02/8/15

Hope

Hope for a World Without Blood Cancers; the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

Although this post is off topic for what I usually post, the topic is important to me and I would like to share it with my readers.

Over the holidays a family member was diagnosed with leukemia, something for which I certainly was not prepared. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has been a helpful and amazing source of education, information, and support, from the early days in the hospital as the diagnosis was being established, up to today. Everything they provide to patients, family, and friends is free, supported by donations. There is not even a postage or shipping charge for the very helpful booklets, journals for patients, and other things provided.

If you shop for anything at Amazon.com and have not yet chosen a charitable organization from the Amazon Smile program, please consider signing up and designating LLS.

Although the percentage amount donated is small (0.5%), over time it can add up. And, every little bit helps. Nothing really changes as you shop at Amazon except a small amount of the sales (no extra cost to the buyer) goes to your designated charity.

Of course, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society would always appreciate a direct donation as well. 🙂

02/2/15

Roses 2014

Some Roses and Rose Photographs, 2014

Roses in Albuquerque in 2014 continued to suffer the effects of the prolonged drought in the Southwest. Albuquerque has devised a very effective way to encourage residents to reduce their use of water. We do not (yet) have formal rationing for most private users. However, the water bill is on a sliding scale based on use. The more water a person uses, the higher the rate becomes. Let me assure you, that is a very effective way to encourage people to be aware of their use of water.

I have decreased the number of roses I am currently growing. The ones I have kept are ones that mean something special to me, each for different reasons. I have spent more time photographing the roses I do have (as well as many other things). The roses on this page are roses I grew (with the exception of the image of Dr. Huey, taken on the First Annual Dr. Huey Rose Tour of the Corrales Rose Society, and the back cover of the 2014 American Rose Annual) and photographed.

Spray of rose, ‘Dream Weaver.’ Image awarded ‘Queen’ at the ARS Fall 2014 National Convention.

: “Gemini” – Creative Interpretation King of Show in Photography, ARS 2014 Fall National Convention Best of Show in Photography, Albuquerque Spring 2014 Rose Show

: Spray of ‘Dream Weaver,’ Queen of Show in Photography at the 2014 ARS Fall National

: Miniature rose, ‘Child’s Play,’ fully open, stamens showing Blue Ribbon and Best of Section, Fully Open Roses, 2014 ARS Fall National Rose Show and Convention

: Hips of Miniature Rose Yoyo Blue Ribbon and Best of Section Rose Potpourri

: Rose Gemini Best of Section, Albuquerque 2014 Spring Rose Show Blue Ribbon in Photography, ARS 2014 Fall National Rose Show and Convention

: Best of Black and White Challenge Class, Albuquerque 2014 Spring Rose Show Blue Ribbon, ARS 2014 Fall National Rose Show and Convention

: Shrub Rose Distant Drums Best of Theme, “The Artistic Rose,” Albuquerque 2014 Spring Rose Show

: Miniature Rose, ‘Child’s Play’ Blue Ribbon, ARS 2014 Fall National Rose Show and Convention

: The wonderful rose, ‘Gemini,’ shown here fully open with stamens showing Blue Ribbon, ARS 2014 Fall National Rose Show and Convention

: Old Garden Rose, Hybrid bracteata 1918 Mermaid

: Rose Mermaid Front cover, 2014 American Rose Annual

: Back Cover, 2014 American Rose Annual “Roses in Red, White, and Blue American Landscape”

: A stunning miniature rose with distinctive reflex petals – Glowing Amber Blue Ribbon at the ARS 2014 Fall National Rose Show and Convention

: Veterans’ Honor – Creative Interpretation Blue Ribbon, ARS 2014 Fall National Rose Show and Convention. Honorable Mention at the small 2014 Santa Fe Rose Show, highlighting once again the need for standardized judging guidelines and especially ARS accredited rose judges (and especially judges chairs) who also possess recognizable photography credentials.

: Rose Dr. Huey, often used as root stock for other roses grown for blooms. Blue Ribbon, ARS 2014 Fall National Show and Convention. Honorable Mention at the small Santa Fe show, once again highlighting the need for standardized judging guidelines, and judges (especially judges chairs) who are ARS accredited judges with recognized photography credentials.

: Spray of miniature rose, Foolish Pleasure Blue Ribbon, ARS 2014 Fall National Rose Show and Convention. Third place at Santa Fe’s small local show, highlighting the need for standardized guidelines and judges (especially judges chairs) who are ARS accredited judges and who are also photographers with recognized credentials.

: Rose Dream Weaver Best of Class, Rose Sprays, at Albuquerque 2014 Spring Rose Show

: Rose Leonidas This hybrid tea has very distinctive form and colors.

