Hepatica 2009

[Iris]

It might also be the blue from "bounty" or something similar.

Maybe this is a general issue and maybe it fits better elsewhere but I got inspiration here.
Input about making a "international colour-standard" are welcome and also if it is at all interesting. It makes the photo less pretty but helps compare I think.

Kind regards
Joakim

I think you're right with the difficulties especially with the colour blue. I've had the same problem with bluish Corydalis solida I found. On the photographs it always looks completely different And it also depends on the light when you take the picture. So find below the very same Hepatica bed in evening sunlight and on a dull day. Well, the "true colours" are something inbetween.
I don't have that special plants of Hepatica, but I enjoy my "slowenian swarm" very much. In the arboretum it looks quite natural, though the colours are so different.

Next time I will eat some Bounty - of course just to put the paper next to the plants as a colour index .

[gote]

It there any international thing that is blue so that it can be used as a colour standard?
Maybe this is a general issue and maybe it fits better elsewhere but I got inspiration here.
Input about making a "international colour-standard" are welcome and also if it is at all interesting. It makes the photo less pretty but helps compare I think.

Kind regards
Joakim

I could not agree more. This is a problem. Especially blue colours are difficult. I usually get them too light. Those of us who grow everything in pots get away by using a neutral grey background. A digital camera will try to get that neutrally grey and since the background is uniform differences in light are compensated. This does not help all colours the sensors in the camera have a different sensitivity to Wavelengths than our eyes have. The manufacturers compensate for this using various filters but it seems that they not always succeed. Problem is based on that blue might contain both ultraviolet and infrared that we humans do not see but some cameras do. Of course also other colurs may have these additions but the disturbance does not seem to be so obvious.
I think that at the moment the grey card is the best solution.
HAve a nice Easter everybody.
Göte

[Gunilla]

I agree with you, the blue colour is a problem. Sometimes I wish I had my plants in pots so I could experiment more with different backgrounds.  The sad truth is that I'm useless with plants in pots, can't even keep my house plants alive  so that is not really an option.

Happy Easter to you too, Göte and to you all 

Double blue hepatica - with flowers in sun and shadow
Blue double hepatica - I perceive the colour as darker blue/violet than my camera does
Red double hepatica - can still be found growing in old gardens here

[Ulla Hansson]

Katrin,
Your beautiful blue Hepatica, is a Female plant. It is not sterile, it can bear seeds, but not pollinate other plants. I have several Hepatica like yours in the garden and they bear seeds.
Ulla

[Gunilla]

Hepaticas do not grow in the woods where I live but I had heard about a place about 50 km from here with wild hepatica.  After work today me, my husband and our two dogs went off to search for the place.  We found it and although it was windy up on the hill I managed to take some photos of wild Hepatica flowers and a Corydalis.

[Maggi Young]

What a good expedition, Gunilla.
I see that as well as the lovely variety of hepaticas you actually saw two corydalis..... and a gagea !

Are both  the  dogs rough/sable collies? I'm sure that is what I can see, almost as a ghost in one photo 

[Gunilla]

Maggi, my old collie, Molly, was a rough/sable. I lost her just before Christmas and still miss her very much.
Tessi is a 9 year old tricolour and the youngest is a 3 year old Sheltie named Yatzy.

[maggiepie]

Gunilla, I have enjoyed all the pics of your hepaticas, but it is really  special to see them in their natural setting.
They're just beautiful.

[Maggi Young]

Your collies are as beautiful as your plants, Gunilla, thank you for showing us . I see Tessi is quite the baby-sitter  And how sweet Yatzi looks in her field of dandelions, how cute!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Nice to see the Hepaticas in the wild Gunilla !
Thanks for taking us along on your walk !! 

[ashley]

What beautiful plants, dogs (& baby Gunilla.  Thank you for showing them.
Are the anemone leaves in some of your pics likely to be ranunculoides or nemorosa?

Years ago when living in Finland one of my greatest pleasures in spring was to visit the hepaticas in forests around Helsinki or in North Karelia.  However their colour was usually deeper if I remember correctly (a big if, admittedly!).

Our beloved collie-X Misty born at the local dog shelter had a shelty mother & presumably a border collie father of the type common here in country areas. 

[Gunilla]

Are the anemone leaves in some of your pics likely to be ranunculoides or nemorosa?

Probably both, Ashley. A. ranunculoides is not uncommon in the south of Sweden and A. nemorosa grows pretty much everywhere.  Soon the beech woods will be completely white with Anemone flowers at the same time as the beech trees are leafing. The light in the woods at this time is almost magic.

The baby is my granddaughter and she is 2,5 years old now and very good with dogs  .

[johanneshoeller]

A very tiny hepatica from China

[Paul T]

And what a cutie it is!!  Very nice, Hans.

[Ewelina Wajgert]

At us the majority of Hepatica are just sheded blossom. After the winter we have summer and heat.
But today I have taken some photos of plants.

1. Hepatica nobilis Alba
2. Hepatica insularis "Rosea", that begin to send new beautiful leaves out.