Home»Yard & Garden»2022 Flowers & Yard

2022 Flowers & Yard, with almost 100% focus on the flowers this year. Again this year, I'm not looking for perfection. This is nature, and it's my garden so there isn't going to be perfection. Perfection looks fake. I want to capture what it really looks like on a good day - not something you find inside a seed catalog. In the past I've missed photos waiting for he perfect bloom on the perfect day. So this year I tried to survey the garden(s) with my camera at last once a week. Especially after this spring when I managed to miss some decent Daffodil blooms. I updated my garden maps this year and filled in more blank lines for my plant spreadsheet. So hopefully my photos in 2022 will have fewer errors and more usable titles. Here is a summary of my photo sessions:
Feb 7th, My white and pink Orchids are still alive and in bloom. At 11 am., the sun backlights the Orchid petals. Also Feb 17th, Feb 25th, Mar 10th, Mar 14th, Apr 6th, Apr 21st, May 5th. 12 photos; all with 30mm Macro lens.
Mar 22nd, Snow drops pop up in the Main South Garden (MSG) off the garage. 1 photo, 30mm Macro lens.
Apr 11th, Crocus in the MSG. 4 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
May 17th, Tulips, Daffodil (too late), Grape Hyacinths, and Pasque. Late afternoon under Partly Cloudy skies. 13 photos, 30mm Macro lens. Also May 18 for the Pasque.
May 22nd, same as above. 3:13 pm Cloudy skies. 13 photos, 85mm lens.
May 24th, mostly Tulips in the bright sun mid-morning. 26 photos, 85mm lens.
May 25th, Allium, Tulips, and Tulip Peonies late afternoon sun. 5 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
May 30th, Allium, Tulips, Cornflower 'Mountain Bluet', and gardens 1:50 pm., Sunny. 13 photos, 30mm Macro lens, 10-20mm ultra-wide Zoom.
Jun 2nd, Drumstick Allium and Tulips. 8:11 am., Clear. 5 photos, 10-20mm ultra-wide Zoom.
Jun 3rd, Bees Balm and Cornflower at 2:46 pm., under Fair skies, 3 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Jun 5th, survey of all the blooming photos at noon, under Fair skies, 26 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Jun 6th, smaller blooms. Clear skies but low angle sun at 8:12 am. 8 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Jun 11th, new blooming flowers. Cloudy but clearing skies at 6:40 pm. 23 photos, 30mm Macro lens. 10-20mm ultra-wide Zoom for the Hostas under the Gazebo.
Jun 14th, new blooming flowers and Rose Garden. Partly Cloudy at 11:00 am. 36 photos, 30mm Macro lens, 85mm lens, 70-300mm Zoom.
Jun 17th, Rose bush, Poppies, and Coreopsis. Fair skies at 8:30 am. 5 photos, 30mm Macro lens
Jun 23th, new blooming flowers and Roses. Fair skies at 7:38 pm. 19 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Jun 30th, new blooming flowers and Roses. Fair skies at 7:31 pm. 18 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Jul 1st, new blooming flowers and Roses. Fair skies at 8:03 am. 11 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Jul 6th, survey of all the blooming photos at 9:00 am. Cloudy skies. 44 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Jul 9th, survey of all the blooming photos at 5:55 pm. Mostly Cloudy skies. 33 photos, 50mm lens.
Jul 13th, new blooming flowers and Roses. Clear skies at 2:14 pm. 40 photos, 30mm Macro lens and white scrim.
Jul 16th, Cornflowers and Roses. Fair skies at 7:49 pm. 3 photos, 50mm lens.
Jul 24th, survey of all the blooming photos at 11:53 am. under Partly Cloudy skies. 73 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Jul 25th, Canadian 'tiger' swallowtail on a Coneflower at 10:08 am. 2 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Aug 1st, Phlox, roses, and other blooming photos at 1:23 pm. under Hazy skies. 53 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Aug 8th, Daylily and Oriental Lily at 12:12 pm. under Clear skies. 3 photos, 85mm lens.
Aug 15th, survey of all the blooming photos at 10:20 am. just as it's clouding up. 69 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Aug 27th, Roses. Clear skies at 10:34 am. 12 photos, 30mm Macro lens, spray bottle and white scrim.
Sep 6th, new blooming flowers and Roses. Fair skies at 6:57 pm. 34 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Sep 14th, new blooming flowers at 11:23 am. light Haze. 33 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Sep 17th, Roses and new blooming flowers at 11:22 am. Cloudy skies. 21 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Sep 30th, survey of all the blooming photos at 3:39 pm. Partly Cloudy skies. 43 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Oct 6th, fall flowers, roses, and whatever is hanging on to its flowers. 4:34 pm., Sunny, 12 photos, 30mm Macro lens.
Oct 21st, Fall colors. 12:22 pm., Fair skies, 4 photos, 85mm lens.
Oct 31st, Chrysanthemum and fall colors. 2:27 pm., Hazy, 15 photos, 85mm lens.
I'm looking for a day with little to no wind, and a time when the lighting is good. I find morning works for me. I'm not racing against the sun. Bright afternoon sunlight is too harsh to work with unless there are light clouds, or I can recreate that diffusion with a scrim.
My go-to lens in 2022 was my Sony 30mm Macro lens. A Macro will let you get very close to the blooms. I bought it for flowers and copy work. I occasional use a wide angle to get the entire garden in frame. I also used a 50mm or 85mm lens when I wanted a different look.
I usually shoot at ISO 400 at ƒ8.0 in Aperture Priority Mode; checking that my shutter speed is high enough to deal with any wind. Even a slight wind can ruin a photo if the bloom is small enough. Occasional I will adjust the F-stop lower if I need a shallow depth of field.I also shoot RAW rather than JPEG because I always edit my photos. Occasionally I'll use a spray bottle to give flower petals that fresh dew look.