Foliage Follow-Up: The Pomegranate Lives!

This month's Foliage Follow-Up is dedicated to the awakening of my dwarf pomegranate tree. I feared this little baby did not survive our temperature drop to 17° F this winter. But as you see, she lives! Hooray!

Baby pomegranate leaves

Pomegranate waking up

Pomegranate budding

Pomegranate leafing out

Pomegranate in spring

Pomegranate tree is alive!

I may enter one of these shots in this month's Gardening Gone Wild photo contest. The theme for March is "Awakening". The judge, Saxon Holt, gave some tips to photographers thinking about entering, to improve their chances of winning.

I will be looking for a broad range of entries and will give special consideration to unusual and creative interpretation of the awakening theme.
This leads me to believe photos of leaves sprouting from bare fruit tree branches might trump photos of, say, leucojum pushing through the winter-crusted earth.

When looking for your own garden shots, try to compose so that the backgrounds are simple and do not conflict with the main subject. If you can get a bit of garden context without confusing the main focal area, so much the better, but be sure to have critically sharp focus on your main subject. Use your whole frame, cropping any area that does not add to the composition.

This makes me think I shouldn't enter either of the last two shots, as the background in both shots is a bit distracting and doesn't add to the composition.

That leaves the top 4 shots as potential candidates. Hmmm. I have a favorite (can you guess which one?) but I'd love to hear your input. In any event, thanks to Pam Penick at Digging for hosting Foliage Follow-Up! Visit her blog to see the foliage frolicking in gardens around the planet.


Words and photos © 2009-2010 Caroline Homer for "The Shovel-Ready Garden". Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

Comments

  1. I believe the third one is the best....does it need to be cropped a little more? Good Luck, I entered too, isn't it fun?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love that title - the Pomegranate Lives! All the shots, good luck with your entry!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love pomegranates and am glad to see that your baby is thriving after our nasty cold snap. I've had one for a few years and even brought it with me when I moved. I've yet to get any fruit on it but am still hoping. Anyway, thanks for participating in Foliage Follow-Up, and good luck in the contest at GGW!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congrats on your baby making it through our winter.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm particularly fond of the 4th one, but which ever you choose it'll be a great shot!--Randy

    ReplyDelete
  6. Caroline, I was happy to discover that one of my dwarf Poms is alive also. (One didn't make it). I like the 3rd photo from the top the best...curious to see which one is your favorite!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was excited to see new growth on my pomegrante too. Last year it was late coming out, so I was afraid tha cold temperatures had done it in this year. Yah for both of us!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Glad it's coming back. This winter was hard on so many plants.

    All those photos are good. Good luck, with whatever one you choose.

    ~~Linda...

    ReplyDelete
  9. I definitely like number 5 best! The tree (and photo) are beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I like numbers 3 and 5 the best. Great photography tips too. Do you get pomegranates off the tree?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Melanie, I did get wittle bitty pomegranates. Full sized seeds. Crazy.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Argh! 10 comments and Still can't decide on a photo. Thinking out loud:

    #1 seems too literal -- "here's a pomegranate tree leafing out." No mystery.

    I like #2 a lot. Dreamy. But focus may not be sharp enough, and out-of-focus leaves in background may be distracting.

    #3 is my second choice. I like the little curlicue on the tip of the baby leaf, like it's doing an early-morning cat stretch. May not be enough 'garden context' in photo though.

    #4 is my favorite. Sharp focus on one set of leaves with other leaves fading in and out along the same branch lends a dreamy feel to photo (dreamy--awakening--get it?); more 'garden context than #3; pointy thorns add textural interest; will probably go with this one.

    #5 and #6 make me happy--little branches pointing skyward as though tree going "Yay! It's Spring!" -- but busy background issues lead me to think these images are not as strong as #3 or #4.

    Leaning toward #4. Probably overthinking this, especially as other entries do not bode well for place or show for any of these!

    Thanks for everyone's comments! You rock!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Glad your pom. made it. My big one did too. Question- Are those spines on your tree. They look vicious. If they re then it is interesting that they don't seem to grow on the full sized tree. Good luck with your photo.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment