Did you know the MacOS “Preview” tool can be used to capture the text in a photo of a sign? All you do is click on the first word, and then drag the mouse until all the text is selected. Press Command-C, and then you paste the text into another document. (The Windows Snipping tool has similar functionality, though I’ve not tried it recently.)
I’ve been working on a small photo site to share with my family. One of the photos is of the sign in front of a garden for the blind and I want to make the text easily readable outside the photo.
The thing with this photo is, it has a lot of text. And I mean, a LOT. (Go ahead and click the image below, you’ll see what I mean.)
I’m really impressed with the preview tool. Two click and drag operations and I had 95% of the text. All I had to was type the context of. one paragraph, and then do a bit of proofreading (plus remove some hyphens where the text no longer had line breaks.)
Less than an hour of work.
Curious what the sign says? Here’s the text
Welcome to Wynnewood Valley Parks’s Sensory Garden
The Garden’s Origins…
The Rotary Club of Ardmore, in partnership with the Township of Lower Merion; built and dedicated the Wynnewood Valley Park. Garden for the Blind and Children” in 1977.
Ardmore Rotarian and professional landscaper, the late Bill Mulford, spearheaded planning and construction of the multi-tièred garden which introduced Braille plates to identify the individual flowers and shrubs. Prominent among the plantings were 25 cherry trees, a gift from the Rotary Club of Tokyo, Japan in appreciation for a 1973 gift of 300 dogwood saplings from the Ardmore Rotary Club for the Imperial Gardens. The saplings replaced many of the.garden’s 50 dogwood trees which had been damaged during WW II. The 50 dogwood trees, a 1912 gift from the United States of America, were in appreciation for 3000 cherry trees from. Japan which were planted earlier along the Potomac River in Washington Đ.C.
Ardmore Rotarians and the Men’s Garden Club of Delaware Valley maintained the Garden for the Blind until the Garden Club members were unable to continue, In 2005, the Rotary Club of Ardmore, under the leadership of Past President Dr. Douglas Klepfer, decided to restore the Garden, committed funds and began to build a new partnership with Lower Merion Township, Lower Merion Conservancy, the Penn Wynne community and others. A major contribution was presented by The Kistler-Tiffany Foundation to purchase all the plants.
The result is a beautiful new sensory garden and park entrance walkway accessible for all to enjoy. Included in the landscaping are the 12 new “Cherry Trees of Goodwill” donated by the Rotary Club of Tokyo in appreciation for Ardmore Rotary’s gift of 200 pink and white dogwood trees to the Rotary Club of Tokyo in 2004. The trees have been planted in the Imperial Gardens and throughout Japan. The Lower Merion Conservancy has committed its services for garden education and maintenance.
The restored Garden exemplifies the “spirit of the flower that binds the world together” as the Tokyo Rotary Club concluded when accepting the 2004 gift of dogwood trees. Planted in late 2010, the garden celebrated its ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 9, 2011.
The Plants in the Garden…
The Sensory Garden bas 73 species of plants including herbaceous plants and trees and shrubs.
HERBACEOUS: Aromatic Aster (Aster oblongifolius ‘Raydon’s Favorite’, Big Leaf Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum), Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa), Catmint (Nepeta racemosa Walker’s Low’), Chives (Allum schoenoprasum), Dwarf GardenSage (Salvia offici nalis minum), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia, Tiarella cordifolia Oakleaf), Italian Parsley (Petroselinum crispum), Nodding Onion (Allium cernuuin), Ornamental Onian (Allium senescens), Showy Calamint (Calamintha nepatoides White Cloud’), Wild:Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), and Wild Sweet William (Phlox divaricata subsp. aphamii)
TREES AND SHRUBS: Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), Coinmon Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Summer wine’), Dwarf Fothergilla (Fothergilla gardeni), Darf Pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia ‘Hummingbird’), Red Twig. Dogwood (Cornus sericea), Spice Bush (lindera benzoin), Sweet Azalea (Rhododendron arborescens), Sweet Bay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana), Sweet Pepperbush Clethra alnifolia Rosea), Winter Berry (Gaultheria procumbens Very Berry), and White Fringe Tree (Chionanthus virjinicus)
HERBACEOUS: Chinese Lanterns (Physalis alkekengi), Little Bluestem (SchizachyHum scoparium ‘The Blues’), Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella damascena), and Switch Grass (Panisum virgatum ‘Shenandoah, Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’)
HERBACEOUS: Italian Parsley (Petroselinum crispum), Dwarf GardenSage (salvia officinalis minum), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), and Cancer Weed (salvia lyrata ‘Purple Knockout’), Chives (Allium schoenoprasum), and Winter Berry (Gaultheria procumbens ‘Very Berry’).
