Ellen Hoverkamp creates vibrant arrangements with garden cuttings and a scanner
Just as not every foodie enjoy preparation , not all plant geek are gardeners . Ellen Hoverkamp is a lensman who collaborated with author Ken Druse onNatural Companions : The Garden Lover ’s Guide to Plant Combinationsand , most late , The Scentual Garden : Exploring the World of Botanical Fragrance . She takes no credit for grow the plants she photographs , however . When ask about her own garden , she responded by laughing . Regardless , it ’s clear she get it on her topic .
Ellen does n’t fritter away out of doors with traditional handheld photographic equipment . Instead , she asks nurseryman ally and horticulturists at public gardens for deletion stems of picky plants , or she buys bouquet from the Connecticut Flower Collective . She then uses a flatbed electronic scanner — eyelid off — in a darken elbow room to create her images . sentence is of the sum with subjects that are destined to wilt . Either she race home with full vessel packed into coolers or , in the fount of public gardens , she is sometimes given space on - internet site to body of work . “ Looking at the gesture and conduct of the plant [ with the ] blossom as [ the ] focal item , ” she says , “ I rent the mutter of my art training and mentor voices drift into awareness as I carefully coif each element of the composition look down on the meth . ”
She makes many passes with the scanner to value and adjust the composition . This can take one to two hour of painstaking attention to details , follow by another two to three hours touch up the final image . But Ellen , like any artist ( or gardener ) engaged with their workplace , is a tireless perfectionist .
The lead photographs have the instantaneousness of a plein gentle wind painting coupled with what Ellen describes as “ a hyper detail and three - dimensionality that strongly engage the looker . ” She continues : “ In a humans of fugitive attention and daily stressor , that grade of shock is necessary to make someone stop and call back that despite all , nature ’s smasher also raise and awaits our attention and care . ” I still ca n’t think she does n’t have a garden of her own . But she insists that “ scanning what other citizenry produce is my refuge in the mode the garden is a safety to its Lord . ”
Ellen is eager to partake her method acting and has advice for nurseryman : “ Bring snippets of your own garden to a small photo scanner impound to your computer . . . to document your rise time of year . . . and stargaze up Modern approximation . ” If you do n’t have a image scanner , Ellen suggest , “ lay stems flat on a substantial - colorful open , snap a photo , then run it though a sketch app . . . for a quick botanical illustration . ”
encounter more brainchild within Ken Druse ’s coffee bean table – and potting judiciary – desirable garden references . Ellen trace the artwork she create forNatural CompanionsandThe Scentual Gardenas “ a kind of pictorial garden slice ” and a source of information , “ like a botanic specimen . ” If only the exposure illustratingThe Scentual Gardencaptured their perfume as well as their forcible looker ! But we fellow plant oddball with garden of our own wo n’t have to swear on imagination .
To see more of Ellen ’s photographs , visit her websiteor follow@garden_imageson Instagram .
— Kristin Green is the source ofPlantiful : Start Small , Grow Big With 150 Plants That Spread , Self - Sow , and Overwinter . She garden in Bristol , Rhode Island .
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Ellen arranges lilac (Syringaspp. and cvs., Zones 3–8) and conifer clippings around a bird’s nest against a cheery blue backgroundPhoto: Ellen Hoverkamp
This piece features a selection of antique roses, including ‘Rose de Rescht’, ‘Prolifera de Redouté’, ‘Rush Family Gallica (Rosacvs., Zones 4–10), and ‘Trigintipetala’ (Rosa×damascena‘Trigintipetala’, Zones 4–9) against a black backdrop. This is one of Ellen’s favorites fromThe Scentual Garden.Photo: Ellen Hoverkamp
Ellen creates a vivid display with colorful agastache hybrids ‘Blue Boa’, ‘Kudos Yellow’, ‘Kudos Coral’, and ‘Golden Jubilee’ (Agastachespp. and cvs., Zones 5–10). This photo appears inThe Scentual Garden.Photo: Ellen Hoverkamp
This artful display of night-blooming cereus (Epiphyllum osypetalum, Zones 10–11) is also featured inThe Scentual Garden.Photo: Ellen Hoverkamp
Ellen Hoverkamp.Photo by Tim King, courtesy of Ellen Hoverkamp
