Breath of Life Photography

You know Autumn is closing in when you see lovely flower seed heads like this. I came across this lovely seedhead when I was out walking my dog with my husband almost two weeks ago on our Canadian Thanksgiving weekend here in Toronto. We were at a local park that we often go to for [...]

It seems to me that Helebores love their shade so much that even their flowers try to shy away from the light. I only have one Helebore plant left (I did have three once but two seem to have died out) and it’s flowers, when they bloom in late March or April, always hang their [...]

These beautiful blue Glories of the snow are pretty much done blooming now. They came up so early this year … like near the beginning of April instead of mid to late April like they usually do! I have several clumps of these flowers in white, pink and this lovely blue. Each year the clumps [...]

All of the spring flowers in my garden are coming up earlier than they usually do! My crocuses came up on March 15th and bloomed until about the middle of April. They usually come up toward the end of March, but we had a beautiful winter this year with much warmer than average temperatures (above [...]

I took this photo of my rose, Therese Bugnet, when it’s red branches were lightly dusted with snow and ice. I like the how the snow appears to have turned into crystals in the branch crevices. Is your garden or some of it’s plants covered in snow? We had a Green Christmas here, but we [...]

The Sedum and other flowers that I grow in my garden are beginning to fade away as Autumn brings cooler weather, but a few weeks ago, many of my garden plants were still in bloom. The photo above is a picture of the Sedum that I grow in my front yard. I love it’s multi-coloured [...]

This is a photo of a white Cosmo flower growing in front of my house in my planted boulevard. The cosmos came up on their own this year. Growing almost like wild flowers in the empty spaces in the garden bed. They looked lovely amid the tall sunflowers, peonies, daylilies and Siberian Irises. Looking at [...]

I think Clematis flowers are lovely, but when the flower fades away and a seed head develops? On some types of clematis, the seed head is as pretty or even more beautiful than the flower it replaced! Now the Daniel Deronda Clematis is lovely. It has deep purple, thick, velvet petals. It’s outstanding to view [...]

Alium are such strange flowers … they are part of the onion family, but of course the ones we grow in our garden are ornamental and I’m sure are inedible. These Alium tend to bloom at the end of June for me, but this year we’ve had a cooler than normal summer so they didn’t [...]

This lovely rose is an English Rose. It’s called Graham Thomas and as you can see it has beautiful flowers … In fact, it blooms repeatedly throughout the growing season, so I can almost always enjoy the sight of it’s lovely flowers from mid-June through to late November or even early December. Do you grow [...]

I have quite a mix of flowers in my garden. The plants holding the majority are of course Roses, but even if it doesn’t seem like it at times I do grow other plants. Two of my favorite perennial plants are Lavender and Salvia. Both have lovely deep blue to purple blooms and of course, [...]

It’s a virtual rose parade on my property … at least at this time of year. How fitting that I actually have a climbing rose called Parade! Depending upon how warm it is each year, my many roses (over 60 plants!) begin to bloom anywhere from early to mid-June and the virtual rose parade goes [...]

I couldn’t resist posting just one more photo of my favorite iris. Of course these flowers are long gone … they bloomed in the second week of April in my Toronto garden and were gone only a few days later … but this picture and other photos I took of them will make them last [...]

I took this photo about a month ago and these lovely Chionodoxa are long gone now … but I was happy to see them as they began to emerge. I love how they can poke through dead leaves and other debris no matter how heavy and still end up blooming. I’ve even seen these flowers [...]

As far as I’m concerned this is one of the prettiest irises of all. Oh sure, I love my Dover blue German iris too … but nothing beats the Danfordia iris for it’s combination of delicate blooms and vibrant colors. Do you have a favorite iris or flower? Related Reading: Magpul iPhone 4 & 4S [...]

Glories of the Snow or Chionodoxa … a real close up of these lovely delicate blue flowers. I love nothing more than seeing the first flowers of Spring after our long cold winters here in Toronto. Crocuses are usually the first to come up in late March, but these Glories of the snow are often [...]

Who wouldn’t be happy seeing lovely pink striped hyacinths blooming in their garden? Especially once you got a whiff of their lovely scent! Several years ago I planted at least 100 hyacinth bulbs in colors of blue, white, pink and coral. I still have lots of hyacinths blooming in my garden each spring, but unlike [...]

Clumps of Glories of the snow dot my small backyard garden. I have white ones, blue ones and even pink! I do think the blue Glories of the snow are my favorite. The color of the flower looks so nice against the dark green of the plants leaves. Related Reading: Fresh Flowers – 20 Purple [...]

