I started capturing photos of my garden for purely selfish reasons: they gave me comfort and offered perspective when life got hard. Then I wondered if other people might get some of the same benefits — comfort and perspective — from these photos, so I created the Roots & Vines Substack account to share photos publicly. Capturing my creative process in the garden has evolved into a regular commitment, a kind of personalized magazine capturing favorite moments with flowers.
Here’s what keeps me buoyed this month:
Brown-eyed Susans signal autumn’s arrival. When they bloom, I know summer will only last for a few more weeks.
I chose my color palette for the garden very careful this year. One strand includes orange tones (peach, coral, and pale pink) and one strand includes dark red tones (magenta, scarlet, lavender, and plum). Pictured here: dahlia, zinnia, verbena, strawflower, and snapdragon.
I captured this arrangement in late afternoon golden light. It’s designed around a theme of pink: hydrangea, cosmos, scabious, and bunny tails.
Cosmos are some of my all-time favorite flowers to grow, arrange, and capture through photography. Pictured here: “Velouette” and “Tetris Red” cosmos.
I love dark and moody bouquets, but every so often I make a bright pink arrangement just to remember that whimsy also lives in the garden.
My basic formula for flower bouquets: round blossoms, spiked flowers, cone-shaped blossoms, and leaf foliage. Round flowers in this bouquet: strawflower and zinnias. Spiked flowers: verbena. Conical flowers: snapdragons. Leaf foliage: hidden on select flower stems.
I harvest wisteria vines from my parents’ garden, fashion them into wreath forms, and then use them as a base for seasonal wreaths. I prefer wisteria vines over grapevine because they are more malleable.
Wisteria vine + hydrangea “Vanilla Strawberry” blossoms
You can purchase select photos from my photography collection by visiting the Roots & Vines shop.
I’m already starting to plan which seeds I will purchase for next year’s garden. On the short list: giant delphinium, chrysanthemum (if I can find any seeds), lavender, and more strawflower. I’ll expand my current daffodil collection and add globe allium to the spring gardens, too. I love purchasing my garden supplies through Johnny Seeds, Renee’s Gardening Seeds, Seed Savers, Eden Brothers, and Breck’s Bulbs. This is not an advertisement! I’ve experienced success with these companies; they are a great place to start if you want to grow a garden.
See you at the end of the month.
-Betsy