Shape and form, light and shade fascinate me in the garden. The soft rounded little mounds of moss on the wall contrast with the angular shapes of the hippophae rhamnoides. After the rain, all is gleaming.
These photos of the budding hippophae were taken in the spring. Again there is the contrast with the rounded buds and the long slender thorns.
There is a jewel-like quality to the buds seen against the darker background.
I like the defiant exuberance of these criss-crossing branches against the spring sky.
Hippophae rhamnoides can grow to a very large shrub, and is often used as hedging in seaside areas. Mine is in a large tub, which I have positioned behind this wall, as I like the pattern of the mossy angles of the brickwork with the triangular shapes of the hippophae. Behind is a forsythia in spring bloom, also in a tub.
Now it is summer, and yet more contrast with the slender silvery willow-like foliage of the hippophae. What revelry!
26 comments:
I don't think I have ever heard of hippophae. It was nice to learn something new about the garden. And man...do those pics look SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO peaceful. =)
This is so beautiful !! Great beauty !! Simply amazing !!Do check my another blog also i.e.Unseen Rajasthan
Thank you Amelia - glad my pics are peaceful! Hippophae is not a plant I've seen around a lot - which is one of the reasons I like it!
Thank you Unseen Rajasthan - I greatly appreciate your comments!
I like the looks of it Phoenix and can imagine the contrast when the forsythia is out. I am a wimp though when it comes to plants with thorns and tend to give them a wide berth :)
Hi Anna, The hippophae contrasts well with all kinds of plants, which is one of the benefits of growing in a tub, so they can be moved around seasonally!
Sea buckthorn is right up there with Acai as a superfruit. The juice from the berries has an extremely high amount of antioxidants. The plant has been of interest to cancer researchers. This is a really remarkable plant.
Thank you Prospero - I did not know this. I do not get berries on my plant as it is currently the only one I have - I must get more, as the berries look great too!
Very nice pictures. I especially like it with the moss in front of it. I had to look this one up since I wasn't familiar with it.
Thank you Catherine. I first saw hippophae in the grounds of a horticultural college about 10 years ago - it doesn't seem to be in many people's gardens.
The moss really makes something of the top of that wall.
Hippophae rhamnoides is a new one to me. I'm off to look it up.
WOW, what textures! And that moss on the ledge...really cool!
Lynn
The moss looks marvelous mounding up on the wall like that. Moss does grow on some rocks in our desert canyon, but it stays mostly flat. I see what you mean about the nice contrast between the hippophae's sharp angles and the moss' soft curves. I love the 5th picture with the forsythia.
The moss is a perpetual resident on the wall, Rob - which is a testament to our wet summers, I guess!
Glad you like the textures and moss, Lynn!
Thank you Diane! I wonder if your desert canyon moss is a different species to ours?
I really like the second photo with the tiny buds bursting forth.
Thank you Barbara - the tiny buds transforming into the long elegant leaves is one of my favourite things about hippophae.
wonderful photos. I love those mounds of moss.
Hi
Greetings from Coimbatore India. Happened to be passing by and I took the liberty of visiting your blog.Fascinating blog and exquisite pictures of hippophae. Is it the same as the sea buckthorn from whose fruit a high quality medicinal oil is produced?
Please visit my blog.
Thanks & Regards
Ram
Thank you Wayne. Glad you like the photos and the moss.
Hi Ram
Thank you for visiting, and for your kind comment. Hippophae rhamnoides is the sea buckthorn - I was not aware of the medicinal qualities of it's fruits until reading Prospero's comment. It is indeed a very interesting plant.
I always enjoy your comments. You often probe beneath the surface of the content on my blog.
I want to take this opportunity to explain my quote more fully. I do not believe that chaos is a question of mood or external stimulus. I believe it is the fundamental state of things.
In order to examine this belief, it is instructive to look at another discipline, namely physics. The concept of entropy is paramount. Entropy can be defined, in simple terms, as the tendency towards greater chaos and is central to the second law of thermodynamics.
Let me give you a concrete example about the tendency to greater disorder.
You are watching a film of a girl on a swing, going to and fro, and a bouquet of flowers suddenly coalesces in her hands. You know immediately that something is amiss. You understand that the entropy of the system is wrong, and that you have been watching the film backwards.
Thank you for this, Prospero - it is most interesting! I shall think about it fully tomorrow, when I am more awake. My initial thought about chaos, (and I know very little about physics!), is that it co-exists paradoxically with order.
Those are indeed wonderful contrasts in texture and color--love the last photo especially.
Thank you Monica! The hippophae has given me something else interesting to photo since this post - I'll do a post on it soon!
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