GOBSMACKED....but DELIGHTED...100 year old photo...!

Oo....TT...you've gone all big!!!......Oops the print not you.....lol........can even read it without my specs on.....just :)))
Very interesting about John Davidson and the pics....well you know what they say "the old ones are the best".....:))))))))))))

Yes, what's happened here, why is all the text so big ?

All of my recent blogs also have unusual font sizes etc...
... take a look..Lol.
Glad you like this, Alice...with and without your specs...

Hi Stephen ..
I hope you enjoyed the read and the pics,...;o) x

Yes I did Tt, I am also amazed at how clear the photos are. xx

Brill if only he new he would be gobsmack, would'nt he.

Thanks, Stephen..you can see in the comments under the actual pic. on my GoY photos, Sid (who is a good artist) comments about whether the mountain pic was perhaps hand-painted afterwards... What do others think about that ?

Hi Clarice....
yes, exactly my thoughts...
John would be amazed, wouldn't he. :o)

I feel as if I am shouting the text is so large!! I thought the photos were brilliant when you first posted them, TT, glad everyone else thought the same :)

Thanks, Gee...
Let's hope John is looking down and smiling from a big Botanical Garden up in the sky :o) :o) :o)

Fascinating Terra and you are so right and without your original blog a lot of us would probably be unaware of these photo`s and the history behind them, so thanks.........

I think I agree with Sid....the bottom photo does look like others I have seen which were hand painted.
I know I've seen the bottom photo before but I can't for the life of me remember where....very possibly on a Canadian history site.
I'm sure John Davidson would be thrilled with his recent worldwide popularity. :o)

He would be amazed and of course have no comprehension of how it could be possible (have we even?). Great to see these wonderful old photos and hear the background to them.
It would also be great if ALL print on GoY was this size although it's still far from readable without the specs for me!

Thanks for all of your comments....
I'm pleased you liked the original blog and these pics...

Hello Lily...
Yes, the internet would have been mind-boggling...
.. it still is at times...Lol.
Those were the days when the thought of an aeroplane flight was still quite a new idea to many people !

...and, you have the honour of making my inbox read 11111
Lol. :o)

Very interesting TT. I enjoy historical blogs about plants. The print is huge. I can see it without my glasses :o)

Lol. Hywel...
I reckon I'll write more HUGE-PRINT blogs...
..and then we'll find out who needs new specs and which members have lost their glasses..he he he

He would be thrilled to think his hard work was still being recognised all these years later TT ...

I often think how amazed the folks from before the 20th century would be at things like the internet.....not to mention mobile phones, microwaves and ...... breadmakers LOL

Have to say Terra, I find the large print hilarious, LOL.....

Hi Amy ~
Yes, those botanists did the groundwork for a lot of useful plant information we have today. :o)

Hello Sid.... Maybe David took the mountain pic in sepia, and then handed it straight over to you for painting ? ;o)

Lincslass...
For those who've lost their specs THIS IS THE FIRST BLOG THEY'VE BEEN ABLE TO READ ALL DAY... Lol. :o)

On the other hand,we haven't all lost our glasses,some of us have impaired vision,and this is brilliant for us.Thank you TT,I was able to enjoy this
much more.Anyone else pleased with the bigger
print?

Hello Bloomer...
Here are some of my other blogs which are in mostly LARGE PRINT.

BLOG 35.... BABY HOUSE LEEKS POEM

BLOG 33.... CONKER'S GARDEN CENTRE OUTING

BLOG 31....MY HAPPY GARDEN CALENDAR POEM

I HOPE THESE BEING IN LARGE PRINT IS OF HELP..

My Blog 31 was in smaller print but I've just changed the poetry to LARGE PRINT especially for you.... :o) xxx

Sorry Terra, STILL not big enough! LOL

.........SORRY......... LILY............:O)

THERE... I'VE EVEN GIVEN THE SMILE A BIG NOSE....LOL..

Thank you TT,that is kind of you.most things are fine,I manage ok,please don't feel you have to change things ,but I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

That's okay, Bloomer.
Making the poems larger may help some other members if their vision isn't too good. xxx

victorian botanists must have been amazing people remember going to Heligan when the rhododendrons were out --one that was about 75 feet across came back to england and was grown -- the seed was the size of a grain of sand...amazing

That's amazing Pam... from a size of a grain of sand...
....to 75 feet !!!

The Victorian botanists had few reference books.....
...certainly no internet..LOL. :o)

Wow, fabulous Thanks TT. Who cares about the font, it is the contents people, the contents. Thanks to this fantastic gardener we have gained one of the most gorgeous gardens in Canada. Those English sure had green thumbs & still do.. Can U imagine the dedication & love these people had?? To come to such a "green horn" country & establish a fabulous garden. The knowledge they imparted, OMG.
Thanks TT, a ten 4 this one!!!!!!

Hi Doon...
So pleased you like this... and I must say I was very inspired by a couple of the plants in photos on my original UBC blog...the clematis and the honeysuckle :o)
Three photos of the different stages of Clematis "Lemon Bells" and one pic of beautiful Lonicera "Mandarin" :o)

Will check out Lonicera "Mandarin" out, not familiar with this one. Off to our walk in the woods to day, and enjoying a hot toddy with friends afterwards. Have a good one TT.

