Sunday, April 13, 2014

Ways of looking at a tulip

 I remember some years ago visiting a huge tulip garden in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.  It was by a windmill and if only Don Quixote were there, the simulation of Holland would have worked completely.  But, there were so many tulips, it was impossible for me to look at just one.
In Quincy, it's another story.  The first tulips I noticed this spring bloomed in a sunny spot in front of a downtown cafe.  There were perhaps a dozen blooming about a month ago.  I live only a few blocks away from said cafe, but I am on the shady, north-facing slope of Claremont Mountain.  This morning, I celebrated my first bloom of tulips for the year.  Two, in fact.  I could have stared at them for a long time and sketched and photographed from many angles, and maybe waited awhile to pay another visit when the sun angle changed.  But, I was too busy.  I did capture these few images while I marveled at the details of tulip anatomy as well as their amazing hardiness.  No bugs bother them, and they come up every spring despite my extreme neglect as a gardener.
 Triangles and hexagons.  Tulips are great props for geometry class.
 These amazing colors must be attracting something besides humans, but I've yet to see any pollinators visit my tulips.

I have a few other varieties getting ready to bloom.  Solid yellows and solid reds, if I remember correctly. And they remain interesting after the petals drop and the ovaries develop.

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