“Scarlet Gilia & Sage Brush”

On By Mike U.In Photography
Scarlet Gilia & Sage Brush, SE Utah (c) Mike Utley

Growing up in the pre-internet era, many folks were subjected to erroneous information that passed its way down through the generations. A quick and convenient Google search wasn’t a thing back then, and unless one had access to a public library or a bookshelf full of encyclopedias, one really had no way of verifying the veracity of that which was told to us by our elders.

This photo featuring scarlet gilia and sage brush is a case in point. For many years, I was told by my mom and her parents at the farm that this flower was honeysuckle. You pluck the blossom from the stem and drink of its nectar, so sure, honeysuckle it must be. Except…it’s not. When I became involved in nature photography in 1995, I bought a guide book for North American plants so I could properly identify what I was photographing. There were clues all along that the info I was receiving from my mom and grandparents was a bit off. They called orange globe mallow flowers “Cheez-Its,” for example, after the tangy cheese cracker, and even as a kid I knew this wasn’t correct. There was no malice involved in these misnomers, of course, just incorrect hand-me-down names for things that were otherwise unidentifiable to folks back then.

I came across this little scene one day in 2014 while on a walk at the farm. I hadn’t done any serious photography for years by that point, although I’d occasionally take my little Canon PowerShot digital camera with me just in case I saw something worth photographing. I had my tripod with me that day, and I composed this image, then went on my way. It wasn’t until I got back to the house and uploaded the image that I realized I had a keeper.

My philosophy with regards to flower photography has always been to shoot in overcast lighting or open shade (tree shadows, etc.) and to avoid bright sunlight. The reason for this is bright sunlight creates harsh, contrasting shadows and tends to bleach-out flower colors, creating an unflattering image, while overcast lighting results in saturated flower colors with even lighting and no shadows for a brilliant color palette. And this philosophy generally holds true. However, there are exceptions, as was the case here. The sun was in a position where it created virtually no annoying shadows in the scene, and the pale-green neutral background of sage served to make the red of the scarlet gilia really pop. This scene, if photographed in overcast conditions, would have been equally acceptable, but the emotional impact would have been completely different. The image below demonstrates the overcast lighting technique for flower photography and how it produces even lighting, no shadows and a vibrant color palette.

Rocky Mountain Columbine, Abajo Mt., SE Utah (c) Mike Utley

Although I informed my mom of the real names of these and other flowers and plants, she continued to use the names she’d been taught as a child, and that was okay, I suppose. I always found it endearing, anyway. (Canon gear)

56 thoughts on ““Scarlet Gilia & Sage Brush””

  1. That is a gorgeous shot, Mike. It was the same in our family, partly because of the lost in translation thing too. German was the first language of my parents and grandparents. I also came to realize what they didn’t know, they often made up. This was often a source of embarrassment for me when I passed on this information and had to be corrected. (sometimes by my teacher. Oops.) But you gotta love them!

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    1. Thanks, Darlene. You’re right, I think, as far as translation between languages goes. My mom’s dad spoke fluent Norwegian (he used to play accordian and sing Norwegian folk songs to us when I was a kid), and I imagine folks simply made up stuff for things they didn’t know. I also have a feeling some things are regional quirks–I’m sure my mom and grandparents weren’t the only ones who used inaccurate names for some things. It was funny, though, thinking back, on the Cheez-Its bit! 😄

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  3. I love the contrast Mike 😄😄 I noticed honeysuckle in my backyard. Yellow-amarillo genotype in a shrub brush that seemed to have crawled 7 ft out of the ground of nowhere. Few months ago while writing some sort of poetry about my surroundings and Last Quarter of the Moon. Cold coffee. Another time there some sort of radiant eclipse going on and you got Rocky Mountain Columbine and I got their non-siamese twins fighting for limelight in the -same-root; lillies of the vallies and honeysuckle root. We just called them “jammin’ -j flowers” in the Carolinas otherwise learned somewhere in Utah?? My family is very nondescript on my Father’s side about the history there-of going on over there and my side of the branches of the family tree are apparently, incredibly private and ramblers all-the-same. I got wintergreen and gardenia and noticed some Fire-Brush Scarlet honeysuckle a few days ago in an Uber about 500 paces from my house in distance. It burnt down 12 years ago and they rebuilt over it. A VFW of the VFD. 12 years for firebrush honeysuckle to creep under the asphalt from my neck of the woods.

    My favorite part of Lillies-of-the-Valley; the miniature versions are just samplings. Little weeds that flowered and germinated 2 inches below soil. All Vallies encompassing of the Lily family grow from the same bulb. I think you’re closer than I am on the coast 😊💮🏵️🪻

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    1. Thanks, Sam. I never saw honeysuckle in person until I moved to Shreveport, LA in 2005, and there’s a big difference between honeysuckle and scarlet gilia, for sure! I doubt anyone in my family had ever seen honeysuckle. Scarlet gilia has a honey-flavored nectar, so it sort of made sense to think it was honeysuckle.

