It looks like we aren’t the only ones who are excited about the environmental efforts being made in 100 Acres!

Trees in 100 Acres

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Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Horticulture

Patty Schneider joined the IMA Horticulture staff 2 ½ years ago, fresh out of the University of Wisconsin. This is Patty’s first post for the IMA blog! Patty’s passion for horticulture and the well-being of our environment is hard for her to hide and it’s a pleasure to work alongside her as we labor together in the gardens of the IMA.  We look forward to future thoughts from her as the IMA continues to strive for proper environmental stewardship.- Gwyn Rager

In 1972, when the IMA received the piece of land now known as 100 Acres, the area had already been affected by human use and abuse. Original disruption occurred when the site was used for farmland, until at least the 1940s. In the 1960s, the land was a staging area for highway equipment used for the  construction of the 38th street bridge, which spans the White River. The lovely, tranquil lake that so inspires viewers and artists alike began as a gravel quarry for highway construction, that later filled with flood water from the river.

1937 aerial photo of land in agricultural use

Late 1960s aerial photo of land post 38th St. construction

1971 photo of museum prior to construction digging

Filed under: Art and Nature Park, Horticulture

A week ago today the morning started off cold, gray, and foggy.

It was one of those rare days when the fog got worse as the morning went on. I think it was heaviest about 8:30am. Two volunteers and I were working on the South Parking Lot Hill doing spring clean-up, raking out leaves and twigs then cutting back the plants. The leaves of the Carex muskinguminsis and Diarrhena americana were frozen!

I had to beat the rake through them to get out the tree leaves and twigs!

The temperature at 9am was only around 32 degrees. Not sure how cold it had gotten overnight. But a landscape can be very pretty in the fog. I captured these photos after it had started to lift really. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Horticulture, Musings

Warmer weather has finally arrived and with it the early spring-flowering bulbs. These so-called minor bulbs are such a welcome sight after our Midwest winters.

Crocus seiberi ‘Tricolor’ around Sutphin Fountain.

The three colors in ‘Tricolor’.

Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) still make me happy no matter how many years I’ve seen their spring show.

Winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) are very happy little bulbs.

Even on a gray day their bright yellow color absolutely glows.

The honey bees love them. Look at all the pollen on the bees leg.

The bees tended to take flight just as I was ready to snap the photograph.

Bee butt.

Now get your butt to the IMA and enjoy this glorious weather.

Filed under: Art, Horticulture

I <3 panoramics.  It’s a great way to bring a much larger perspective to a single photograph.  One thing that has caught my eye for some time is the Polar Panoramic.  How fun, turn our nice little 360 panoramic into a planet shaped oddity.

The snow came down this weekend, and the grounds of the museum made perfect conditions for doing such a panoramic.   So I grabbed my tripod and headed out to the grounds to finally work on my shot.  I wanted to do something slightly different, so instead of using a single 360 degree shot, I took 2 and put one inside the other.  And this is the tutorial on how I did that so that you can make your own panoramic as well.

Step 1.  Take a series of shots for your panoramic

Grab your trusty tripod and find a good spot.  Pan across the scene taking a shot every 15 degrees or so.   Make sure your photos will merge together well on the left and right sides.  And you also want to pick something with a neutral top and bottom portion of the scene.  This will make cleaning up areas later on much easier. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: Art, Technology