Rotten Fruit - January 2022

It was a dull but dry morning for my photo shoot in dad's garden this week, and because there weren't a plethora of colourful flowers or amazing insects to shoot, I decided to hunt down some of the more mundane, but hopefully still interesting things to point my camera at.

My favourite photo of the morning turned out to be this rotten Quince (Chaenomeles) bush fruit, which looked like it had been decaying for a while.

Budding Cherry - January 2022

Winter was an odd season, as those things that hadn't died off already, were in the process of dying, and it was too early in the year for most things to have begun to regenerate. However, there was new life to be found, and the new flower buds forming on the Cherry (Prunus) tree were proof of that.

Crown Capsule - January 2022

Other plants were trying to generate new life by spreading seeds, such as the seeds contained in these capsules that reminded me of a crown. I wasn't sure what type of seeds they were unfortunately.

Crocosmia Seeds - January 2022

I was certain that these were Crocosmia (Crocosmia curtonus) 'Lucifer' seeds though, as I'd been waiting for a couple of months for the seeds to drop, and had collected some to try and propagate myself.

Ivy Berry - January 2022

Some of the Common Ivy (Hedera helix) plants had already produced ripe berries, but others were still playing catch-up, and there were plenty of green ones like this one waiting to ripen.

Bract Decay - January 2022

Meanwhile the Lacecap Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) bracts continued to slowly decay. I was hoping to catch them when they turned skeletal, which was always a good look, but I needed to be patient.

Periwinkle Decay - January 2022

There was a little colour in the garden, with the Periwinkle (Vinca) blooms doing their best, but they were beginning to die-back themselves. This one looked like something had even been nibbling on its petals.

Mahonia Japonica - January 2022

A similar story was true of the Mahonia (Mahonia japonica) bush, with their pretty clusters of yellow flowers almost finished. At least there were plenty of plum coloured berries beginning to form that would make excellent subjects for a future article.

Flaming Buds - January 2022

Finally, it was still slow going with the Forest Flame (Pieris) bush flower buds. They definitely looked more colourful than in recent weeks, but weren't much closer to opening.

So this week I went with Rotten Fruit as my Image of the Week simply because I thought it was an unusual and interesting looking subject...