What a time of year it is to be outdoors, enjoying the glories of nature and the nurturing activities of gardening and landscaping. As photographer Stephen Tomasko noted this past week, our extended stretch of weather and the quality of light makes this the golden season, much more than just the golden hour of end-of-the-day sunshine heralded by photographers.
Take it all in: the ripening of kousa dogwood fruits; the bubble-gum pink turning to blueberry-hued fruits of ‘Winterthur’ viburnum; the end-of-the-season blooming of the camellia-like blossoms of the Franklin-tree; the spectacular dinner-plate-like blossoms of hibiscus; the salmon-pink sepals of seven-son-flower (Heptacodium); even the nature red-in-tooth-and-claw activities of spiders and their prey.
Also enjoy the unusual surprises of the season: the “where the wild things are” misshapen and wildly colorful fruits and hidden seeds of magnolias, the out-of-season blooms of butter-yellow forsythia blossoms paired with purple fall foliage color; the pairing of both the white petals on some Heptacodium shoots with other shoots already bearing the maturing salmon-colored sepals. And, after all, this is just the beginning. Coming soon (and already started), is our world-class Ohio fall foliage season!
Shifting to spring
And now for something entirely different, at least in terms of seasons. Same in terms of the joys and the spectacular drama of the natural world, but fast forward or reverse to springtime.
I speak of a new, truly must-see book about flowers and trees. The book is Delira and Excira: Visions of the Flowers of Spring by local photographer-artist Stephen Tomasko. Full disclosure: I regularly walk and talk plants with Tomasko and Wooster Book Co. owner David Wiesenberg as part of our 36 Views of Secrest Arboretum project and also have an essay in Tomasko’s book (though no financial connection to the publication).
Tomasko’s 2014 book project, which started in 2006, and included photos which debuted at the Akron Art Museum in 2011 under the curating of Barbara Tannenbaum in its Flora exhibition, is his dramatic exposure of landscape scenes with the flowers as actors. He uses enhanced lighting techniques and artistry, including a hand-held flash in one hand and a small camera in the other, but no tripods or other accoutrements to illustrate his vision of a re-creation of what nature gives us so freely.
As David Wiesenberg notes: “Art that is engaging reveals to the observer things that are not normally seen; the artist shows us aspects of the world in ways which illuminate novel and deeper insights.
“Tomasko’s photographs transcend the limits of reproduction and stimulate his viewers by capturing the visual energy and magic of spring blossoms — even though the principal observers are having a different experience … A human, with good color vision and ideal lighting conditions, can see somewhere between 500,000 and ten million color hues. But Steve’s camera and the printing equipment used to produce the book have a color gamut of one-tenth this range. So it is the combination of composition and careful observation that give Delira and Excira its wonderful appeal.
“The book also becomes an invitation to go into the orchard or the arboretum and immerse ourselves in the rich visual experience of nature’s most attractive and abundant allures.”
These images are Tomasko’s stories, told as a visual artist. The energizing chill of evaporating water on magnolia petals. Pointillist clouds in the background bringing out the finery of crab apple blooms and their archway of twigs. Punctuations of stamens, cherry blossoms an impossible pink, magnolia blooms melting with the sun. Tomasko’s images, swirling and dancing to the eyes are the “delirious excitement” of the book’s title.
These stories take time to unravel, to blossom forth to channel the floral metaphors in Tomasko’s work. It is telling that he takes the images in the vernal chaos and change of springtime, yet waits for the fullness of viewing and reviewing until the chill of winter, the minds-eye in repose.
But, oh that spring, when the image is struck and that inner light is first revealed, when as Tomasko says: “If I am not covered with pollen, then I am not working.”
This well-considered initial work, this bee’s-eyed view of the world, is what connects us as viewers, so much that gallery viewers who see Tomasko’s images reveal that “it smells like flowers in here” when they see and feel these photos.
Cherries and crab apples, magnolias, lilacs and forsythia, these are the source of Tomasko’s work, with photos taken at Ohio State University’s Secrest Arboretum in Wooster, at Seiberling Naturealm of the Summit Metro Parks and at Holden Arboretum in Lake County. Visit these places and visit the images in Tomasko’s books.
Delira and Excira is available in soft cover from booksellers and through Amazon at www.amazon.com/Delira-Excira-Visions-Flowers-Spring/dp/0988589796 and hardcover from Shanti Arts Publishing at www.shantiarts.co/uploads/files/tomasko_delira.html and you can also check out Tomasko’s website at www.stephentomasko.com.
Final note
Last Saturday, OSU’s Secrest Arboretum gave away some trees and shrubs at the College of Wooster Homecoming afternoon (they beat Hiram 39-24 that evening).
OSU and the College of Wooster work together as partners in the Tree Campus USA program and this was a fine autumn day for trees — and people.
There were alumni, parents, townspeople, and of course students. My daughter Anna helped with the plant giveaways and was deeply impressed by the College of Wooster students. They were drawn to the plants, but were very environmentally conscious and curious, asking about where the trees would grow best, calling their parents in their hometowns to see if there would be a place for the trees. They did not want to take something for which they could not find a home and a home that would match the particular plant to its planting site. Yesss.
The College of Wooster campus and arboretum truly has a wonderful array of trees, very well nurtured by the Grounds Department. Director of Grounds Beau Mastrine and his colleagues in the Grounds Department and a committee of interested faculty, students and other community partners have developed a new tree walk on campus.
And there is an iPhone app, which highlights additional information for each of the trees. Take a drive to Wooster and check it out in the coming seasons. Start with the most fascinating umbrella-pine (Sciadopitys verticillata).
Jim Chatfield is a horticultural educator with Ohio State University Extension. If you have questions about caring for your garden, write: Jim Chatfield, Plant Lovers’ Almanac, Ohio State University Extension, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH 44691. Send email to chatfield.1@cfaes.osu.edu or call 330-466-0270. Please include your phone number if you write.