 days ago, that the previous homeowner had put in a less than ideal place....I had never heard of this tree, a "sunshine tree"... And its a cousin to your Candlestick shrub.. So much to learn!!!

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  11. Marvelous wide shots. Don't mention the things you don't want us to look and we won't take a closer look. As soon as somebody mentions something unlovely about a photo, that's where my eyes go. Otherwise I'm looking at color and form.

    My candlesticks got a late start and they're just little plants but big blossoms. Stuck in with Esperanza they are a real show for fall. Next year I'll try to remember to start seeds mid winter like you did. I only thiought of them in the spring, lol.

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