Different Flowers World

Flower Pictures

It’s springtime in Tuscany, early May. Arriving at Pisa airport the air smells different, dryer, lighter, brighter with the alluring waft of some flower scent, even amid the concrete hustle and bustle common to airports everywhere. I’m travelling light, or as light as you can get when your camera bag is your hand luggage and you couldn’t quite leave the tripod behind. Not when the mission is a whistle-stop orchid extravaganza, to try and photograph as many different sorts of orchid as we can find, in under a week.

Heading off in a hire car, we leave Pisa behind and take to the hills, a winding, twisting, and convoluted back road towards Siena. The air is fresher and the hint of flowers strengthens until we are overwhelmed by the honeyed scent of broom, pouring in through the car windows. Every which way you look there is a picture postcard scene, comprising the essential props of a Tuscan photo – cypress trees, warm brick farmhouse and stone church, with gently curving green hills behind. Is it possible to take a bad photograph in Tuscany? Well yes it is. If I give in to temptation and snap every tempting vista, I’m going to find the bright midday light turns everything to dull monochrome, flattens the colours and wastes all my film before I’ve even started on the orchids. I’ll have to note the best views and try to come back in early morning or evening light, when it all magically turns golden and lucid.

We know where we are heading – south of Siena some friends have been walking through veritable meadows filled with orchids. The challenge will be to find those places by car, along the strada bianca (dirt roads) that crisscross the countryside. The other challenge is reaching our destination, when every few yards we spot a flower spike on the roadside and have to screech to a halt to identify it. Fresh from England any orchid at all is a rarity, but after an hour we are already blasé and we no longer stop for ‘just another spotted orchid’.

The next day we are up bright and early at our first spot on the lower slopes of Monte Amiata. There is an open clearing surrounded by stunted oak trees and bingo – a lavish sprinkling of bee orchids, my favourites, with their furry lip that looks just like a bumble bee. Now the advantage of early morning light and sparkling dewdrops is offset by the fact that I’ll have to lie down in the damp grass to get a good angle. Remember to bring a waterproof next time. I should use a tripod, but first I’m looking through the camera to choose the finest specimens and best setting. Some I need to trim the grass around, either with nail scissors or by gentle flattening down. A wide aperture will take care of the background but I don’t want any blurring of grass waving in the foreground. Sort out tripod, get light reading and bracket, bracket, bracket.

These are pre-digital days, I’m using tranny and colour saturation has to be spot on, so to be safe I’ll do five half-stop brackets. I can’t reshoot from back home once I’ve processed it all and seen the results. This also means I have to be selective, I’ll only get six shots to a roll of film, so just the best flowers and best angles.

Moving across the clearing, as the light strengthens, I find a fly orchid, this time impersonating a bluebottle fly, not as pretty as the bee orchid but striking, then setting up for that shot I nearly tread on a fragrant orchid, delicate pink flowers. I have to be quick now before the light gets too harsh and contrasty. Three in the bag and it’s off to a bar to get a second breakfast of cappuccino and brioche. The film is safe in a cool box – hot cars at midday don’t do much for it! The middle of the day is for scouting the evening’s shoot, then lunch and a siesta. The light won’t be good again until about 5 o’clock, but we have to be in the right place by then to make the most of it. So it’s driving the back roads again between Buonconvento and Casciano di Murlo.

Over the next few days we cross off our list the green-winged orchis, pyramidal orchid, lady orchid, the monkey orchid with its long tail, a man orchid – not so easy to spot with its greeny-yellow colouring, but now we’ve got our eye in the orchid shape leaps at us from all sides. A lot of these orchids are also supposed to be common in Britain but I’ve never seen any of them there, here in Italy they’re everywhere – must be something to do with farming methods, pesticides and all the rest. Here there are a lot of small-scale farmers, subsistence farming is dying out but huge commercial agricultural companies haven’t taken over. There are also a lot of woodland and unfarmable hilly slopes. Orchids on the roadsides though, that’s just showing off!

