Spring Beauty Pageant

Since it's spring, it should be of no surprise to anyone that I saw a bunch of flowers on one of my many recent walks. Here I will display the highlights. All of these beauties are winners in their own special ways.

Up first is the grape hyacinth (Muscari botryoides). This spring bulb is gorgeous but deadly, as it imparts severe hallucinogenic effects to those who consume it.

These particular grape hyacinth blooms look much bluer than I'm used to seeing them. Perhaps this is a regional difference, or due to this year's odd weather.

Hiding behind the hyacinths was this cute flower, who's our next contestant. This plant would also appear to be a spring bulb, but I don't know what kind. The bloom looks like the combination of a daffodil and an orchid.

Up next is a white-blooming tree. There were several of these around. It's hard to picture the wonder of spring without thinking of a tree completely covered in white petals.

Scott's in this pageant too! He's blurry, though he is adding even more flora to the occasion.

I worked really hard to get exactly half of his face in this shot.

Moving on, the campus landscaping people have planted cool-season ornamentals in the massive containers near the library. While the heights of these plants don't warrant the depth of that container, their colors and general cheeriness do the trick.

I really like all these cool colors. White and violet always work well together, and pansies are some of my favorite spring flowers, so this combination is definitely a winner to me.

The reddish varieties add to the container as well. They make the collection more "sunset" than "midnight."

All the blue foliage in these containers is an interesting choice. It complements that purple flower to form our last contestant.

Which contestant would you vote for? What other spring beauties have brightened your day recently?

Next post: a private plant collection.

Hot Hyacinths

I was walking around the other day when I saw hyacinths like I've never seen before. I extol the virtues of edible plants more than just about anybody, but these flowers expanded my horizons. Maybe part of it is that I measure the value of plants as a ratio of necessary effort to reward, and I find edible plants more tangibly rewarding than ornamentals. However, since hyacinths are bulbs, they require very little work. I could certainly deal with a few of these, I'm sure...

I apologize for the subpar quality of these photos. I had my camera with me when I passed this display, but I guess I forgot that, so I took these with my phone. At any rate, I loved the combination of violet and white here. It just looks classy. And I had never seen hyacinths this bluish before, so the school is opening my eyes to new experiences.

Hyacinths, or Hyacinthus orientalis, are apparently very easy to grow since they need cold temperatures to bloom in the spring. This means the bulbs can be planted in fall and basically left alone. Here are some that are still working on putting out blooms.

Hyacinth blooms can get fuller than the ones shown here, and low-nitrogen fertilizers will help encourage this. I still appreciate this bunch. They're just plain cute. Like this! (Ignore the cigarette butt.)

Doesn't the feast of flora that comes with spring bring you joy? It sure does for me. The world is coming alive again.

Next post: free food.

Snow During Spring Break, Part I

It's snowing. Again. I was just getting started enjoying our daffodils and hyacinths, I was just about to start surveying the neighborhood for other springtime beauties, and then this happens. So here is my survey of the damage so far. These pictures were taken Sunday night, after it had started snowing but before any snow accumulated.

At this point the hyacinths have held up well. Now they're probably looking sad. I'll investigate that within the next couple of days.

Here's a better shot of the white ones. The color on these reminds me of buttercream frosting.

I don't know how well buds usually last in cold conditions, but these look like they're doing okay.

Finally, the daffodils. They look extremely sad. As I learned today, only a few plants around town have bloomed, and those few are regretting it right about now. The rest of them should be okay and bloom later on.

So that's the preliminary damage done in my yard. Today I went on a walk around town, though, so...

Next post: springtime snow in my hometown.