The Last of the Lilacs

The last blooms on my old-fashioned lilacs are fading.  This is the first year that they have actually lasted long enough to bloom.  The lilac has grown tall enough that the blooms are out of reach of the deer, and they can bravely bloom above the danger zone.  I have this planted against the edge of the woods (actually, almost all my beds are against the edge of the woods) and the variegated leaves stand out like an exclamation point of color long after the blossoms are gone.  A multi-faceted plant, indeed!

Hidden Blossoms

On the road that leads to our neighborhood, hidden in a thicket of larch and Doug Firs, is an old neglected apple tree.  It sits back from the shoulder of the road, behind some blackberry brambles, right on an uphill curve, and no one ever sees it.  It is gangly and leggy, since it has to stretch and reach for the sun due to all the competitive trees around it.  The only appreciative audience comes from the deer, who come by each fall to graze on the few scant apples that show up, and the bees who faithfully pollinate the blossoms.  It amazes me how year after year this lone tree keeps blooming and producing and persevering despite the harsh conditions and neglect.  There is a life lesson in that...to make the best of our circumstances, no matter what they are, and to do what we are meant to do, even if no one sees our results.

A little vignette in my backyard, with one of the wild dogwood, which has now turned white.  I love the white blossoms against the rugged grey texture of the Doug Fir bark.

Just Dandy

Is it slightly sick that I prefer dandelions in this phase than the yellow phase?  They are so much more photogenic this way.  I really like the pillowy center, and the rough ends of the seed head stems.  So many contrasts in one innocent (or not so innocent if it happens to be in your yard) little weed/flower.

All Dressed Up

I hate slugs.  I loathe slugs.  I despise and abhor slugs.  I feel the same way about snails, but at least they have the decency to dress up.  They are Slugs-In-Drag.  This little guy was attacking a hosta leaf this morning.  He was...and I do mean WAS...smaller than your little fingernail, shell and all.  He shall no longer munch on my hostas, and slime my daylilies.  RIP, snail.  You were cute, but cute doesn't save you.

Balancing Act

I love this time of year when my hosta are just emerging, and the tightly wound leaves look like asparagus spears.  As they poke through the moss that covers my garden beds and stand there like sentinels, waiting for the warmer weather, they collect the raindrops.  It amazes me how many raindrops can balance on the tip of a hosta point.  (Is that anything like how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, or is that another completely metaphorical discussion?)  Of course, I HAD to use my tripod for these shots, and I confess to cropping in on these.

Orange

Usually I don't like the color orange.  It belongs to fall--to autumn leaves, to asters and chrysthathemums, and pumpkins and gourds.  But I do make an exception for spring tulips.  Orange tulips say Holland to me, because Holland always sports the color orange, since that is the color of the royal family, and that is the color you see the Dutch wearing at the Olympics and soccer matches--not their national colors, but orange.  We had an orange color challenge this month in my on-line photog group, and I was seeing orange everywhere at the fields.  There's just something about the way that orange glows on the grey rainy days, too, like little warmly banked fires.

Tulips: The One

It's always fun for me to find, in those packed beds of tulips, one or two or even three tulips that stand out.  I love the parrot tulips.  They are extravagantly marked and frilled and over-the-top, divas in a staid, reserved, prim tulip world.  They always remind me of the tulips that Rembrandt would've painted.

This one particularly looks like a parrot, ready to take flight.

This is one of my favorites.  It's a variety called Salmon parrot and the color is a blend of pink on the outside and coral and a soft apricot orange on the inside, mixed with a little green on the outer petals. 

This bed was the most wonderful vivid orange with a nearly purple stripe on the outer petals, underplanted with grape hyacinth.  Perfect complementary colors!

A peony-flowered tulip, with a luscious pink picotee edge.  I am so glad it was raining, because the raindrops were the perfect accesory!

This is a new variety I've never seen before.  I think it's called Golden Crown, as is obvious.  Underplanted with grape hyacinth, it was a beautiful bed of eye-catching, unusual blooms.

Golden Crown from above, and one fully open in the background...

Glimpses

Sometimes it's not the big picture, or the individual bloom.  Sometimes it's just the vignette that presents itself, irresistably.

A Little Individuality

I love looking for the rebels when I'm at the tulip fields.  All those beds and fields of solid color, all that perfection, make me a little bit antsy, a wee bit edgy.  I look for the slightly flawed, the not-quite-right, the sports--the tulips that have mutated, or as I prefer to think, have decided to assert their individuality and stand out from the crowd.

Some are just a little bit daring.

Some are a little bolder...

Some are bolder yet, but still trying to stay within acceptable limits.

Then there are those that just go for it, the wild ones, the free spirits, the non-conformists, the ones you just can't overlook.

And then, there are the odd ducks...not Nature's fault, but the harvester's mistake.

Tiptoe....

Yesterday I went up to the Skagit Valley to see the last of the tulips.  They will be topping all the fields this week, to allow the bulbs to gather strength before harvest later this year.  Most of the fields were already topped, but there were still a couple blooming, and the display garden at Roozengaarde was spectacular, as always.  The weather was less than spectacular.  Mist, drizzle, and downright rain, which cut short my day, but the overcast skies made the colors even more intense.  Add onto the weather 3 massive busloads of tourists that pulled in about 11:30, and I was really glad that I got up there about 9AM and got an early start--before the tourists and before the rain started in earnest.  Hopefully next year I can get up there earlier in the season.  Even though the weather was miserable, it was a great day!! 

Heralds II

                                                              A violet by a mossy stone                                                     
                                                              Hidden from the eye!
                                                              Fair as a star when only one
                                                              Is shining in the sky.
                                                                           - William Wordsworth,

A little bonus I found yesterday when cleaning out the garden.  These are so small and delicate they get buried in all the debris from the cedars and firs--clean away all the needles, and there are these little treasures, blooming beneath your fingers.
                    

Spring Heralds

This makes it truly official.  The wild dogwoods in the woods around our place are starting to bloom.  THAT means spring in the Northwest.  They start out a lovely creamy vanilla yellow, and age down to white.  Right now there are pale yellow polka-dots appearing in the depths of the woods, promises of better days ahead.

Inhale......

There--didn't that smell like spring?  This is the first year that my old-fashioned lilacs have lasted long enough to bloom; the tops of them are tall enough to be past the reach of the deer.  Of course, that means they are past MY reach, too.  But, a step ladder solved that problem...  :-)  Sure smelled good up there while I was shooting!!

Complimentary Colors

A brief window of blue sky; some tulips in a parking lot planter box, and I'm happy!!

Pest Season

Ok, yes, it's a cute baby bunny.  Look at those little ears.  Look at those big eyes.  Awww....it's adorable.  Multiple this by about 10--we are over-run by rabbits.  I don't know where the coyotes are, but the rabbit population is out of control, which spells disaster for my garden.  All my delicate little shoots coming up are like a buffet--my hosta are being browsed off, the wood hyacinths are clipped almost to the ground...  It's enough to make me take up hunting.  Maybe the eagles or the osprey will swipe a few on their fly-overs if I'm really lucky!!  In the mean time, I spend a lot of time knocking on the windows.

It must be raindrops...so many raindrops....

Yep, the rain stopped for a little bit...  Celebrating the multiple drops...

...and the single ones!!