These are my favorite irises. They are called Danfordia irises and they are dwarf irises. I love their vibrant color, but hate that they only seem to bloom here for just a few days. Perhaps it’s because even though they bloom in early spring we’re usually warming up fast here in Toronto just as they [...]

A few days ago I posted a photo of a single hyacinth, if you read the post you might remember me discussing how my “purple” hyacinths seems to have different shades of color ranging from blue to deep purple in different lights … well this picture is a good example of that range of color. [...]

I love how these pale pink Glories of the snow seem to be peeking out from between the leaves. usually these flowers stand high above the leaves, but I think mine were suffering from a lack of water when I photographed them and they were nestled among the leaves giving them a little more of [...]

I think I’m avoiding winter. Notice that I haven’t posted one winter related photo … all the recent photos have been autumn related? It’s not like you can ignore a season like winter – not with all the snow we’ve had, but I’m doing my best, at least on this blog! Again, this is a [...]

I took this picture in November. The area looks quite different now as we’ve had a lot of snow since then (mostly this week!). However, the picture looks so peaceful, and the autumn colors are so lovely, that I decided that it was time to post it. The holidays are a hectic time for most [...]

The Milkweed Husks are all gone now, but I couldn’t resist one last shot of fall at it’s purest. We had some snow on the ground for a week or so, but it melted away. However it’s getting quite cold again so I expect we’ll have some snow within a few days. Related Reading: Autumn: [...]

All summer and fall I kept seeing these odd leaning trees in the park where we take our dog for a run in the woods. I finally broke down and took a picture of them. I know it’s not a spectacular picture, but isn’t it strange how the two trees are leaning towards each other? [...]

Sumac leaves turn red in Autumn and they develop fruit or seedpods that look like the one above. I think they’re kind of pretty. Especially when there is a large group of Sumac with their red leaves and fruit seedpods on display. Related Reading: Autumn Spellbinders Shapeabilities Dies, Foliage Autumn: Aftermath Autumn: Purification Autumn

Earlier this month my husband and I took our dog for a hike in a local park here in Toronto. There are wooded trails, clear open fields and of course the obligatory pond or two. All of the kinds of things that a dog or nature lover would enjoy! The trees here in Toronto took [...]

A delicate Cedar branch in autumn. Just looking at this photo I can almost smell the scent of cedar. Related Reading: Autumn 25 SCARLET / CAROLINA RED MAPLE TREE Acer Rubrum Seeds Foliage Fire Station Number 4: The Daily Life of Firefighters (Carolrhoda Photo Books) Spellbinders Shapeabilities Dies, Foliage

At the beginning of October I took a photo of a flower that was just starting to die down and become a seed head. It was one of the most amazing looking flowers that I think I’ve ever seen … it almost looked like it was composed of tiny spiders or bugs. Click the link [...]

You might remember that back in November I posted a photo of a lovely blue flower that I now believe was Wild Chicory. If I’m right, these flower seed heads are Chicory flower seed heads. I find it amazing that a flower can still look beautiful, even as it is dying down for the winter [...]

A close up of a pine tree branch. I love the smell of real pine and crushed pine needles. Did you know you can make a tea out of pine needles? It has an interesting taste! Related Reading: Spellbinders Shapeabilities Dies, Foliage Autumn One World, One Day (Barbara Kerley Photo Inspirations) Trees, Leaves & Bark [...]

I don’t know why but I enjoy seeing how plants change once cool weather arrives. Cat tails and Milkweed puff out and their seeds blow through fields and meadows, flowers turn to seed heads and of course, the leaves on the trees change from green to red, orange, gold and yellow. While we may regret [...]

I not only grow plants in several raised garden beds in my front and back yards, but I also have hanging baskets and planters filled with summer flowers such as Petunias, Stock, Impatiens and occasionally I’ll plant some lovely Dianthus or Sweet William among the annuals. The photo above is a picture of lovely Sweet [...]

Compte de Chambord, was there ever another rose with such a heavenly scent? Some of my roses are still blooming away at this late date. I suspect that the Compte de Chambord rose bud pictured above is one of the last that this rose will produce this year, but I could be wrong. Either way [...]

This is my first year with Hydrangea in the garden. Earlier this year when the plant started to bloom each cluster of flowers was half blue and half pink. It was like the plant couldn’t decide which color it should be. I’ve since heard that newly planted Hydrangeas will often be bi-colored in their first [...]

It’s November and the flowers and plants are finally starting to die down in my garden. Starting to prepare to sleep during the winter under a bed of snow. The seed heads above are of Rudbeckia – or the flowers more commonly called Black Eyed Susans. These lovely yellow daisy like flowers bloom from Late [...]

