Horticulture

Tulipmania!

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I’ve got a really bad case of tulipmania.  I can understand exactly how those Dutch got carried away with this gorgeous commodity.

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It is so bad that I had to return to the Pike Place Market today just to see them again.

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I think you can see what I mean.  This photo is moody and dark, like a Rembrandt painting.

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These blossoms attract me like a bee to honey.  I must have some bees in my family tree.  These bi-colored parrot tulips are my favorite.  I love yellow and red together.

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Well, actually these are my favorites.  They are called “peony tulips”.  You can see where they get their name, right?  Google “peony” if you don’t.

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Well, I was wrong before, because these are my favorites.  They look fringed, like fancy fabric with black button centers.  And I adore pinky-orange with honey-gold.  It is almost incomprehensible that this is plant material, not woven textile.

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A group shot.

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A close-up.

I think Georgia O’Keefe might have liked this group.

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I love the way these tulips look, grouped by color family.  I like these so much better than the “arrangements” the florists put together at the Market and in a lot of other places.

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These flowers and their display in all the booths at the Market are almost achingly beautiful.

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Beige and red.  It was this so-called “broken” pattern that made the Dutch go nuts in the 17th century. Its kinda like how connoisseurs of “koi” fish cherish certain broken patterns.  I can’t help it, this is how my mind works.

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Love these white, with their specks of green on the outer white petals.

 

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Gorgeous.  This photo alone would make most flower shops around the world swoon.

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Simplicity.

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Here are those peony clusters again. Much fussier, but I love ’em.

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And then the parrots again.

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I have got to stop.  I am feeling dizzy.

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Well, one more.  They are white, pristine.  A palette cleanser. Exquisite.

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Back into the warmth.

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Like a fan of the warm family of paint colors.

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Stop.  It is starting to hurt.

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Stop!

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I have to stop now. I can’t take any more.

I think you CAN overdose on beauty.

Tulips @ Pike Place Market

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Yesterday in Seattle it was intermittently sunny and cloudy.  It was cool and breezy and a great day for brunch at the Pike Place Market.  A croque monsieur and a kir royale were perfect at “Compagne”, a really nice French-style bistro on Post Alley.

After that, a stroll through the market to have a look at the glorious tulips for sale.

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Tulips in abundance!

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Tulips in all colors and blends, as well as many shapes.  Parrot tulips, lipstick tulips, peony tulips.  They were all here.

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An altar of color and pattern.

Have a great new week everybody!

In Memoriam: Boston Marathon, 2013

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Like many others from around the world, I have no words to talk about yesterday’s unspeakable horror in Boston. In the hope of finding some solace from this grief, I find myself thinking of some beautiful memories I have of the Public Garden in Boston.

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Many years ago, I had the pleasure of living in Boston for three years.  Through my work as a curator at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and in particular because of an article I was researching a monument in Mount Auburn cemetery by sculptor Thomas Crawford in Cambridge, I came to know a very distinct landscape architect, who had helped save the Public Garden when it was almost lost.  This fascinating person introduced me not only to her work in rescuing the fine Boston Public Garden, but to the field of horticulture in general. Polly Wakefield and I became friends as we studied her illustrious family’s history and in particular, the marker in Cambridge to her ancestor, Amos Binney. (For my article see, L.  Dimmick, “Thomas Crawford’s Monument for Amos Binney in Mount Auburn Cemtery: A Work of Rare Merit” in the Association for Gravestone Studies journal, MARKERS IX, pages 158 – 195.)

Through our friendship, I was privileged to live on Polly’s family estate in the “farm house” in Milton.  We causally shared many summer Sunday afternoon teas on her magnificent veranda overlooking her gardens, as well as a couple of  Christmas Days in her Isaac Davenport mansion.  My cocker spaniel, Samantha, was best friends with Polly’s corgi, Sally, and we happily watched them romp through the lovely gardens that she designed on the estate too many times to remember.  If you want to read about the very impressive Mary May Binney Wakefield, more information is available here: http://www.wakefieldtrust.org/site/about-us/polly-wakefield-a-brief-story-of-her-life.html.

I am thinking of you today, Polly Wakefield. You opened my eyes to the practice of your profession and to many wonderful horticultural experiences, which eventually changed the focus of my professional life. Horticulture has become the thing that (after my child, obviously) makes my heart beat the fastest, and you inspired me to become a lifelong learner and doer.

These pictures are offered in Polly Wakefield’s memory, as well as to those who were hurt yesterday.  Let us honor the ones who died.

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How we all love the Boston Public Garden’s sculptural group entitled Make Way for Ducklings, based on the charming children’s book of the same title by Robert McCloskey.

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It is also sweet to remember E.B. White‘s affection for the Public Garden, captured in his children’s novel, The Trumpet of the Swan. I don’t know if this is a fact or just an fantasy I had, but I believe White lived in The Ritz Hotel across the street from the Garden. Maybe a reader will correct me if I am wrong?

My thoughts are with Boston today and always.

Added later:  this was good to see in the paper: http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2013/04/16/museums-offer-free-admission-response-marathon-bombings/OZ3Y0QEXmbD0AqgCWq4FVM/story.html

Pink confetti!

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Confetti!

What does it say about me that I like the petals that have fallen, and the patterns they create, as much or more than I like the blooms on the trees?  Here you see the mossy trunk of a tree, the green of the lawn and the pink of the fallen cherry blossoms.

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See what I mean?  I love the textures and the way the pink petals have drifted to the edge of the grass, with the contrast of the concrete sidewalk.  It is so random and really catches my eye.  One second the petals are like this, the next they are gone.

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Have you ever seen a rosemary plant in bloom?  Unless you live on a coast, I’d wager  you haven’t.  So below is a close-up of how it looks.

