First Of The Winter Buds

Yes, There’s Beauty In Grey Starkness

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This shot of a weeping cherry branch was taken last weekend, just after we crossed the halfway point of our Australian winter. The isolated leaves, furled tight and crisp, are a stubborn reminder that sometimes not all foliage falls to the ground.

As I lined up the shot and even after I had put the camera away, I resisted the impulse to reach out and touch the leaves, which I imagine would have felt as brittle as centuries-old parchment.

I often get asked just how cold Melbourne gets in winter. It’s colder than Sydney but not as cold as Canberra, where sub-zero nights are par for the course.

But we often get ice on the car and heavy frosts are common as well – which is precisely why I prune my roses later than most people. Why? Because there’s not much sense in subjecting tender new shoots to cruel frost.

But yes, there was a recent snowfall that attracted a lot of attention –because it blanketed Kinglake, one of many areas here that were destroyed by the February bushfires. Maybe it was a special, symbolic reassurance from Nature.

Visit MamaGeek and Cecily, creators of Photo Story Friday.

Are You The Real Cherry Springer?

A Lot Of Weeping, But No Gnashing Of Teeth

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

We've just completed our first fortnight of the Australian spring. This weeping tree is simply cascading with blossoms at the moment and I've been watching it all week, waiting for the best light and the most blooms. At midday yesterday, it was overcast and I thought I'd better not waste any more time, so I got the camera out. I'd shot about six frames when the woman who planted the tree appeared. She was delighted to see me photographing it and told me that it was, as I suspected, a weeping cherry. ``It cost about fifty bucks and I planted it about three years ago,'' she said.


And just because I like to keep things in perspective, here is another frame of the same tree, shot from pretty much the same angle. It was taken exactly three months earlier, to the day. It captivated me then - at the start of our winter - and it still captivates me now.