During a walk in the park I came across this pretty blue wild flower with a snail perched above it. I’m not big on snails, but it looked pretty beside the flower and as you can see it photographed quite well. Related Reading: Foliage Dyna-Gro Foliage-Pro (9-3-6) 32oz Quart Spellbinders Shapeabilities Dies, Foliage New York [...]

A couple of weeks ago my husband and went for a hike in a park here in Toronto. While we were there I decided to take some photographs of the trees. If you’ve seen the last picture and description you already know I like trees and interesting bark. Well .. as I took photos I [...]

I haven’t grown Asters in my garden for the last two or so years and I’d forgotten how lovely and cheerful they are. Obviously I’m growing some in my garden this year and I’m loving them. They’re such cute little flowers and the best thing about them is that they’ll bloom well into autumn! Related [...]

My Black Eyed Susans are prolific this year. I don’t know how many I’ve pulled out as they creep into other areas of my garden, but I still have three or four large clumps of these bright yellow beauties cheerfully showing off their colorful blooms in my garden. I love these flowers. They bloom from [...]

With a name like Strawberry Candy you know even before seeing this scrumptious daylily that it’s going to be delightful. I grow this lovely daylily in my planted boulevard in front of my house. It grows along side Siberian Irises, malva, pink cactus dahlias, sunflowers, marigolds and other plants that bloom at various times throughout [...]

These are French Marigolds. I grow them around the border of my planted boulevard garden. As you can see I also have a short bamboo fence in my little garden. It helps separate the planted area from the sidewalk. The short fence is very helpful in the spring as it lets people know that they [...]

Malva – such a simple yet lovely flower. This one is growing in my planted front boulevard. The Malva plant produces flowers from June right through to September or so. It looks lovely when it’s covered in blooms. Related Reading: Rothco paracord 550LB NYLON 100 FT / FOLIAGE Foliage: Astonishing Color and Texture Beyond Flowers [...]

Morden Sunrise Rose These lovely roses are called Morden Sunrise. This is an appropriate name for this hardy Canadian Explorer series rose as the colors of the petals with their light yellows to soft peach and orange colors do look quite a bit like a sunrise on a beautiful day. This rose is growing better [...]

I love Butterfly Weed. It produces lovely long lasting orange blooms each summer that attract Monarch butterflies as well as other species of butterflies, moths and as you can see even honey bees or wasps! I believe even hummingbirds enjoy Butterfly Weed Flowers. Related Reading: Dyna-Gro Foliage-Pro (9-3-6) 32oz Quart JTT Landscaping Material – Foliage [...]

Maltese Cross is one of the easiest to care for plants that I grow. It’s quite hardy, grows tidily where I first planted it and returns each year to produce it’s lovely clusters of orangish red blooms. Related Reading: Forever Roses – Small Bud Wooden Roses Bouquet – Dozen NY DAILY NEWS Fresh Flowers – [...]

This delphinium grows like a weed in my garden. It either spreads or reseeds itself so well that each year I have to pull out several new plants just to keep this flowering plant under control in my garden. Still, it’s a lovely flower isn’t it? Droopy little purple bell shaped blossoms. Related Reading: Spellbinders [...]

These are Gayfeather (Liatris) buds. Each bulb develops a spike in June and by Mid to Late July each year the tiny flowers on each spike begin to bloom. They have a soft feather look from a distance and look lovely in large round clumps. Related Reading: Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S50 Document Scanner (B11B194011) Dyna-Gro [...]

This is one of the old main buildings at Toronto’s Brick Works. The factory is no longer operational and the quarry where all the clay was dug out to make the bricks has been turned into ponds, marshes and hiking trails that highlight native plants of Ontario and this general area. The Brick Works is [...]

I took this photo last weekend when we went to The Brick Works here in Toronto. It’s a nature preserve filled with native plants and native fauna. This pond is located right after you pass the old brickworks buildings. There’s no swimming allowed of course, but it’s good that they have a life preserver there [...]

My lavender is blooming and it looks just lovely. So beautiful in fact that I decide to crouch down beside a clump of lavender to get this shot. The day was a little bit breezy, just like most days in Toronto seems to be so I had to time my shot carefully as the lavender [...]

It’s amazing how fragrant just a few of these tiny Lily of the Valley flowers really are. I’ve been trying to grow these plants for a few years and this year several came up in two areas of my garden. The scent carried throughout the whole garden and into the neighborhood. Do you grow Lily [...]

My lavender is beginning to grow again. It looks kind of strange. There are parts of the plant that look dead, but at the top of each branch there’s new fuzzy green growth. The plant doesn’t look very nice yet from afar, but in closeup like this I think it’s quite pretty. Do you grow [...]

