The marsh marigold are starting to bloom, but my problem was much the same as I faced with the wood anemone – what I could I do with them that I haven’t already done? I didn’t want to take the same pictures all over again. Then I thought of the leaves, I noticed last week how pretty the leaves are and how they cradle the buds so I wanted to find a way to make the leaves an important part of the picture, and not just an incidental detail. It’s easier said than done, because by the time the flower is mature enough to be in full bloom, that cradle effect is long gone and insects will have taken their toll on the aesthetics. I finally settled with this flower which had just opened and by focusing as close as I could without clipping the petals I was able to fill the background with the leaves.

This marsh marigold place of mine, it will be provide me with plenty of new opportunities to explore the idea because there were buds everywhere. It’s good for other flowers as well, to start with there’s the daphne that by now is of course way over bloom, and I could see marsh and dwarf marsh violets coming up. I also saw leaves of heath spotted orchids already, and then more herb paris than I’ve ever seen in one place. The biggest problem is that by July, absolutely everything is growing so wild that you’re wading knee deep in a sea of green so good luck with finding a clean background… But I just think that it’s lovely have such a place so close to home, it really is only a few hundred meters down the road from me.