My earlier spring photographs have been bright and full of color. But today’s photo is more of a pastel, with shades of blue and purple. I was at the spring flower show at the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory today. And just as cloudy and gray as the skies were outside, the flower show was full of colors – blues, pinks, reds, and greens. It was a wonderful sight and yet the colors were almost too many and too much. My eye was drawn to this lovely crocus that was stretching skyward and set off by the blue hydrangea behind it. The subtlety of the colors was wonderful and the bit of orange that the crocus threw skyward was the perfect accent color. The blues reminded me of the bluest of skies that we can get after a spring rain as well as the lovely blue lakes that grace the landscape here in Minnesota. So I’m now adding pastels to my palette of colors of springtime.
florals
Rain on the tulip window
The day started gray and blustery. The promise of a blue-sky spring day was not going to be a reality on this morning. After a few hours the wind picked up, the sky darkened, and the rain began making its own music as it hit the window panes. And it left its distinctive spring smell hanging in the air outside. As I walked into the room I saw the two tulips framed in the window. They are both past their prime, one more so than the other, and yet their curves and shapes were so nicely set off by the straight lines of the window. Their beauty was so very evident in all their simplicity.
Purple and gold of spring
The season of spring is the season of color. We come out of the white, silent world of winter and our senses are shocked by the abundance of colors. Our grasses are green, the new leaves are starting to emerge, and the flowering trees are now taking their turns. My eyes have been caught by the brilliant yellows and golds of the forsythia bushes that are now blooming. And when I drove past an entire hillside of them glowing in the sun I knew I had to return. But yesterday morning was cloudy and cold, with a gusty sharp wind that was keeping our temperatures in the 40’s. As I drove over to the yellow hillside I wasn’t too terribly excited because of the conditions. But what I found as I wandered around on the hill was a beautiful old redbud tree that has also responded to our early spring with buds of purple that were starting to emerge. Those of you from Minnesota will know that the University’s colors are maroon and gold, and so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this hillside of forsythia and this wonderful purple/maroon redbud was on the Saint Paul campus. Do you suppose this is a coincidence?
Morning magnolias
Last week saw the end of winter with ice-out on our Minnesota lakes. This week we plunged head-first into almost-summer (oops – where was spring?) with green grass nurtured by light rains and warm sunshine. The birds have been singing early in the mornings and there are daffodils and crocus showing off their colors amidst all the burgeoning green.
Last month I posted a photo of the magnolia tree that is outside our front window. At the time the tree had buds and looked rather gangly. She has now come into her prime, graced with large white blossoms, hiding the softest of pinks near the blossom base. It is a joy to see the white petals shimmer in the early morning mist, and then turn almost translucent as the sun reflects off them later in the day. It is one of the short-lived joys of spring that graces our transitioning landscape prior to the arrival of summer.
Quickly slipping into fall
Just as the calendar shows us passing the autumnal equinox last week, it seems that nature is truly slipping into fall here in Minnesota. Our nights are getting cooler and the sun is lacking the heat it had even a few weeks ago. Yesterday morning we got up early to drive south to Wabasha, a town that sits right on the Mississippi River in the heart of the bluff country. The air was heavy with moisture and we drove through thick fog in places. As we were going to be helping some friends harvest grapes in their vineyard, we had been hoping for a sunny and warm day. When we arrived at their home overlooking the Mississippi River Valley we were still in the fog, but I was delighted to be able to divert my attention from the grapes to photographing their gardens. These fall-colored mums were in full bloom, and upon closer examination I saw that they were laced with the dew of this damp morning. The fog and low clouds eventually gave way to sunshine and a warm-enough fall day as we worked throughout the morning and afternoon picking grapes. The time passed quickly with conversation amongst friends, and our fingers and hands became stained and coated with the color and smell of the ripe grapes. By the time we drove home after a celebratory dinner preceded by a toast to the wine harvest, the clouds had passed and the sky was filled with a full canopy of stars overhead.
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