Now that the snow finally melted in the garden and our yard it’s time to get outside and clean up the garden. There’s lots of dead foliage from last fall to cut down or remove. The above photo is of a Crocosmia seedpod. I actually took the photo in the fall. The seeds wouldn’t have [...]

I have a young Rose of Sharon tree/shrub in my backyard. Each autumn it produces a lot of seeds from the last of the flowers. What you see in this photo are the seed hulls at the ends of the branches covered in snow. From a distance it looked like the tree was covered in [...]

I grow some of my plants in strawberry planters. Plants that cascade downward like Lobelia are great for these types of plants. As you can see these planters look interesting in the winter too when they are covered in snow. Related Reading: Dyna-Gro Foliage-Pro (9-3-6) 32oz Quart Winter Rothco paracord 550LB NYLON 100 FT / [...]

Frost, ice and snow cover the last of the rose leaves. This is a photo that I took in my garden near the beginning of January after we’d had a huge snow storm. I went outside in the morning and everything was so beautiful … you know that silence that falls after a snow storm. [...]

This is a snow covered Mugo Pine branch. I took this photo on the same day that I took the previous photo that I posted – right after a big snow storm here in Toronto. All of the trees were dusted with snow and it was beautiful. I know those of you that don’t experience [...]

A happy bumble bee gathering pollen from a Malva Sylvestra flower. In the fall the bumble bees were happily enjoying all of my flowers that were still in bloom, gathering the last of the pollen for the year. It’s amazing how many bumble bees a small garden can fill up with on a nice autumn [...]

I thought I’d post this lovely photo of Holy since it’s the Christmas season. I grow this plant in my small garden. The holy hasn’t grown much since I planted it about four years ago so it’s only about 2.5 feet tall, but it produces lovely red berries each autumn and has beautiful glossy leaves [...]

I took this photo in early October. The bumble bees were all over my New York Asters enjoying the pollen. I love watching the bees try to fly away with their back legs coated in pollen.  It’s kind of funny at times. Related Reading: North American Wildlife NETGEAR N600 Wireless-N Dual Band Router WNDR3400 Brussel’s [...]

A pretty, late Spring and Early summer, flowering plant that grows in my garden. Astilbe is a green leafy plant most of the year, but it blooms once each year for about a month and these are the flowers that are produced on long stalks that grow out from the clump of green leaves. Related [...]

A beautiful Balloon Flower. This photo was taken in September as you can probably tell from the autumn like lighting and colors. This flower is normally a cross between blue and purple but as the weather cools the color purple reigns. Related Reading: Dyna-Gro Foliage-Pro (9-3-6) 32oz Quart Brussel’s DT8045FF Fringe Flower Bonsai Foliage Epson [...]

If only all weeds were so lovely as this common Ontario Musk Mallow. This plant also goes by the name Malva moschata L, and like the Malva Sylvestris that I posted a short while ago this plant,too, is a relation of the Hollyhock. This plant produces pretty pink flowers several times each summer in my [...]

Malva sylvestris ‘Zebrina’ aka Striped Mallow A relation to the hollyhock family this short lived perennial happily reseeds itself each year so I never had to worry that if the winters harsh the former plant won’t grow the following season as I know it’s seedlings will. Plenty of them. I grow this gorgeous plant at [...]

I’m growing a clematis beside one of my roses. In fact it’s near that lovely black hollyhock that I showed you a few days ago. In September I noticed the vine had produced these luscious looking red berries. I never knew that clematis vines produced berries, but I’ve now noticed that a few of my [...]

Even in Mid October my Raspberries are still growing and ripening here in Toronto. I’m sure I won’t have raspberries for much longer as it will soon get quite cool here. Still, it’s a joy to be able to walk into the garden and pick fresh fruit for dessert. Related Reading: JTT Landscaping Material – [...]

This is a shot of the park that adjoins Toronto’s famous Beach area. My husband and I often visit this park and the beach year round. Of course Toronto is in a cool climate so we are at times met with snow and ice, but it’s still lovely no matter what time of year we [...]

Canna Tropicana leaves. I took this photo in my Toronto garden in late September. I love the look of canna Tropicana leaves. This plant is a colorful addition to the garden and it’s blooms are lovely as well. Related Reading: One World, One Day (Barbara Kerley Photo Inspirations) Foliage: Astonishing Color and Texture Beyond Flowers [...]

These are sedum buds. This plant normally flowers near the end of August or early September and makes a colorful fall bloom. Even when the bloom fade it’s dead flowers on their dried stalks are quite pretty to leave in place through the winter. Related Reading: Foliage Just Ambulance Photos! Big Book of Photographs & [...]