Echinacea in the Mist

When I visited the Arboretum gardens on this morning, the misting system was in full swing. There was a time when I might have put my camera back in its bag and skipped the whole thing, just to avoid the possibility of getting my camera wet.

But I saw the arc of the jets and the pretty patterns the water made, and I was delighted by it all. And I realized that if I was very, very careful, I could take some pictures of the mist itself. And so that is what I did.

I especially enjoyed taking pictures of the pink echinacea in the mist. In this photo, I tried to capture the sense of motion and the patterns of the water. There are echinacea in the shadows, there are echinacea everywhere. But the ones that really stand out are the two or three pink blooms right in the center of the shot. Backlit by morning light, they almost seem to glow.

When I think of gardens, this song always comes to mind. I for one am in full agreement that overall, most things will work out fine . . . we've just got to get ourselves back to the garden. So this is the song for my morning shot of the echinacea in the mist. Joni Mitchell wrote it and in this 1970 studio recording, she sings it beautifully. The tune is Woodstock.