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Who knew that rosemary had these lovely small lavender flowers in the spring?   I didn’t know until last week when I noticed them!

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Walking along the street I noticed someone (a child maybe?) had set out this offering to the flower gods.  It is composed of spent white camellias blossoms and the bright yellow heads of dandelion.  I love the fact that no distinction was drawn here in the value of the various flowers…dandelion right there with camellias.  Someone has a non-judgmental eye for beauty!

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See what I mean about the fading camellias?  These spectacular shrubs have been brightening the landscape here since late January, and are ending the show now in early April. In case you are unfamiliar with this species, you are looking at a pale pink blossoming camellia.  Some of the flowers have stayed on the plant as they have aged and turn whitish, then yellowish and then finally brown. Camellias have given us a pretty long running gift of pink, red, and white.  I bid you a fond farewell, camellias, and look forward to seeing you again next January.

Did you realize that gardeners are the most optimistic people?  Just check out the last sentence in the last paragraph and you will witness my proof.

And did you know that tea is made from a variety of the camellia?  From wikipedia we learn:

Camellia sinensis is the species of plant whose leaves and leaf buds are used to produce the popular beverage tea. It is of the genus Camellia (Chinese: 茶花; pinyin: Cháhuā, literally: “tea flower”), a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae.

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Typically, I don’t go for azaleas and rhododendron.  They are just too bright and gaudy for me (and I love gaudy marigolds…go figure).  But this foliage caught my eye and I decided to take their picture, because I think they were begging me to.  Lots and lots of people love these showy flowers.  Just not me.

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Back to the pink confetti.  Oh, how I love you!

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Our Italian word for the day:  confetti

Ciao for now, tutti!

Yves St. Laurent Garden in Morocco

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One of the many jewels in the crown that is Morocco is this incredible garden once owned by

Yves St. Laurent.

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The Majorelle Garden (Arabic: حديقة ماجوريل‎) is a twelve-acre botanical garden  in Marrakech. The garden is home to 15+  bird species that are native to North Africa, as well as many fountains, and a notable collection of cacti.

Yves St. Laurent Garden in Morocco

This incredible masterpiece, although best known as St. Laurent’s, was actuallydesigned in the 1920s and 1930s–when Morocco was a French protectorate– by the expatriate French artist Jacques Majorelle (1886-1962).

 

 

To the left is one of Marjorelle’s better-known paintings.

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You actually might be more familiar with Jacques Majorelle’s father, the art nouveau master-eboniste, Louis Majorelle (1859-1926).  Below is one of his exquisite furniture pieces now in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore:

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Majorelle’s  orientalist watercolors have been largely forgotten today (many are preserved in the garden’s collection, though not on view when I was there), this gardens is unquestionably his creative masterpiece.

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The special shade of bold cobalt blue, which he used extensively in the garden, is named after him; the color is known bleu Majorelle in French, or, in English, Majorelle Blue.

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Yves St. Laurent owned the garden from 1980 (with Pierre Bergé) until the fashion designer’s death in 1980.  St. Laurent’s ashes were scattered in the Majorelle Garden as his final request.

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And now, I am going to get back, so you can view pictures of this amazing place on your own. Please note that, as usual in garden design, water plays a large role here.  In the photo above, you are looking at a shallow white-bottomed basin.

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You might be entertained to know that the photo above got me kicked out of the little shop that is inside the garden now.  I was only trying to get a picture of the windows in the clerestory, but the fact that I dared to take any photos at all got me escorted out!  It is run by some French people; need I say more?!

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M’a ssalama  (مع اسلامة)       [Good-bye in Arabic {I think} ]

Easter in Seattle, 2013

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If you are in Seattle in the next few days…

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Get yourself to 21st Ave. and Aloha Street…

For several blocks, 21st Avenue is awash in pink and scented with blossoms!

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It is almost too perfect! It feels like a Hollywood set for “spring.”

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No picture can capture the effect.  But, try picturing this:  sunny, warm, cool breeze, light fragrance, heady full pink blossoms.

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I suggest you wear your Easter bonnet.  You will feel right at home!

Bye!

Cherry Blossoms in bloom at UW quad.

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Cherry Blossoms in bloom at UW quad

The sakura (cherry blossoms) are in bloom on the quad at the University of Washington!  I was there Tuesday, and they were at their peak.  The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and the effect of the very pale pink blossoms was awesome.

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Imagine the blue of the sky, the warmth of the sun, the pale pink of the flowers and the buzz of the bees.

You just about have it.  The fragrance was almost imperceptible.

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Lots of people were out walking among the trees, taking pictures, or sitting on the grass below the petals.  It was a glorious day!

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The UW campus has never looked more beautiful!

Sayonara!

 

 

A turtle sunning on the first day of spring.

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A turtle sunning on the first day of spring.

Wednesday, March 20
The First Day of Spring (Spring Equinox) 2013. If you look very closely, you will see a turtle sunning itself on a rock at the Seattle Japanese Garden on this sunny afternoon.

The weather today was fickle. One minute it was sunny, the next minute a cold wind blew by, the next minute it was raining. This turtle was very optimistic and caught a sunny moment.

You can see the turtle on the rock in the water in the lower third of the photo, about in the middle.  And here is our italicized Italian word for the day: tartaruga (turtle)!

Also above, if you look very closely in the left vertical quadrant of the photo, towards the top, you will see a puff of pink.  This is a blooming plum tree and such pink clouds are blooming all around the city right now.

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Look at this large camellia, blossoming away in the shady background at the Seattle Japanese Garden.

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This isn’t the world’s best photograph, obviously, but the camellia blossoms on this shrub are two-toned: hot reddish/pink with white.  There seems to be no end to these camellia variations and I love them all.

Ciao for now, tutti!