Friday, November 23, 2012

Timelapse Garden Video & Announcement Time

Here's a timelapse of about 1/3 of the main back garden, from July 2011 to November 2012. Sometimes a grey-shirted, blue-jeaned ghost with greying hair makes an appearance--just ignore that.

This video attests to the miracle of herbaceous prairie perennials; when I cut down the garden every March there's almost nothing left, yet the following year many things are 6-10' tall. Enjoy.


And I might as well take this time to announce some things:

1) In 2013 I'll be serving on the all-volunteer board of Wachiska Audubon, the local chapter whose mission is to save and promote prairie. Happy to see where this will take me and what I'll learn. Hopefully, we can find a way to work with other local conversation groups and do something big.

2) Don't recall if I've said this, but I've been writing columns for Houzz, an image-orgy of very cool home design ideas inside and out. I'm the Great Plains regional garden guru, posting monthly guides and pimping native prairie / sustainable wildlife gardening via plant profiles. Help me spread the word?

3) I won an Apple iPad in a photo contest, where one of the three judges was Michael Forsberg (you know, Great Plains idol of mine whose book you must have). 

4) Trying to sell a proposal for a sustainable gardening and wildlife garden book, drawing on regional experts from around the country. The focus is no nonsense for the beginner, guided by 15 core gardening tenets. So if you happen to be an editor, you know, well....

8 comments:

Diana Studer said...

Houzz is new to me. That is an enticing site. We are thinking of a new house, and garden - and gathering ideas.

Anonymous said...

I love Houzz. Good work! As per your sustainable garden book, I hope you get it in print. More need to know what it is and how to do it. Do you like the iPad? I have one and probably am the only one in the Apple fan club that really finds it kinda useless. My phone does it all and my laptop picks up the rest. I take it on trips and that is why I bought it. It is good for transferring images from my camera.

Benjamin Vogt said...

D--every time I go to houzz i see a house I want. :)
gw--the ipad is still in the box. I have a google nexus 7 I adore, even fits in my back pocket but still big enough to read and type on, and it's super fast.

Gardener on Sherlock Street said...

Your time lapse is great. I take a few photos throughout the year with the same framing and do something similar on a much smaller scale. Don't have a way to get everyday like you.
I just this morning saw a preview of an upcoming show with Michael Forsberg's work. He captures the Great Plains is such a special way.

Benjamin Vogt said...

Sherlock--I use the windscapes garden cam, about $80, have it screwed to a corner post on the deck. Yes, Forsberg has a show on PBS Sunday night, but his book of the same title--Great Plains: America's Lingering Wild--is great because of the pics AND the ecological history alongside. It's been a key reference for my Mennonite / Oklahoma memoir I'm working on.

ProfessorRoush said...

Really cool time-lapse garden composition Benjamin! Nice idea.

Justin Evertson said...

Cool! It's amazing how that garden changes over the season! Congratulations on the photo contest as well. That sunflower was a nice pic.

Benjamin Vogt said...

Dr R--I expect to see one from you in a year!
JE--I was so floored to win that contest, and that Forsberg was one of the judges? (of course, he could have hated it)