The turtle story
On Father’s Day, I spent part of my day with a crew of mostly South Carolinians. The day started in Hardee’s where we were regaled by stories about turtles, in particular about processing a dead one, and about the importance of knowing the language when you go to the grocery store, otherwise, you might end up eating cat food instead of the tuna that you intended to buy! 
After spending about 40 minutes there and waiting for the rest of the gang, we headed over to Singing Oaks Garden to our adventure.
The last time that I was here, I had the pleasure to meet Peg Jeffcoat. She and her husband, Jim, own Singing Oaks Garden, which is where we were taking pictures today. The last time, Jim was recovering from surgery and wasn’t able to make it out to see us. Today, I got to see Peg again and, in true Southern form, we greeted each other with a hug. I told her that since I had met her once, if it was alright with her, I’d prefer a hug, as we are well met and are old friends now. She happily obliged. She’s such a sweet lady and extremely knowledgeable.
Jim, hybridizing his day lilies
We gathered around to listen to the history of the garden. Peg alluded to the fact that plants are her passion and that she does this purely for the love of doing it. She started out having her own garden, then giving away plants to neighbors and friends, but then had a look at her neighbors’ and friends’ gardens and they looked as good as hers! She decided that she didn’t want to finance their gardens anymore, and thus began the business. It has to be a passion, for sure! She said that she works in the garden cleaning, hybridizing, and basically looking after the plants, every day from about 7:00 AM until dark. That’s about 13 – 14 hours every day!!! Talk about passion.
She also said that when she goes to conventions, you can tell the down and dirty gardeners, like herself, from the bookworms. She says it’s really obvious who has actual knowledge and who just reads. In order to be a gardener, you need to get dirty. That’s it. Boy! Doesn’t that apply to photography as well. You can read as many how to books as you want, but you have to get out and shoot relentlessly to get better. That’s it. Words of wisdom, to be sure.
After she gave her talk and Mike advised us of the dos and don’ts of the garden, we set out to take pictures. I was not so much interested in the flowers as I was the people. So, while everyone took pictures of flowers, I was taking pictures of them taking pictures! Mike was also kind enough to give a brief lesson on what he looks for while photographing.
Mike drops the knowledge on the group!
While the others took pictures of the flowers, I was spent time quizzing Peg on the finer points of gardening, in particular, how does all of this work?! I learned about stamen, pestles, hybridizing (making new flowers through cross breeding), tilling, fertilizing, bugs, diploids (22 chromosomes), tetraploids (44 chromosomes), buds, seed pods, etc. I finally had to let her continue her work. Sometimes, I ask a lot of questions! She was, of course, quite generous with her knowledge. I was so excited that I wanted to come home and start making my own versions of day lilies!
Jim takes time to share a bit of knowledge, too
Now, in case you’re wondering if I took any pictures of the flowers, yes, I did take a few. Probably about 24 or so, but mostly I was there to meet the folks! I am finding that I’m developing a macro style that I really like. I like to photograph the edge of the flower where it goes over into the throat of the flower. It makes it look like a waterfall. I find this very appealing.
Lastly, I don’t know what type of bug this is, but he sure is cool looking!
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