Collecting Nature: Hyacinths

I've been in love with forcing flowers for the past couple of years.  Having growing things around me brightens my day and adds color to the dreary winter months.  This was the first year I forced hyacinths, though, and they are definitely a new favorite.  These flowers are incredibly fragrant, and the scent of springtime is filling my home.



Forced blooms make a wonderful temporary nature collection, and I think hyacinths are especially wonderful because of the special vases that have traditionally been used to force them.  See how the bulb sits above the neck of the vase in the photo above?  It's elegant and unique, and the design has been around for centuries.  These hyacinth vases can easily become a collection of their own.

More info about forcing hyacinths here.

Forcing Flowers

Forsythia Branches

Capturing Spring

I think instant film is an especially appropriate way to capture the soft colors and gentle light of early spring, don't you?

Ranunculus Petals


Forsythia

Blue & Gold

Profusion

Home

Forsythia II

Events and Such

So - it's been quite the end of the week! I'm going to keep this post short (it's too nice out to be here at the computer), but I wanted to fill you in on what's been happening!

On Thursday night, I headed to the South County Art Association's Annual Photography Open. "Curiosities" won 3rd prize! Hooray! See how goofy I look? That means I'm having fun.



Today, I spent some time playing around with my new TtV (through the viewfinder) setup. I'm currently using my trusty old Kodak Duaflex with my Canon SX110 IS - the latter on manual exposure control & manual focus. I love the control you can get, even though it's a point & shoot. Plus it makes a smaller and less awkward setup than when I use the D70 for TtV photos.

As you can see - the seeds we planted a week or so ago are just starting to sprout!

Swiss Chard


And, as promised earlier this week, here's a shot of the forsythia - the buds are all pretty huge - not all the blossoms have fully opened yet, though.

Forsythia I


Enjoy! I hope you're having a wonderful weekend so far. Anything exciting going on?

Spring Blooms

I'm literally forcing spring to come faster! Well, maybe not spring itself, but I'm at least attempting to encourage some forsythia and pussy willow to bloom a bit early.



This is kind of sad, but I think the first time I heard of forcing blooms at home was on Martha Stewart, last year around this time. I honestly don't like her show very much, but I was watching because my best friend was on air! Her company prunes Martha's own apple trees, so her crew leader, herself, and another worker got to demonstrate. During the show, a bit before that brush with fame, Martha had a segment about forcing blooms. I watched it, thought "hm, that's cool", and promptly forgot all about it.

The idea of hurrying spring along is now back on my radar. Since starting my photography business in earnest, I've noticed I am much more impatient for winter to be over. I crave vibrant, living, GREEN things to photograph. And really nice cut flowers are just too pricey for me to purchase often.



I researched the methods online and started my attack:

- My boss donated the branches from his huge patch of forsythia and an ailing pussy willow that was destined for the chainsaw.

- Once I got home, I mixed up a batch of floral preservative (recipe #3 from here), sans bleach. I don't use bleach in cleaning for environmental reasons, so I didn't have any around the house. It's in the recipe to cut back on bacterial growth - apparently switching the water every couple of days works as well.

- I poured the mixture into my vases, then quickly snipped of the ends of the branches and stuck them into the water. This is cheating a bit - I had read that I should snip the ends while they're already in the water, but I didn't have a big enough bucket.

Now, to wait and see what happens! The pussy willow was already starting to peep out when I snipped it, so I should have a lovely photo subject soon!