I especially appreciate that the judges in this national show used the Score Card developed when I served as the first Chairman of Photography in the Pacific Southwest District for judging the rose photographs. When I began that task in the PSWD, it was clear that some system and uniformity was necessary. To see the Score Card used at the national level is very gratifying to me. Much less gratifying is overhearing judges instructions being given at some of the local shows in the Pacific Southwest District in 2014, where the instructions given were one person’s opinion with no reference to the Score Card, although the Score Card was printed in the Schedule. That will change over time, as those judging rose photographs will be required to be accredited rose judges, as in all other portions of rose shows today.

Some rose links:

American Rose Society

Albuquerque Rose Society

02/1/15

Rose Calendars

Rose Calendars for 2015

Rose calendars for 2015 are available from both the American Rose Society and the Albuquerque Rose Society. The two have different images, and both are beautiful.

The images in the 2015 Albuquerque Rose Calendar were the winners at the 2014 Spring Rose Show. I am pleased that five of the twelve images were my winners in that show, including “Best of Show.”

Best of Show – Gemini – from the class “Rose Art”

Best of Theme – The Artistic Rose – Distant Drums

Best of Black and White Challenge – Leonidas

Best of Section – The Rose – Gemini

Best in Class – Rose Sprays – Dream Weaver

For my friends in the Albuquerque area, I recently found out that the calendars are available in a variety of places:

The Garden Shop, Albuquerque Garden Center

Bookworks

Figments Tea Shoppe

Jackalope Pottery

Jericho Nursery

Osuna Nursery

Given that one month of 2015 has already passed, I don’t know if a discount is being given on the calendars, but it never hurts to ask!

The wall calendar is priced at $10.00, and a smaller perpetual calendar is priced at $5.00. All proceeds go to the Albuquerque Rose Society.

02/1/15

The Observer, The Observed

The Observer, The Observed with “Spontaneous Poem from a Treetop Crow” by Jim Stallings

The joys of gardening include much more than just plants, no matter how much we love our plants for the beauty they provide. The joys also include the variety of wildlife attracted, and that is nowhere more true than here in the desert Southwest. I love the variety of birds, bees, butterflies, and so forth that are attracted to my yard.

In early January I was out photographing a cloud bank rolling over the Sandia Mountains, with a storm predicted to follow it. Suddenly, a “murder” of raucous crows appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and they perched briefly in a neighbor’s tree, very close to the house, meaning no decent images. This one crow, however, stayed behind, briefly, and seemed to pose for this one image.

The Observer, the Observed

This was at a time when my family was dealing with some bad news. In response to that, and seeing this image of the crow, Jim wrote this poem (a gift of encouragement to my family), and I asked if I could post it here.

Spontaneous Poem from a Treetop Crow

In the lofty life of a wise old crow
Swaying in the topmost backyard branches
Like a magical clock counting down mortality’s coil,
May it not be in some secret way
We the awed observers
Have all along been honored by a wiser watcher?

– Jim Stallings

To read more of Jim’s work, visit Jim Stallings: Books, at Amazon.com.

Thank you for letting my readers enjoy your poem here, Jim.

01/31/15

Dream Weaver Spray

Dream Weaver Spray – Queen of Show in Photography at ARS 2014 Fall National

Spray of rose, ‘Dream Weaver.’ Image awarded ‘Queen’ at the ARS Fall 2014 National Convention.

‘Dream Weaver’ is a rose classified as a Climbing Floribunda. It can produce beautiful and large sprays.

This photograph of a Dream Weaver spray won Queen of Show in the Photography portion of the American Rose Society 2014 Fall Convention and Show. In roses, ‘Queen’ is the equivalent of ‘Best in Show.’

Many thanks to the judges for awarding this image. I especially appreciated that the judges in this national show used the Score Card for judging rose photographs developed when I served as the first Chairman of Photography in the Pacific Southwest District. When I began that task in the PSWD, it was clear that some system and uniformity was necessary. To see that used at the national level is very gratifying to me. Much less gratifying is overhearing judges instructions being given at local shows in the Pacific Southwest District where the instructions are one person’s opinion with no reference to the score card. But, that will change when only accredited rose judges are allowed to judge the rose photographs. Change may be slow, but it will happen.

03/9/14

Ladder Backed Woodpecker

One of the joys of gardening is attracting birds, butterflies, dragonflies, and other beautiful things to the yard. They like the plants, and really appreciate it if you add some water year around and another source of food, especially in the winter.

This male ladder backed woodpecker stopped in for a last snack before bedtime late in the day back in February.

Male ladder backed woodpecker

03/8/14

Photography Seminar at ARS Convention

Photography Seminar

A Photography Seminar in two parts – a morning session and an afternoon session – has been organized by Sally Long of the San Diego Rose Society for the upcoming American Rose Society National Convention and Show. This promises to be an exciting day for rosarians interested in photography. Some of you will recall the Photography Seminar Sally Long and I, along with photographer Pat Berrett, presented in Albuquerque in 2012, and the excitement that that seminar generated. That seminar was aimed largely at teaching judges how to use the PSWD Photography Guidelines as they had been developed to that point. (For PSWD Guidelines as developed to 2010, see my article in the 2010 ARS Rose Annual, Lew Shupe, editor.)

