Tag: #spring

The Only Kind of Rain We Get

In Southwest Florida, the only kind of rain we get in March is not the wet kind that falls from clouds and waters the plants. No, this time of year it rains yellow blossoms in the breeze.

tabebuia tree
Yellow blossoms of the Tabebuia tree rain in the breeze at Naples Botanical Garden, March 2022.

I associate the perennial blooming of this lovely tree with Spring Break, since we often visited Naples, Florida when my children were on Spring Break in late March. If you take a walk in Naples today, you will see countless numbers of Tabebuia trees in bloom, raining yellow flowers. Are they as numerous as alligators in the Everglades? Well, maybe not, but much prettier.

French Formal Gardens, outside France.

The French may have designed the first formal gardens in the 17 century, but many garden designers around the world emulate the style today. Visit the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh for the Spring Flower Show to enjoy the symmetry of the flower beds, bursting with colorful tulips.

Order, rationality, grandeur and symmetry of the 17 century French garden: find it at Phipps, 2019.
Circular tulip bed at Phipps Conservatory, seen through a fish-eye lens, 2017.

Who started this trend? Andre Le Notre designed the formal gardens at the Palace of Versailles from 1662 to 1700. I’m sure you have visited many beautiful formal gardens in your home town or in your world travels. I would love to hear about your favorites.

Pink Peony Bouquet

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.

#pink, #peonies, #may, #rain, #raindrops, #spring, #nature, #flowers, #mybackyard, #bouquiet, #sony
Do these lush pink peonies remind you of an old-fashioned petticoat?

Peony Season

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.

#peony, #white, #may, #spring, #rain, #season, #sony, #depthoffield
On a cloudy day in between rain showers, this white peony shows off its delicate petals.

#peony, #peonies, #whiteandpink, #may, #spring, #rain, #raindrops, #mygarden, #season, #earlyspring
The white and pink peonies from the same bush share the spotlight.

Tulips at the Frick

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.

#tulip, #spring, #may, #pittsburgh, #frick
The best way to photograph a flower is to keep it simple. Shallow depth of field isolates the subject in the frame. Yes, I was down on the ground, kneeling in the mulch.

#tulips, #redwhiteandblue, #pittsburgh, #frick, #flowers
I liked the contrast between the red and white petals and the bed of tiny blue flowers behind them.

#tulip, #redandwhite, #spring, #may, #pittsburgh, #frick, #macro, #flower
Even though this tulip was past its peak, the texture, colors and detail were inviting.

White Dogwood Welcome

On May 10, this white dogwood tree is in bloom and is welcoming visitors to the back porch of my home in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

#spring, #dogwood, #whitedogwood, #backdoor, #pennsylvania, #sewickley, #may, #home
Welcome to the Kelly’s house in Sewickley.

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.

Only the Beginning

The promise of Spring may be its best attribute. It begins quietly with some daffodils, forsythia and cherry trees.

#daffodils, #flowers, #spring, #pennsylvania, #beginning, #promise, #nikon
The morning sun casts light and shadows on daffodil stems and blossoms, creating nice color and contrast.

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?

Waiting for Spring

On a quick trip from Florida to Pennsylvania in March, I miss the colors of the tropics. It will be another month before Spring brings blossoms out of the dormant plants still hunkered down for the short days and cold nights.

But the magic of photography can treat us to tropical colors and brilliant blooms at any time of year. This pink and purple bromeliad blossom caught my eye at the San Diego Botanical Garden last fall. Today it whispers to me of the promise of Spring.

#bromeliad, #fern, #botanical, #photography, #flowerphotography, #pinkandgreen, #garden, #spring, #promise
Leading lines in the green fern and bromeliad leaves guide the eye to the delicate spiral of the pink bromeliad bloom.

Lines of Growth, Lines of Shadow

Green is the color of Life and of Spring and Summer. This simple image made at the Naples Botanical Garden features patterns of  green tonality. The accordion texture of the fan palm creates repeated and predictable patterns, while the shadows of the sunlit overlapping fans are instantaneous and contrapuntal.

#fan, #fanpalm, #lline, #shadow, #green, #spring
Does this splash of green brighten your wintery day?

Variations on a Peony

The detail and delicacy of a spring peony is best described not with words, but with a photograph. The New York Botanical Garden has a long, luxurious peony bed, full of different colors and varieties. Visit the Botanical Garden on your next visit to New York City. Easily reached on the D train or by Uber. The gift shop is inspiring, too!

#NYBG. #newyork, #peony, #flowers, #spring, #pink
Delicate round petals with even more delicate veins slowly unfurl.

#NYBG, #newyork, #spring, #peony, #pink, #variety, #nature, #macro, #sony
This magenta peony with the bushy white center looks vibrant against its green leaves.

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