Why Your Camera is one of Your Most Useful Gardening Tools

We all have our favorite gardening tools. Mine is a pair of yellow-handled pruners that I’ve had for about 25 years. My husband gave them to me and they can cut anything from thin-stemmed flowers to rather large tree limbs. I’d be just lost without them. Many of my gardening buddies swear by a dangerous, but impressive looking tool; the “Japanese Garden Knife.”  It looks like an enormous camping knife, with serrated edges on both sides.  It makes short work of weeds and quickly digs holes perfect for planting annuals.  Did it ever occur to you that your digital camera should rank right up there with your favorite gardening tools?

It’s hard to be super-critical of our own gardens. We lovingly tend each and every inch of it, nurture it and add our favorite plants in what we believe to be the best spot for them.  We plant, stand back and smile, easily satisfied with a job well done. What we don’t do is to look at the whole picture, how all the “little things” we do add up to the big thing- the garden of our dreams.   By using our camera and taking photos of specific sections of our garden periodically it allows us to be a spectator in our own garden.

Unless your name is Henry Shaw and you live on the grounds of the botanical garden, there is always some tweaking that needs to be done in each and every garden. Maybe the best part of your garden is the stone path that leads you to a comfortable chair under a tree.  Sitting in that chair, it’s easy to understand why you put all your favorite plants there.  Those ferns you picked out because the made such a great contrast to the chartreuse lysimachia groundcover make you smile every time you crack open that book.  The Solomon’s seal that has naturalized under the pine softens the forest floor. Plus, you love the way the lily of the valley scent the spring air. Yes, this third of the garden is just perfect.  Nothing needed here.

But, the wind picked up and blew your bookmark towards the eastern edge of the garden.  As you run after it (you can’t lose it-it’s a postcard of your favorite hotel in Naples!) you remark to yourself how nice the blue spruce is doing.  It’s large and fills out the middle of the bed, anchoring the two sides of the garden.  But, darn it, that postcard is being blown to the far end of the garden.  As you stop to retrieve it, you are surprised at the lack of color, texture and interesting plant material. Yes, there are some lovely autumn ferns, some hydrangeas, a few interesting hostas and even a few bearded iris. What it doesn’t have is a focal point. No stone path leading to a chair. No pond or birdbath in which to watch the birds and chipmunks.  No bench in which to sit and take it all in. All of a sudden, you find yourself a stranger in your own garden. You know what to do. Go inside and grab your camera.

Shoot many photos. Begin with the best part of your garden.  Take 5 or 6 different angles.  Move on to the middle section. The area that is “pretty good” because that blue spruce is amazing.  Again, shoot a bunch of this portion. Lastly, it’s on to the “needs work” portion of the garden.  Find the best part of this section and take that first. Then, shoot off a bunch more, from different angles. Don’t even think about of the amount of work you need to do to get this area in shape, head to the computer and load the photos.

Looking at the pictures inside, on a computer, allow you to become distanced; the photos don’t pull your heartstrings quite the same way when you’re sitting in your office.

As you scroll through them, think about what makes that one portion of your garden so great. Is it the varying colors and textures?  The personality the stone path and chair give it?  Have you wanted to add something personal to your garden? Perhaps a pond, bench or statue?  If so, do it and place it in the portion that needs the most work.  That will make you want to improve the appearance of that area even more. Have you been longing for one of those crimson, weeping Japanese maples? Print one off the internet and place it where you think it should be in the landscape.

When you look at it on the computer, do you like what you see?  Maybe it needs to be a little to the left. That made all the difference! Do you think a small pond would make you happy in that portion of the garden? Grab a garden hose and place it where you think you’d like a pond. Take a photo of the hose to see if you like the location and size of the “possible pond.”  Now, wasn’t that easy?  Thank your camera…it gave you great garden advice and didn’t spend a dime of your hard earned money!