      It sounds like you’re jam-packed with flowers in your area. When I moved to my apartment eight years ago, there were columbines growing in my backyard–purple and yellow varieties. Five years ago, the apartment complex was renovated and they tore out every blade of grass, all the flowers and all the trrees and replaced them with rocks. No flowers, no joy. Columbines are my favorite flower but if I want to see them now, I must head up into the mountains–an impossible task since I can no longer drive.

      Here’s wishing a proliferation of flowers in your yard, my friend. 😊🌸

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      1. Well the gardenias, cupid how roses, crossbyhrids of em, and purple irisi are coming in nicely. Hydrangeas outside my window. Lots of ivy and rose thorns and wood and branches on the trellis. Daffodils came back after a lunar season. Yellow and dropped, what can ya do. Those are the sweetest honeysuckles for the juice. Much better than sour ice breakers id eat to avoid the illustriously delicious honeysuckle bushes of my first elementary school grands in Arizona. The whole playground was a grass-seeded reservoir. I told you about digging seashells and fossils somewhere along in the mix in those grounds by the highway and gates. Then they started spraying them with pesticide and no more after-lunch digestive. The taste of chili cheese fries and chocolate morning muffins never quite felt the same without honeysuckles nectar. Oh well. That years ago lol. They’re in my backyard and 7ft tall now. I like the yellow ones better than orange anyways. Red comes in Italy ( a archaic hybrid of cosmos and 4′ I clocks that turned red because of some volcano). Magma turned it red and the flowers been around since. Wonderful! And Uncommon!

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    1. Thanks so much, Ashley. Sharing my nature photos is a lot of fun for me. I’m happy to know you enjoyed these, my friend. Here’s wishing you plenty of photo opportunities in the coming months! 😊

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  6. Beautiful photos, Mike, the lighting and colors are on point. You have a great eye. I love how striking the scarlet gilia is. Seems like it would taste spicy. That’s hilarious what you were told before with the Cheez-Its. Not even close! 🤣

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    1. Thanks, Kirsten. Yeah, the scarlet gilia does sort of look as though it might have a Sriracha-flavored nectar! (Alas, it’s a very sweet honey-like taste.) My mom also used to talk about “quakies” when referring to a certain species of tree. I took it for granted as a little kid that these particular trees were called quakies until I was a little older and discovered the truth and asked her about it. She said they were the white-barked trees that grow in mountains and have brilliant yellow leaves in the fall. I said, “You mean aspens?” And she was like, “No, quakies.” 🤣 She got that name from the term “quaking aspens,” but apparently she didn’t realize “quaking” was simply an adjective describing the shimmering of the leaves in a breeze…or else she was massively trolling me all those years! She had a unique penchant for making up words by accident, like a malfunctioning portmanteau generator or something. A favorite of mine was when she referred to a gazebo as a “gazbo.” We never let her live that one down! She was pretty cool. 😊 As for her mom, she was brilliant and used to read encyclopedias and dictionaries as a hobby, yet she still referred to globe mallows as Cheez-Its. Perhaps it was a weird regional joke? 😊

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      1. 🤣 ahh, family. It could’ve been a joke. Although the more I look at the photo, I can start to see why it was called that, maybe because of the color. Unless my eyes are playing tricks on me. You’re welcome, Mike. 🥰

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  7. “There were clues all along that the info I was receiving from my mom and grandparents was a bit off. They called orange globe mallow flowers “Cheez-Its,” for example”

    That part made me laugh out loud.🌸

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    1. I know, right? Looking back, I can’t believe some of the things I used to hold as being true. Gullibility plus no way to verify anything makes a scary and weird combination. I recall an argument I had with my cousin while bike-riding when we were about ten years old. He insisted that in karate the white belt is the highest, while I insisted it was the black belt. Neither one of us knew jack about karate. We went back and forth for a few minutes, then I got mad and turned and peddled away. 🤣 Neither of us could prove our points, but that didn’t stop us. Sometimes I wish I was ten again… 😊

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    1. Kindest thanks, Xenia. Wild flower photography was perhaps my favorite. It’s such an intimate kind of photography, and I’m blessed to live in a region with a large variety of wild flowers. I can only imagine the variety your area offers. 😊🌸

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    2. Hey, Michele. Alas, I have no photos of a real honeysuckle plant. I just now googled some images and there’s a variety of them. The true honeysuckle I saw when I lived in Louisiana was yellow and quite different in appearance from the scarlet gilia we have in my area of the Four Corners. I didn’t have my camera with me when I saw them in Louisiana, and the honeysuckle were alongside the highway so there wasn’t much of a photo opportunity.

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  13. Beautiful images, Mike, and thanks for describing the difference between full and indirect sunlight on a photo. It’s easy to see the effect on the two photos. And the passed-down colloquial names of things is lovely. My family (especially my husband) does that too. (Every yellow flower is a forsythia. Lol). Thanks for sharing your photos, my friend.

