In Inquiry into Fall: Nature's Inhale

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Last Saturday, I jumped in the truck at 6:45AM to make my way across town to pick up a ladder. It was perceived as a necessary tool needed by local photographer, Thomas Rivers, to capture images of plants.

Thomas agreed to join me at Living Landscapes for the day to explore the depths of color, tone, and texture that Fall provided. We did not have a clear idea of what we would tease out. We did not even know whether the finished product of our inquiry would be black and white, one or several images, or how we would present our vision. We decided that the best approach was simply to shoot and collate what the camera was able to distill afterwards.

Our inquiry took us to 9 Living Landscapes projects over the course of the day, and we pulled all images solely from our installs and sites that we have worked on. I cannot thank our gracious and accommodating clients enough for entertaining our study.

Eriogonum umbellatum var. aureum ‘Psdowns’ Seed Heads

Our guiding light was simply to see how much color and texture we could pull out of our garden spaces during a time of year when we think of foundation grasses and deciduous trees leading the aesthetic charge. We wondered what subtleties lurked that we often overlooked and wanted to shine a new light on what is deemed beautiful in the Fall garden. We found the "messy" aesthetics of fallen leaves, sleepy perennials, and exposed bark of woody species to be rich pools to drink from.

Artemisia versicolor ‘Sea Foam’ leaves are an entire world in and of itself.

Artemisia versicolor ‘Sea Foam’ spent flowers may even offer more.

I figured the shots would be primarily rich orange, reds, and yellows, and as I look out of my window at a beautiful Green Ash in its full Fall expression, I wonder if we should have waited a week. But alas, that wasn't really the point of our inquiry. Our study was an attempt to find the overlooked beauty. The breadth of greens, blues, and green- yellows was a striking reminder that in a world of saturation and emphasis on prolific flowers and production, the leaves and structure of a plant can provide so much joy.

Linum lewisii leaves and seed heads.

Driving around Denver, I see so many properties that have already had their grasses and perennials cut back, which to me, is the most prolific source of beauty during this time of year in the Front Range. I wonder why people deprive themselves of this opportunity to think about and appreciate form as it proved such a wonderful reminder for me.

Helianthus maximiliani flowers still in bloom

Our piece is called Nature's Inhale. As we move into the winter, I often get the blues and think of Fall as the "last" of, well, many things. I think of flowers, colors, playing barefoot, and running to name a few things. This year I am trying to remind myself that Fall and Winter is merely our miraculous Mother Earth's in- breath, and we'll just have to wait for her prolific, productive out- breath in the Spring and Summer. It's a reminder that it's our time to inhale, ground, and take stock of what's of value and importance to each of us.