tulips

April Snow Showers




This is the last of the snow in our yard, somewhere around eleven thirty ayem. The Elephant garlic could care less.



Each of Larry's pots, all on the shady side of the block, had a collection of slow-watering snow to melt.



But the tulips were all whatever.



As I Rush On By



I was rushing from the studio this afternoon to make the last few minutes of the Sharpe Foundation open studios where I knew a few of the artists. As I rushed from the B37's last stop on Court and Livingston, I surprised myself -I was taken aback by the tulips! I rarely stop for a tulip, and certainly not when in a rush.

The masses were really appealing, and they floated in a way like masses of poppies on long stems. Nearby the old Borough Hall there were very long-stemmed whites with very long petals and pointy tips -very sexy tulips. They are all closed for the wet and cloudy weather and that affect is why I found them so appealing, as well as the saturated daubs of color floating above the greens. I might say that never before have I enjoyed simple tulips so much.

If my camera had not been acting up, and had I not been in a rush, more photos you'd find. I'm getting the E18 error -the infamous Canon error code for "something is jammed in your lens and it can't open or close all the way."

My Canon, the A80 I have had since 2004, has served me well, and I might add for two primary reasons: the swivel screen and the 1/1.7 sensor. Most common compacts these days, especially those with more than a 5x optical zoom, have a ccd sensor that is 1/2 as large as that little 1/1.7 sensor in my A80. The 1/2.3 sensor size is part of what allows current cameras to have their extreme zoom.

My A80 has only a 3x optical zoom, in use here. I am blown away by the green of spring every year. I never expect it, and pow! Suddenly I am exiting the subway and the grass is tall, the honeysuckle vine on the fence and the plane trees have leafed out -all is green in the world.


Angeliqueomania, Anomolas, and Mystery Ferns



I can't stop looking at these tulips. And that leads to photographing them, doesn't it. And that leads to showing them on the blog.




Another of my favorite plants is the Climbing Hydrangea, Hydrangea anomola. Its really all year something else. I pulled two out of a garden that I knew was going under the bulldozer (cause I planted it myself!). I put it on the fence of the side yard. Only down side is that people snap the branches a lot.


But what graceful form, gestural.


Another plant, a fern I pulled out of that very same garden is coming back this year. I had my doubts because it is planted in the front yard, in sun all day except for the last few hours and is tucked between heat holding wall and sidewalk. But there it is, making its way back.

Hi Time For the Garden



As you can see, my garden is long and skinny. Its filled with many plants. This is the time when I get lots of comments or just see people stopping and looking. Its a good time for the garden. The leaves are new and fresh, the bulbs are giving flowers, the roses and spirea showing rich, red new leaves.

But get in closer and you see the tulip 'angelique,' still blooming after four years. Many tulips do not reliably come back and others are eaten by the squirrels. But angelique has come back again this year and lookin good.

Its double form is a vessel for all its colors, greens, yellows, pinks, and whites.


But they're not all thats begun to bloom this week. The Siberian Bugloss, False Forget-Me-Not or the Variegated Heartleaf Brunnera. Whatever you call it, its blooming now.