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    1. Thanks so much, Diana. Yes, family/regional names for various things can be sort of hilarious and endearing. It’s all good in the end. I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest as well as the Southwest and the South, and each region has a distinct vernacular. Example: in the South, to many folks, all soda pop is called Coke. You go into a restaurant and the following conversation ensues:

      Waitress: “What would y’all like to drink?”

      Customer: “I’ll have a Coke.”

      Waitress: “What kind of Coke?”

      Customer: “A Pepsi.”

      (True story.) 😆

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    1. Thanks, Cindy. Glad to know you enjoyed the photos and the silly names. I’m sure my family wasn’t the only one to use these names back then. It’s sort of a regional vernacular, with strange quirks that get passed down through the generations. We always understood what other people meant, even if the names were incorrect. 😊

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    1. Kindest thanks, Saima. So glad to know you enjoyed these flower photos. It’s a very intimate form of photography, getting up close to the subject to capture the details. I loved flower photography. So peaceful and colorful and meditative. 😊🌸

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  17. Beautiful shots, Mike…and very interesting to read your thoughts about what makes for a quality floral photo. I also get having tolerance for what names we grew up with when it comes to flowers.🙂

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    1. Thanks, Bruce. The quirky names were funny and endearing, for sure. As a kid, I didn’t know any better so I went along with it (what your mom says is pretty much the rule of law, right?). Later on, I learned the accurate nomenclature and let my mom know. She’d accompany me sometimes on my photo excursions and we’d see plants that were unknown to both of us, so I’d grab my field guide and we’d make a proper identification. Good times, indeed. 😊

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    1. Thanks a bunch, Peggy. Glad you enjoyed the photos and tips. I can imagine your area has a lot of nature photography opportunities. I’ve seen plenty of your photographs on your blog and it’s impressive stuff, my friend. Here’s wishing you many more golden opportunites to capture the beauty of nature with your camera. 😊🌸📷

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  19. this is gorgeous photography, Mikey. I had to laugh throughout while reading as I could relate to everything you were saying as my folks had names for shrubs and trees that had absolutely nothing to do with facts. Cheez Its had me cracking up.

    But we don’t hold anything against them. They could only tell us what they had been told.grrat writing, Mikey..mar this man have a good chuckle today. 😂🙏

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    1. Thanks, Nigel. Yeah, I miss this sort of thing. When our parents are no longer around, we lose a lot more than we think. Little things like funny regional names for flowers that we found silly or weird as kids end up being endearing reminders of our childhood. My mom had plenty of quirky names for things, but I always knew exactly what she meant. 😊

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      1. Yeah.. my dad could not get the names of his favorite movie stars correct, and that would be a belly full for days. I often wonder if he did it on purpose, because he could recite entire scripts. We do lose so much more than their presence. 😊

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  20. This is a sweet story and the photos are beautiful. I see where they got the name mixed up as the red honeysuckle bush did have yellow showing through as well. Which leads me to this question out of curiosity? What in the world did this thing taste like? I too, when out playing many times did pull a honeysuckle flower and drink it’s sweet nectar. They grew wild in the woods of NC and we had a big patch of them and although they were a long way from the house you could smell the rich aroma of their sweetness.

    I love this story because I too remember these funny names and I am just glad I didn’t either know about ticks back then as I was always in the woods as you know and that is something I never remember seeing but you know after climbing the big oaks I must have gotten some of them on me somewhere. I think you are a talented photographer and truly enjoyed your story as it brought me back to some happy days as a child as well. Thank you my very dear friend, another instance of our kinship as friends. Perhaps you have even played kick the can! People can make fun of the things kids did back in the day but at least we were out side getting fresh air and being creative. Thank you for your tips on taking photos as well. Big hugs and love, Joni

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    1. Thanks so much, Joni. Glad you enjoyed this post. To answer your question, scarlet gilia have a honey flavor, but it tastes like perfumed honey. Difficult to describe, but sort of like a fragrant variation of honey. Extremely delectable, for sure. As a kid, I always stopped to sip them whenever I saw them, but I tried to indulge myself in only a couple of blossoms so as to leave some for the bees and hummingbirds.

      I did indeed play Kick the Can at least once when I was a kid. I remember it well, too, for some odd reason. We were visiting relatives in New Mexico and it was dusk as my cousins and I kicked the can on the dirt road by their house. I must have been ten years old. It’s strange what we remember sometimes, isn’t it?

      I finally saw real honeysuckle for the first time in 2005 after I moved to Shreveport, LA. There were yellow honeysuckle bushes near a road and I stopped to check them out. That’s the only time and place I’ve ever come across authentic honeysuckle.

      We had ticks at the farm, of course, and I recall only once finding one on me. We had to be careful walking through sage brush for ticks and rattlesnakes. Our oaks at the farm were all Gambel oak (scrub oak, or as we’d say, oak brush). Not fit for climbing due to their stunted, small trunks. My tree-climbing consisted of the elms that grew in the yard as well as some tall pinyon pines. Junipers were common, too, but they weren’t very tall and they were usually crawlling with black ants. So, a big nope when it came to climbing junipers.

      Thanks for your kind words, my friend. It’s always a pleasure to see you stop by. 😊

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