The 2014 ARS Photography Seminar will be held on Friday, May 9. This seminar will be aimed toward exhibitors of photography. The morning session begins at 9:00 am and runs until noon, featuring two speakers. Curtis Aumiller, ARS Photography Chairman, will discuss some of the benefits of incorporating rose photography at the local, district, and national levels; some technical aspects of rose photography; and progress towards standardization of guidelines for rose photography in ARS shows. I will be the second speaker of the morning, presenting “Floral Photography 101,” an overview of some of the basics of floral photography, as well as some problem areas I have seen as a judge (arrangement photographs, for example, seem to present exhibitors with a variety of problems. We’ll discuss some of those, and ways to overcome them).

Roses: ‘Candy Cane,’ ‘Golden Showers,’ ‘Moondance,’ ‘Gourmet Popcorn’

The afternoon session, from 1:30 to 4:30, will begin with Bill Farmer discussing white balance, followed by Sally Long discussing macro and close-up photography. After that there will be a variety of break out sessions, from which you may choose those you would find most useful for you. I will have a hour-long session, “From Image in Your Eye to Finished Print,” covering ways to make sure your finished print matches what you photographed and what you saw on your computer screen.

Watch this page for more details as they are posted.

General information for the entire convention can be found here. Registration information can be found at that link, as well. Registration for the overall convention is discounted at least through March 10. The Photography Seminar is $20.00 for the both sessions, or $10.00 for the morning session and $10.00 for the afternoon session.

The Photography Seminar should be both fun and educational, and I hope to see some old friends and make some new ones there.

03/6/14

Daylight Savings Time Returns March 9

Daylight Savings Time returns to this coming Sunday, March 9, 2014. “Officially” the clocks at 2:00 am move to 3:00 am, but I certainly change mine the night before (well, usually).

Remember, it is “Spring forward. Fall back.”

Read a history of Daylight Savings Time here.

Some people prefer Standard Time. I am not one of them. I love having the longer afternoon/evening time, whether for working in the yard, photographing flowers, or photographing birds, insects, or sunsets.

I think I began to fully understand the effects of Daylight Savings Time when I began cooking with a simple solar oven. (Use the Search box for “solar” to find related posts on this blog). I generally use it from May through September. Mine is very low tech, but quite functional when used as a slow cooker for many things. If I start it heating at 9:00 am, it is warm enough to cook by 10:00 am. At 4:00 pm, regardless of outside ambient temperature, the heat in the oven drops rapidly because of the drop in UV rays from the sum. So, I basically have 6 hours to cook, from 10:00 – 4:00. This is Daylight Savings Time because it is summer. If it were Standard Time, it would be 9:00 – 3:00, or the three hours before and after Noon. Just a bit of trivia…

Preheated solar oven

Love it or hate it, remember to “spring forward” this Sunday.

08/18/13

Note Cards Now Available

Note cards seem to be what people need now. I have received requests for note cards with some of my floral images, and I am happy to announce that 5″x7″ note cards are now available here.

Ambridge Rose

Sunflower

The note cards are available in both landscape and portrait orientations.

The note cards are available in packs of 25, all the same image, with envelopes included. These are blank note cards, leaving you plenty of space to write notes.

There are a variety of paper options, all the same price. If you are not sure which paper you want, I would recommend the “Linen” paper for note cards.

These images are suitable for more than just notes. They can be framed in 5″x7″ frames readily available in many places, or in 8″x10″ frames with mat openings for a 5″x7″ image. You may think of many more uses.

More images may be added over time.

I thank you for your interest.

07/28/13

An Ingenious Deer Fence to Protect Your Roses

“Almost Invisible Deer Fence” developed by Tom Mayhew

Master Consulting Rosarian Tom Mayhew has developed a really ingenious way to protect his rose garden from deer. He likes the deer as well as the roses, and did not want to harm the deer in any way. He learned that deer were “spooked” when they came into contact with “nearly invisible” fishing line. He built a fence using green stakes and fishing line, which he puts up in the spring and takes down in the fall.

Tom Mayhew lives in Pennsylvania.

But many gardeners in the deserts of the Southwest have problems with the deer eating their gardens.

Tom has graciously shared this article, written initially for his local rose society, but subsequently published in other newsletters, with readers here at Southwest Desert Gardening.

You may download the attached pdf, but if you post it elsewhere, be sure to give credit to Tom Mayhew, author and creator of “The Almost Invisible Deer Fence.”

Thanks again, Tom!

Almost Invisible Deer Fence