TREES and SHRUBS: American Black Currant (Ribes americanum), Lowbush Blueberry (Vacciniu, angustifolium), and Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis)
HERBACEOUS: Bee Balm (Monarda didyma ‘Grand Marshalk’, Monarda didyma ‘Raspberry Wine’), Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldstrum’, Rudbeckia hirta ‘Indian Summer’), Blue Wood Aster (Aster cordifolius), Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) Brown-eyes Susan (Rudbeckia triloba “Prarie Glow”), Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa), Cancer Weed (Salvia lyrata ‘Purple Knockout’), Chinese Lanterns (Physalis alkekengi), Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium ‘The Blues’), Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium dubium, Eupatorium maculatum ‘Gateway’, Eupatorium rugosum ‘Chocolate’), Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella damascena), Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum), Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum), Norhern Sea Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), Ornamental Onion (Allium senescens), Pink Muhlygrass (Muhienbergia capillaris), Stonecrop (Sedum x ‘Vera Jamison’), Switch Grass (Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah, Panicum vir-gatum Heavy Ne a/), White Wood Aster (Aster divaricatus), and Vaurow (Achillea millefolium Claria lean, Moonshine. “Orange Queen’, Paprika)
TREES and SHRUBS: Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), Dwarf Pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia ‘Hummingbird’), Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis ‘Forest Pansy’), Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida ‘rubra’), Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snow Queen’), Red Sprite Holly (Hea virginica ‘Red Sprite’), Red Twig Dogwood (Cornus sericea), Sweet Pepperbush (Cletha almifolia ‘Rosea’), Virginia Sweetspire (tea virginica ‘Little Henry’), Winterberry (lex verticilliata ‘Winter Gold’, ‘Jim Dandy’, and White Fringe Tree (Chionanthus virginicus).
HERBACEOUS: Autumn Fern, (Dryopteris erythrosora), Button Snakewort (Eryngium yucci-folium), Cancer Weed (Salvia lyrata ‘Purple Knockout’), Chinese Lanterns (Physalis alkekengi), Christmas Fern (Postichurn atrosticheides), Jack-in-the-pulpit (Aviszema triphyllum), Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella damascena), Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum), Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snow Queen’), Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), Pink Muhlyglass (Merlenbergia capillaris), Pussy Willow (salix discolor), Sea Holly (Eryngium planum ‘Blaukappe’), Stonetini (Sedum x ‘Vera Jamison’), Switch Grass (Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’, ‘Heavy Metal’), Tufted Hair Grass (Deschampsia cespitosa), and Yarrow (Achillea millefolium ‘Gloria Jean’, ‘Moonshine’, ‘Orange Queen’, ‘Paprika’)
TREES and SHRUBS, Black Chokeberry (Arama melanocarpa), Dwarf Fothergilla (Fotbergilla gardenia), Red Sprite Holly (Itea virginica ‘Red Sprite’), Smooth Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens), Virginia Sweetspire. (Itea virginica ‘Lite Henry’), White Fringe Tree (Chionanthus virginicus), and Winterberry (Hex verticillata ‘Winter Gold’, ‘Jim Dandy’)
Teamwork…
The Sensory Garden is a labor of love. It took many hands to create it and takes many hands to care for it.
“The spirit of the flower binds the world together”
—Tokyo Rotary
This project was made possible by the generous contributions of the following groups and individuals:
- Rotary Club of Ardmore
- Township of Lower Merion
- Lower Merion Conservancy
- Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Rotary Club of Tokyo
- Kistler-Tiffany Foundation
- Shreiner Tree Care Specialists
- Gundaker Foundation of Rotary District 7450
- Main Line Lions Club
- Ronald A. Krancer