Heucheras, Hostas and More, Oh, My!

I was out in the yard again today. All the leaves that had been piled under the maple tree, on the west side of the yard, made their way to the curb, where they will be picked up by the city.  When I moved to the east side of my lot, I became distracted by the Mop-head Hydrangea bush, which still bore last year's blossoms, now skeletonized and dried to a pale tan. Those had to go, so I worked for some time getting the 46 year old shrub trimmed back into a semblance of order; lots of new growth there. That task 'shot my wad' and I had to retreat inside without raking the east half of the yard (but see end of this post.*)

I wrote yesterday that  some of my plants are up/newly leafed, etc., among them my Hostas and Heuchera, or Coral Bells. The photo above shows one of the Heuchera with Hosta shoots behind and to the left. The next photo is a closer look at the Southern Comfort Heuchera. The copper-colored leaves are beautiful, I think.

All photos should enlarge with a click, if you're interested.

I actually stopped to count the Hosta clumps today; I think I said yesterday that there were ten of them, but I counted only seven while I was mulching around the plants with pine needles (generously contributed by my across the street neighbor whose back yard is full of pine trees.) Right now, all that can be seen of the Hostas are these spiky shoots, but there will soon be leaves.

 Before I came back into the house after taking the above photos, I thought I might get some close-ups of the blooms on my Japanese Maple tree. Although quite small, I think they are pretty.  In the process of taking the photos, I made a discovery about my camera. Why this particular effect occurred, I do not know; someone with more photographic experience than I can probably furnish a simple explanation. Both the photo to the left and the one below were taken within seconds of each other. There was still light in the sky, as is evident at left.


My camera was in Macro mode (I was not using my Macro lens, just the camera setting). I activated the flash to take a photo of the same group of blossoms, and .... huh?  It looks like it was taken in the dead of night. (Photo below.) I love the effect, but I don't understand why it happened.

I tried it again on another cluster. Photo to the left - no flash. Photo below - flash.

Inquiring minds want to know -- and they really would like to know without having to read a photography manual (can you say "lazy?")  Anyone out there who would care to explain? Preferably in words of no more than two syllables?


* The east side of the yard: When I returned from a Friday evening church service (we have more services than usual during Lent), I found that the east side of my yard had been raked clean. ??  Some good fairy had been busy.  Making a guess at the person to whom I should be thankful, I phoned Gardening Daughter. Yes, it was she that I had to thank for finishing this tiresome chore. Now I can concentrate on the back yard.


Tomorrow is also a day.