The Outlaw Gardener: trachycarpus

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

On the eighth day of Christmas, a Zoo Lights resolution

You may be a plant geek if you go to a beautiful holiday light show like Zoo Lights and get as big a thrill from the outlines of some of the plants you see as you do from the amazing light show.

I usually don't bother with resolutions for the new year because they usually don't last very long. However, if I go back to Zoo Lights next year, I will take a tripod to get better pictures of the dramatically lit foliage. That's a resolution , right?

Usually when thinking of zoos, great gardens don't spring to mind but the Point Defiance Zoo has delicious gardens on their grounds! I once had the pleasure of meeting the head gardener from Point Defiance when he was shopping at Jungle Fever Exotics, just up the street. Are those aloes, agaves, and yuccas?

This reminded me a little of Shirley's beautiful blue agave.

I finally couldn't stand it any longer, turned on the flash and started pointing the camera in the direction of shapes that looked interesting.

There were so many palms that I lost count!

Lots of different kinds of bamboo. This grove is pretty impressive! Can you see the head of the person just right of center?

By the time I found this echium, my second resolution became clear: I WILL revisit the zoo during the day when the holiday event is over. While they have some adorable newborn tigers that everyone is talking about, and lots of other fascinating animals, I'll be more interested in the plants.

A teenaged (under 40 they all look like kids to me) woman said loudly to her friend for my benefit, "Doesn't he realize that flash photography won't get the lights very well?" Truth be told, I had the same thought when folks were trying to capture the lights utilizing a flash but I was taking pictures of the plants. Thank you for this bit of wisdom! I do hope that you will return to the zoo with me during the day so that you can tell your friend that if I point the camera at the plants I won't get very good shots of the elephants.