Once again I ventured into Mum’s garden. It’s amazing what you can capture if you’re just looking closely enough. There are stunning motives everywhere. Flowers in bloom, withered flowers in the back light, beetles in rosemary, climbing wasps, cob webs and so on:
My favourites, though, are leaves with raindrops. A little dark mood gives the images an aristocratic elegance. Especially for the one with the hydrangea (Mum’s favourite flowers), which to me is the best photography in this post. Do you agree?
Late summer around August and September is the best time to go insect hunting in the vineyards. Here in the Palatinate many winemakers switched to mainly organic cultuvation methods during the last two decades, resulting in food and hiding places for various insects and all the species feeding on them. Also the vineyards are traversed by stone walls that store the heat from the sun and enable warm climate species to establish themselves.
A couple of years ago (in 2017), I saw it for the first time: The European mantis (Mantis religiosa). The only Mantodea species found in Central Europe. I had never seen one when I was a kid, and I was out and about the vineyards all the time. So I guess it conquered new territory due to climate change. Now you can reliably spot them anywhere where meadows and bushes provide enough food for these predators.
I am totally in love with these animals. Their weird body structure, their slow rhythm of movement and their strange faces, that seem to observe every move you make. They are so unlike humans, they could be from a different planet somewhere in the galaxy. Have you ever seen one in the wild?
In late summer the floor of the Palatinate Forest is covered with a violet blanket made from thousands of little flowers. These flowers belong to Calluna vulgaris, the common heather, that you surely know from the Scottish Highlands and the „Lüneburger Heide“ in Northern Germany. The common heather likes nutrient poor, dry and slightly sour soils.
The dense cover of individual plants and the simultaneous blooming behaviour lead to the beautiful phenomenon of purple clouds hovering over the ground. And of course, it’s a photographer’s delight to go hiking and collect hundreds of pictures.
However, C. vulgaris flowers are not only pretty, they provide a huge amount of food and important habitat for insects and other animals.
Crickets and wild bees profit from the dense flower cover.
Taking pictures is one thing, the other thing is how do I want the image to look like in the end. Here’s an example of the different settings I tried for this topic. The first version has a light and soft mood: fluffy flowers in bright rosé. The second version shows harder contrast and darker shading, simulating the magic of an early summer evening in the forest. Which one do you like best?
A honey bee (Apis mellifera) is feeding on the purple basil flowers.
My mum keeps a large specimen of red basil on her front porch. When in bloom it drenches the air with its aromatic fragrance and reliably offers loads of purple flowers for nectar feeding insects. Therefore it is a convenient spot for capturing nice images of bees and butterflies. The other day I spotted a male blue (family: Lycaenidae, subfamily: Polyommatinae) among all the honey bees and I loved the contrasts of colour and shapes it provided:
At some point I noticed some turmoil in the shrub and I came to witness a dramatic fight scene within the flowers: A European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) had attacked a feeding honey bee and they wrestled for their lives while hanging on a single leg from the blossoms. Both are capable of employing deadly stings, however a few moments later the wasp darted off with its prey.
A European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) attacking a nectar feeding honey bee (Apis mellifera).
Tip: Not only the leaves of red basil are edible but also the flowers. They give a nice colourful and aromatic touch to salads, sweet desserts and even drinks (e.g. G&T). Try it out!
The botanical garden of the Technical University in Brunswick is just across the street and it is always worth a visit. Either to study, to relax or to go on a photo hunt. And this is what I did the other day. Undisputed star among all the flowers was the huge artichoke (Cynara cardunculus) in bloom. Loved by bees, bumblebees and visitors alike. Its big violet blossoms offer an exciting range of structures and contrasts, even the unopened buds look interesting. For those who know artichokes only from pizza carchofi, artichokes are being cultivated for the thick edible bases of their flowers. Buds and blossom are also very decorative accessories in your flower bouquet.
The big flowers of the thistle-like artichoke attract plenty of pollinators and serve as a reliable source for good close up shots of insects. The radial symmety of the spiky flowers reminded me of magnified images of microscopic algea and plancton. Thus I tried to mimic a scanning electron microscope recording with the pictures I got. You can slide the bar from left to right to adjust the size of each image. Amazing, isn’t it?!
I work in a beautiful wine bar and restaurant in one of the historical centres in Brunswick: the Monkey Rosé. We love wine and everything related, but we also want to surprise our guests with new drinks on the side. And since we got bored with the classics like Aperol Spritz, Hugo, Lillet and the like I was looking for more original and less sweet alternatives. Ideally the drink should come along pretty in pink to fit into our colour concept. This year I found vermouth tonic. Both components blend into a fresh and fruity, yet bittersweet combination. I use vermouth rosé which is less spicy, but frutier and lighter than its dark relatives. As toppings I add dried hibiscus flowers and dried rose buds which bring in special floral notes: the rose buds emit an intensive powdery-sweet fragrance and the hibiscus flowers slowly dye the drink deep pink like a beautiful sommer sunset. A thick slice of lemon and the pink rose buds give a rustic charme. Find the recipe at the bottom of the post.
The interieur design and lifestyle magazine of the local newspaper asked us to present our summer drink 2021.
This is the image that was eventually featured in their summer issue.
They posted it also in on their instagram profile. I am a little proud about it. 🙂 Have a look:
These are the same images as in Peak of Summer I, but here I chose a more faded look that fits more the nature of the withered flowers. I especially like the contrast between the pink and yellow flowers and the gray wood. It looks pretty vintage, too. Which style do you like best? Let me know!
Click on an image to get to the full size diashow.
I am actually not so sure about the vignettes, it makes the images look a bit too artifical, doesn’t it?
The other day I went on the balcony and cut some of the withered flowers. It usually makes the plants produce more flowers and keep them in bloom. As the cut floweres lay there on the wooden table they really spoke to me. It was a hot, sunny day and the air was still and dry. Although it just turned July, it felt like the end of summer had come already knocking. The flowers on the table were the first massengers of the inevitable decay, yet, still beautiful in their own melancholic way. I got my camera and took some close ups and I am quite happy with the results. The dahlia, roses and lavender are withered but their colours are not yet faded. Pretty much like us humans sometimes. 😉
Every now and then I need to escape the urban hustle of the city (well, as far as you can find that in Brunswick) and dive into the woods of the Harz mountains. The monoculture of fast growing pine trees has faced a major decline due to a combination of storms, droughts and pests in recent years. For a while the forest offered a sad and depressing view of dry and dead trees. However, new trees are emerging between the withered tree trunks, slowly but surely. The forest is now largely left to its own natural progression resulting in a more divers species composition with a much larger portion of deciduous trees. This plant community is also thought to be better adapted to different pressures by pests and climate changes. Additionally the expansive clearings offer habitat for a multitude of often threatened plant and animal species.
There is a large meadow in the Harz mountains just between Molkenhaus and the Ecker valley. It has a very characteristic flora and fauna. It is fun to walk through it at different times of the year because the species composition of flowers in bloom and active insects changes distinctively. These fotos were taken last week in the middle of July.
Click on an image to open a full size diashow.
The plentitude of insects flying, jumping and crawling through this meadow provides a rich menu for predators. One very common and noticeable of them is Aculepeira ceropegia (German: „Eichblatt-Radspinne“). Easily identified by the oak-leaf-shaped pattern on its abdomen.
Lesnik Photos 