The Beauty Of Flowers Depends On The Time Of Watching
Good gardeners give careful consideration to the effects of sunlight and shadow upon the well-being of their plants. Yet how many give thought to the possibilaies in sunset and afterglow lighting? The beauty of dawn is lost to most, for few are awake to enjoy a summer sunrise and its marvels of color.
Imagine the blue-black silhouette of an apple tree against an apricot sky at any season. Visualize the profile of flowering fruit trees, fringe-tree, Japanese snowbell, redbud or flowering dogwood. All these reveal fine architecture in winter and beauty of flower or leaf in the growing season. Here indeed are pictures against an evening sky. Take the pendulous sweep of a weeping willow or the laciness of honey locust; red-cedars for exclamation against the afterglow.
Consider a planting arrangement, not necessarily for its silhouette value, but for that fleeting change of light cast upon it by the setting sun. Flowering quince, forsythia, flame azalea, in order of their bloom, with spring bulbs as an accompaniment and hemlocks for background. See them briefly assume new color schemes at sundown.
In composing rhythms to play in the autumn sunset, let us not forget the flaming foliage of highbush blueberry, black-haw (Viburnum prunifolium), sorrel – tree (Oxydendrum arboreum) and the glowing fruits of the Washington hawthorn.
Guests were invited to dine at the country home of an artist. The invitations read ” … we have a special reason for asking you to come not later than six-thirty …” There was no further explanation. One dared not be late. Curiosity brought everyone promptly. Without a moment’s delay the visitors were conducted to the rear terrace where a spectacle greeted them. A grove of carmine crab-apple trees in full flower bathed in a roseate sunset. This was a symphony.
Why not a sunrise garden viewed from the bedroom window – star magnolia, clouds of shadblow, lilacs, climbing roses, smoke-tree, mock-orange in the morning dew. Most of these I see from my window, but only if the wild ducks awaken me in time with their raucous guffaws.
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