Yes, "Mandarin" has lovely orangey tints...
...there's a really good pic from UBC on my blog #11.
Enjoy your walk. :o)

Hi TT, I forgot to press 'submit' again! I'm pleased I don't need glasses otherwise I would have lost them for sure today! Lol I think the people who were around when these photo's were taken were still 'gobsmacked' by the idea of photography so I can't imagine what they would have made of today's technology. Mind you it's not all good. Sid mentioned mobile phones and they are one of only a few things I think the world would be a better place without!

Hi Ian...
Yes, in the past hundred years, technology has advanced at a scary pace, sometimes for the good...sometimes not so good....

Let's hope in another century from now there will still be flowers on the mountains. :o)

Well, I am thrilled with all the interest, Tt, and those two pics are really fascinating. Well done, for gaining permission to reproduce them intially on GOY, and Many Thanks for "releasing" them on their own. :-))

I hoped you'd be pleased this blog, David... :o) x

I'll second that idea TT, Lets just hope there are flowers at all in a hundred years time!

Of course there will! It would be nice to "come back" as a botanist of the future, and see how plantlife has evolved/adapted in this time period. Will there still be new ones to be found? Will plantlife still be yielding amazing drugs/remedies/cures? {probably, methinks! :-))

PS. By the time this pic was taken, it was easy, and popular, to add colour tones into photos. I've seen a huge number of picture postcards from this time and earlier, done like this. I think that all our modern PC photo editing programmes etc., might not have "gobsmacked" the Victorians as much as we think? :-))

I hope so David. It would be a horrible place without all the diverse plant life we have now

Isnt History amazing!! Well done TT :)xxx

Yes, Ian... plants will rule :o) x

Hi.. Jac..... I agree ~ history is fascinating....xxx

Hello David....
I might have guessed you'd know about early photography....
...all that work you've done on the Vedward diaries...
Is it time you wrote the next episode, please ? ;o) xx

Great blog TT. I had not heard of John Davidson so you have aroused my curiosity and I Googled him to learn more. I found another picture of him raking in his (?) garden. They explain that the image is a hand-painted lantern slide, so one might assume that this might be the way the other pictures were coloured. See:- http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/2005/04/john_davidson.php

OOooooo now EVERYTHING has gone BIG!! Or am I just sitting too close to the screen?!

Ian - oh, come, come, now. Any day now Holly is going to demand that she has her own mobile phone and then you'll have to have one too. They do have an 'off' button you know ;-D

Hi Ponty...
Thanks for that link.... what an interesting photo... looks quite a small garden... or small area of a garden... Fascinating to see what John Davidson was wearing for gardening.... the cap on his head... the puttees on his legs.... and did you see all the washing on the line ? pants etc.. :o) Great pic..

Ponty, would you please also add your same comment (above) with the link to my actual GoY photo of the Skwoach Mountain where members were debating about the colour in the picture... Thank you. :o)

Hi Sid.....
This big print could be useful to help some folk see the screen.. especially if they have been celebrating the run up to Christmas with one too many glasses of wine...Lol. :o)

Come on, Tt! You'll have to let us all in on the secret of HOW to make the print large/different! Pleeeease?? Pretty pleeeeease??

P.S. Thanks for the content and photos too!
P.P.S. I didn't need my glasses either! :-)))

Hi Spritz...
When writing this, some of the techniques I tried, worked very well in the saved draft, but didn't materialise in the published version, so there's a lot of hit or miss as to how the final blog will look on GoY. :o)

That was really interesting Terra, I wonder why you are getting the large print though? Like its already been said, I don`t even need my specs for this...lol!

Sandra x

But - what did you do, Tt? Pease tell us!

Well this puts a new perspective on giving it large as kids would say ..did you get a chance to see Ray Mears through the Canadian wilderness ? TT

Wonderful series appreciating the skills of indeginous peoples adapting to their enviroment and how pioneers learnt from them.

Are these the same gardens Gilli was describing as under threat due to Vancouver winter olympics ?

Hi BB ~
No, didn't see Ray Mears in Canada....
... I bet his progammes emphasised that those pioneers were brave, tough individuals !

My blog I made in January 2009 is about the University of British Columbia Botanical Gardens, which is not the place in Vancouver which is under threat of closure...that is the Bloedel Floral Conservatory in Vancouver city.

OK, OK, You're not going to let on how you made the print large. Sob. sob. :-(((( Sob. sob.

Hi Spritz....
When I am a bit less busy in a few days' time I'll send you a p.m. about the print size.... It could turn into a long discussion about the technicalities...not suitable for this GoYpedia Botanical Gardens and Botany thread...Lol.

THANKS Tt!!!! I shall stop sobbing now. ;-)))

:o)

I don't know what people are talking about - large fonts??? To me they all seem to be the same size on ALL the pages I visit. The capitals DO look bigger but a blog written all in capitals would be horrendous!

I need to wear glasses for reading as everything looks greyed out & each line is shifted half way down into the the lower line. My glasses make the writing darker & remove the grey halfway down lines.

I liked the story behind this man's life who I didn't know of before. I remember reading about him in your blog & that's all I know about him.

It good we can learn about so many other things on here even as we post photos of our plants & comment on them.

Have a happy Christmas. :-)

Hi Balcony...
Yes, we do learn a lot on GoY...
How about that recent photo which David put on GoY of Planthunter/Botanist David Douglas (1799-1834), achieving such a lot in a short life.....

Merry Christmas :o)

It is indeed remarkable what just a few people can do. Yet they probably considered themselves to be "ordinary" folk just like us. It's only history that puts their work into prospect!

So how do we change the styles and fonts ?

Great blog Tt, thanks for this.

Hi Fractal...
Pleased you enjoyed this :o)