One of the delightful challenges for any garden photographer is to find the photo that best illustrates the story in front of you.

Aspen trees ‘Prairie Gold in backyard prairie garden; Colorado; design Lauren Springer Ogden

That can be a real challenge in a complex garden as the light is changing in a garden you have not seen before, such as this Colorado prairie meadow garden designed by Lauren Springer Ogden.

Schizachyrium scoparium, Little bluestem grass with Aster novae-angliae ‘Purple Dome’ and Sedum ‘Neon’ in Colorado prairie garden

As I stood among these beautiful fall blooming asters (Aster novae-angliae ‘Purple Dome’) admiring their prolific bloom repeated throughout this meadow I saw an entirely different story, about the grasses

The clever color combination of the Little bluestem grass (Schizachyrium scoparium) and the Purple Dome asters was made even more obvious by cropping into a tighter photograph that showed the grass almost exploding in the spaces between the asters.

Schizachyrium scoparium, Little bluestem grass with Aster novae-angliae ‘Purple Dome’, in Colorado prairie garden.

So that is today’s tip. As so often happens in a wonderful garden one photo leads to another, each telling a bit of a different story