At the end of the week it’s back to Pisa, hand in the hire car, just slightly dented from overly-steep off-road experiences, and try to persuade the security people to hand search the film bag rather than X-ray it, which could fog the film. They promise that their machine is so modern and foolproof that you can put film through safely but I’m not taking any chances and eventually they agree.

So only one more hurdle to go, the lab back home, processing and seeing what I’ve got – that heart stopping moment before opening the envelope, the huge sigh of relief when you see images on the film, then examining each one carefully and remembering the scent of the Italian countryside in springtime.

Wedding Flowers

When you book your wedding venue whether it be a church or registry office, garden flowers are usually purchased to be there at your wedding. These are may be one of the most expensive things for the wedding after the dress and the cake, believe it or not the marriage license isn’t that big a fee. Usually where you are getting married is covered in beautiful flowers to set the mood, although if you have it in a garden than the flowers are already there, so you don’t really need to worry about that, you just have to worry about the rain!

Not only does the hall or church have to be decorated in flowers, usually the bride carries a bouquet and so do the bridesmaids and flower girls. The general tip is to get flowers that match the theme and colour of the dresses. If the theme is Christmas than red and green should be the colours that you are interested in, or if it is valentines day than red flowers. If you really want a stunning bouquets for the bride very light colours will accentuate her dress and her beauty taking very little attention of her but still giving her the elegant classy look.

Often at the reception parents are given a bunch of flowers in a presentation such as a basket, or large bouquet for a large thank you for all the work that they have done with the wedding and a thank you for just being there for them when they needed them most. Other special players in the wedding usually receive gifts as well and all guests take home wedding favors.

Instead of purchasing floral arrangements, to make things cheaper and more personal you could always make your flower arrangements yourself. Your local library and book shop will have plenty flower arranging books so you are sure to find something somewhere that will help you to choose a good pattern of colours and styles to suit your wedding. Creating your own arrangement adds that unique touch to your wedding and saves you money at the same time.

Wedding flowers are at a wedding to help present the venue in a light mood, flowers are there for decoration, but be warned if hay fever bothers you.... stay away!!!

Flowers Photos

Flower Garden Photos

Are you thinking to start gardening as a hobby? Or maybe you're planning to create your very own flower garden? That’s fantastic! There is much to be said about how gardening can be spiritually satisfying. And you'll have so much fun experimenting with flowers and the beauty and splendor they can give to your lawn or to your backyard. Here are 4 fundamental tips on how you can create a wonderfully ideal flower garden.

1. Flowers are all about colors. These colors and their hues are all about harmony and coordination. And just like your wardrobe, a careless combination of colors could turn out to be quite unattractive. Truly unsightly. You really must coordinate the colors of your flowers. In such cases then, whatever you decide to grow and cultivate will require some planning and organization. One of the first decisions you’ll need to make is about the color scheme that you’d like to have for your garden or backyard. After that, select your flowering plants according to this plan.

2. Flowers can be used to brighten and liven up the shady areas and the dim locations of your garden or backyard. Have you got a spot or an area that isn't being touched by sunlight? It just can’t be reached by the sun? You can readily enhance theses locations using better lighting to produce an explosion of colors. If flowering plants are to be used for this purpose, it’s best to select bright and vibrant colored blooms. It would be good to stay away from dark and gloomy colored flowers. They do nothing to help shady or dim areas.

3. Flower gardens often have a focal point. It may be a statue or a sculpture, a fountain or a water garden, or any type of monument or memorial. Still, if your flower garden doesn't have such a focal point, you can make use of the plants themselves as the centerpiece. Aim to decide on a specific color, and choose flowering plants that provide blooms of such a shade. Then arrange your flower garden to direct attention and interest towards a cluster of these flowers.

4. Select carefully and intelligently between annuals and perennials for your flower garden.

Annuals come into flowers and bloom only once during their lifetime—which normally lasts for a year or less. Even with this, their flowers are far more colorful and vibrant, far more fragrant and sweet-smelling, and far more grand than other varieties of flowers.

Perennials, on the other hand, bloom many times during their lifespan. This usually takes many years. Their flowers may not be as splendid as those of an annuals' blooms, but perennials are definitely easier and more convenient to grow and cultivate. This makes them a much more practical choice.