garden of lichens
the strange and beautiful lichen on walls and rocks in our daughter’s garden:
another of the wondrous seeds featured in the last post:
September 7, 2014 in Canada and BC, Nature, Photoworks by Marja-Leena
by Marja-Leena Marja-Leena Rathje
on printworks and other passions
by Marja-Leena
Fascinating and beautiful.
Olga, they are, aren’t they? What I find amazing is that they can grow on rock and plaster in a climate with hot dry summers and cold winters.
What I love about lichens is the symbiotic relationship in which they thrive. And they are hardy! Wouldn’t it be grand to have been a lichen scientist if only my skills at science and math had been better. Your photos show the poetic side of this lifeform. Bravo Marja-Leena for capturing their allure!
I’m glad you see these as alluring and poetic, rouchswalwe. I agree about their symbiotic relationships. What I find amazing is the huge number of varieties which grow in all kinds of different environments. Did you know they are a major source of food for reindeer and caribou?
As I understand it lichens were the first things to grow on dry land; it’s certainly true they always appear to be ancient. As always, your macro pictures are perfectly stunning – the details really express how beautifully strange these things are.
I’m also glad your daughter isn’t prone to using bleach and a scrub brush in her garden.
Thanks for your kind words on my work, as always, Susan.
Yes, they do seem very ancient, primeval even. My daughter actually pointed me to some of these lichens, knowing my taste in photographic subjects. And she is very much into organic gardening like all our family. (Ga, I’ve never heard of bleach in the garden! And I stopped using it in the home decades ago.)
Lichens were just made to break up areas of flat colour. Perhaps their creator was a watercolourist?
A watercolourist or textural collage artist – yes! We just copy his/her work.
Wonderful, as always.
Glad you like!
They look a bit like encaustics to me…
Marly, it does to me too – because of the old plaster, stucco surface of the garden wall in the top and bottom photos. The other two are rock.