A pink peony in full bloom displays countless delicate petals, and here the raindrops accentuate the delicacy. This pink bouquet is still growing on the bush, standing up to heavy rain and warm daytime temperatures.

A pink peony in full bloom displays countless delicate petals, and here the raindrops accentuate the delicacy. This pink bouquet is still growing on the bush, standing up to heavy rain and warm daytime temperatures.
How can peony season be nearly over? I came home to Pittsburgh after a week out of town, and the weather had nearly ruined all my pink and white peonies. Dozens of blossoms were falling apart and lying on the wet ground. I’m afraid it was a bad week for a gardener to leave town.
Just a few late bloomers have withstood the heavy rainstorms and stood tall for today’s photography.
The Frick Collection in Pittsburgh is exhibiting Paul and Bunny’s Mellon’s art collection, which normally hangs in the Virginia Museum of Fine Art in Richmond. Most of the paintings are from the Impressionist period, including works of Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Sisley, Pissaro, Redon and Morissot, but there are also some equestrian paintings and some post Impressionists like Matisse and Picasso. It’s a fantastic exhibit!
At the same site, you can visit the historic Frick home called “Clayton,” see the late Whitney Snyder’s collection of antique cars and have lunch at the Cafe. Just outside the Cafe, I also enjoyed these tulips in the garden — living, breathing works of art.
On May 10, this white dogwood tree is in bloom and is welcoming visitors to the back porch of my home in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
For the past week, I’ve felt a bit of “creative block.” Back home where my surroundings are familiar, I can’t seem to find a subject to photograph. Then, I noticed the sun hitting the white dogwood blossoms, and I thought I’d better go have a look through the lens before a hard rain or a sharp wind gust tossed them all to the ground. A wide angle lens made the flowers take center stage in the foreground.
The promise of Spring may be its best attribute. It begins quietly with some daffodils, forsythia and cherry trees.
As April yields to May, the dogwood, azalea and rhododendron will follow in bursts of color around the neighborhood. There is so much more to come, very soon. How can I go for a walk without taking my camera?
All year I look forward to that special week in May when the rhododendron bloom around my house, and color my garden shades of pale pink, magenta, lavender and deep purple. Somehow these hearty evergreens survive the bitter cold and snowy winters, and then announce loud and clear in May that they do love the Pennsylvania climate. Oh, if only those delicate blooms could last longer than they do.
Here is a closer view of the blooms.
Fresh white dogwood blossoms against a deep blue sky add up to brilliant Spring day. This presentation, a photo with intentional camera movement, combines white, blue and green colors as well as the organic shapes in a unique way.
I love the painterly ripples around the outside of the swirl. This image is asking to be made into a large metal print. How does it make you feel?