Honeycomb

I took this picture in September 2011 with my old Panasonic point and click camera. It's a 'Honeycomb' butterfly bush that was in my former garden in Connecticut. Pretty. The butterfly even posed for me. I'm no photographer, but this shot always pleased me and I put it up on my blog at the time.

I lost that shrub in a cold wet winter shortly after. Now I want to grow it again in my southwest garden, and I found a good sized 'Honeycomb' buddleia for sale locally last year. But I don't want to repeat the mistakes I made with it before, and this climate is so different, so I went to Google for some research.

The very first page of hits for my search for Honeycomb butterfly bush brought up a North Carolina online nursery selling it. They were the second link listed, actually.

And there was my photo being used to sell this plant.

And then I found my photo is what Amazon uses when you search Amazon for 'Honeycomb' buddleia for sale.

This has happened before. When I went looking for information on growing a Peggy Martin rose, an online nursery selling it came up with my photo of a friend's gorgeous pink Peggy Martin rose that Jim had taken in 2013.

Of course this happens. I post lots and lots of garden shots, none are watermarked, and I'm not a professional trying to make a living off my photography. I'm not going to chase down the online sites using my photos commercially without permission.

But it is so startling to search for information, and find my own work as the answer. And I guess I can live with a small online nursery needing a photo and using mine, it's kind of flattering.

But Amazon? Using my photo to sell a product? Eeesh.