Gardens, flowers brighten the CV19 gloom

I noted in my previous post that photographers like me have been trying to find ways to indulge their craft during these restrictive, stay-at-home times presented by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic.

One of my ideas was to try and find creative things on my property. Indeed, the homestead (Lee Ann, her daughter Lea and I) have been working to develop and expand our vegetable and herb gardens and to enhance the flower gardens to the extent possible.

I say "to the extent possible" because given that our property is flanked on two sides by wooded territory, we get a lot of visits from deer, squirrels, rabbits and an array of reptilian creatures foraging for food. So we have learned -- the hard way, sadly -- that we have to work extra hard to protect and defend what we grow.

So the gardens present an obvious source of photographic indulgence, and indeed, I've been documenting the progress Lee Ann and Lea have been making on their daily forays to the gardens. I already have a couple regrets -- i.e., pictures I've missed because of "seasonal" change. For example, the azaleas and rhododendrons have bloomed already, and they didn't hang around very long because of changing and stormy weather.

So today I made a stroll through the property to areas where the women have succeeded in getting lilies, roses, western spider wart, daisies, yarrow, marigolds and lilacs (or lavender?) are blooming. And I didn't even bother turning to my DSLR camera to do it. I've gotten such striking pictures from my iPhone 11 since acquiring it in November that I decided to use it to see how the images would turn out, and I was not disappointed. Everything you see in this post was taken with the iPhone.

I'll make one clarification, though. The photo of the orange-petaled daisy you see actually was taken on April 25, not today. I couldn't exclude them from this roundup, though. They're as much a brightener as any of the others.

I lead off with the first lily to bloom in a small garden near our swing set along the west property line. Deer and/or other critters have already demolished the pretty coleus we'd planted in this garden. They've also chewed off blooms on a couple of the other lily plants that came back. So we'll have to protect these daily ... or settle for a brief lily show this season. Which is sad, because gazing out onto the colorful lily displays last spring was one of the highlights of our relax time on the deck.

Enjoy.

The orange daisies above look so much better in the bright sunshine, but I took this photo on April 25, when I presume it was not so sunny. I don't know for sure what the flowers are immediately below, but they are in a garden that Lea developed herself, and I must say I like the pastel color combination. 

Some white daisies (above) and yarrow (below). Lee Ann learned last year that yarrow have a medicinal function, and indeed, she used some to form a paste that stopped the itch from poison ivy, something Lee Ann came across frequently last year during her gardening work. A bonus ... is that yarrow is a perennial, and indeed, these came back exactly where they were last year.

Marigolds are easily the most plentiful flower in our various gardens. Lee Ann uses marigolds (above) both for decoration and in the vegetable gardens because their scent keep away certain unwanted and destructive critters, both animals and some insects. I've always liked marigolds (some people don't), so I'm always happy to see them anywhere on my property. I forget what the purple flower below is, but I really like it. 
 

A foliage plant in another of Lea's gardens above, and yellow, orange and french marigolds in the next five photos below. In the third photo below, I captured a couple of the orange ones overlooking the burial marker of Sammy, Lee Ann's son Jonathan's dog, a corgi who died in 2018.  

The angel (above) stands guard over our fur friends buried in the puppy garden. In addition to Sammy, Lee Ann's dogs Molly and Bear are here, too. There is also a marker for a fourth dog, Pippin, a Cavalier St. Charles spaniel that belonged to Lee Ann's sister Lisa back in Indiana. Pippin's remains aren't in the garden; Lisa just thought it would be nice for Sammy, Molly and Bear to have some company, even if only in the form of a marker. 

Another French marigold (above) and a rare light purple rose (below). In the same side yard garden near the purple rose are some baby red roses (second photo below).  

Even wilted, former blooms of our rhododendron bush (below) have a certain elegance to them. On one of the low-hanging branch of the bush is the uniquely colored foliage above. Most of the foliage is a vivid green. 

Smiles in shooter's porch photos brighten neighborhood during CV19 pandemic

It's been a challenge for photography enthusiasts -- both amateurs and professionals -- to indulge their hobby or livelihood during this COVID-19 pandemic and state-imposed lock-downs.

Kelley Jordan Schuyler, a professional photographer in Indianapolis, found a way to deal with it ... and help make things a little better for others. She recently went onto the Facebook page of my old neighborhood, Garfield Park-South, to pitch an idea to help bring some smiles and cheer in the neighborhood to help distract from the CV19 gloom and doom: She offered to walk through the neighborhood on a near-future evening to take portraits of residents with their families and/or fur buddies on their porches -- and, most important -- a safe distance separating photographer and subject in observance of the community social distancing admonition.

Kelley is a relatively new resident of the neighborhood. I thought hers was a brilliant idea, and the neighborhood responded immediately and positively, so she did a walk-through on May 3. Thursday morning, she posted some of the photos on the Facebook page and offered to do additional portraits for anyone still interested.

Kelley pitched her idea by characterizing the portraits as "porch photos," but in most instances, the subjects -- as you can see from some of the samples in this post -- were not under cover of the porch. They are seated on steps of or to the porch. I certainly understand that; a shooter trying to photograph anyone standing or seated on a porch would have to get close up, which would compromise needed social distancing space in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kelley no doubt chose early evening for her shoot appointments to allow for almost uniform lighting -- shade. She started at 6 p.m., which in Indianapolis meant the the sun was low in the sky -- which in turn means it was behind buildings, thereby preventing any chance of throwing unwanted white key light on people's faces if they were facing the western sky.

I contacted Kelley to ask if she would welcome a little splash about the project on this blog, and she agreed enthusiastically.

"I'm delighted by the positive response our neighbors have had to this idea," she said. "I couldn't tell if people would be skeptical about it, but it looks like I have a lot more work cut out for me -- there's a lot more interest!" 

With her permission, I sprinkled this post with a few shots from her first wave of results, posted at the Facebook site Thursday. I found them uplifting. I didn't want to steal all of her thunder, though. If you'd like to see the full gallery of first-round of porch photos at her  site, just follow the link I dropped into this sentence.