Macro Monday #80

Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow.  ~ Imogen Cunningham.

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Elegantly twisting

My final tulip this year (I know I have gone on a bit) is this pretty purple one performing its last dance. Tulips give so much pleasure even in their dying moments. As tulips are my favourite flowers it seems a fitting photo for the end of the WordPress Photo Challenge which I have to thank for giving me inspiration when I first set out on the blogging journey. The weekly challenges enabled me to study the images I had in my archives that could meet the brief, or to go out and take a new image, bearing in mind the requirements. I began to take more considered shots. Understand what it was I wanted from a photograph; what I wanted my image to tell others. The challenge also helped me meet other bloggers in this vast blogosphere and create some long-lasting virtual friendships. We will all miss the weekly challenge, but I am confident we will continue to inspire one another as we share our worlds.

Daily Post Photo Challenge | Favourite

Macro Monday #79

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Tulip in decay

A visit to the Eden Project at the beginning of May was not the best time to go for tulips this year, although there were still some in bud outside. In the Mediterranean Biome though it was a different story. Large terracotta pots (and oh, how I wish I could (a) afford and (b) lift such pots) contained tulips in their dying throes. However, with the light pouring through the windows it proved to be an opportunity for capturing their ‘stained-glass’ beauty.

 

Macro Monday #78

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Tulip ‘Avignon Parrot’ in late bud form

This year I added a new French Parrot tulip with long stems and an outrageously large  flower head. In retrospect possibly too large for my windswept plot.  From green buds unfurl brilliant orange blooms. The feathered flowers have hints of pink and green brushed along the petals. The finished article combines  tomato red, a sweet pink flame and an apricot-yellow edge.

‘Avignon Parrot’ with the elegant ‘Ballerina’

There is a non-parrot type with the same colouring, but with a neat goblet-shaped head which seems eminently more acceptable.

Named in 1966 after the Southern French city of Avignon where the pope had his palace in the Middle Ages and also famous for its ruined bridge.

“Sur le Pont d’Avignon,
On y danse, On y danse.
Sur le Pont d’Avignon,
On y danse tous en rond.”

I have to say I am not overly fond of this tulip, and I never thought I would say that about a tulip!

“Condensational”

Days of coastal fog can be so annoying as the temperatures drop and the air is damp. One positive result is how condensation is formed on the tulips in the courtyard. The jewel-like colours sparkle with diamonds.

Sarah Raven lily-flowered tulip

Purple Dream lily-flowered tulip

Ballerina lily-flowered lightly fragrant tulip

Daily Post Photo Challenge | Liquid

Macro Monday #76

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Plant Focus

My final tulip offering is ‘Prinses / Princess Irene which is the exotic colour of a sunset. Electric orange and stripes of violet and rust make this one of the most exciting tulips I grew this year. It is long-lasting and contrasts beautifully with a very dark tulip such as ‘Paul Scherer’ or ‘Havran’. They seem to glow in the sun and look fantastic in pots.

 

Plant Focus

One of the last tulips to show is this lovely slightly scented ‘Bruine Wimpel’ or ‘Malaika’ described as brandy-snap or caramel brown and lilac-pink. Not a brown tulip as such, but like a delicate tea stained silk, the colours are unusual and quite beautiful. And long-lasting too.

I’m  not sure if mine were true to form as they appeared much more orange than I thought they would be, although in the sunlight it is hard to capture their true colours.  Next to my other orange tulips though they definitely had a brownish hue.

Plant Focus

Although I prefer the bronze, copper and almost black tulips the most, I did plant a few pink ones.

This is a late flowering one (supposed to be May) called ‘Greenland‘ – an orchid rose-pink with green stripes. With all the sunshine we have been having, it opened this week!

 

 

Tulipmania #3

This collection is from Sarah Raven and called the Scented Copper Tulip Collection  – includes tulips ‘Ballerina’ (very highly scented), ‘Bruine Wimpel’ (lightly scented), ‘Sarah Raven’ (unscented) and Tulip whittallii (highly scented).

I’m not sure about the scent, I shall have to get a bit closer to them, but the colours are fabulous and in the sunshine they glow like stained-glass lanterns and I particularly love the shape of the lily-flowered goblets in deep damson.

Tulipmania #2

My favourite combination is this collection at the back of the garden, some are in pots and others were randomly planted in the raised bed where the forget-me-nots do their thing, rampantly marching through the garden and self-seeding everywhere. I pulled out loads of seedlings in the autumn, but they still manage to dominate the garden at this time of year. I do love their pretty blue faces though and they contrast nicely with the tall ‘Orange Emperor’, the coppery orange  ‘Whittallii’ and the rich red, lily-flower ‘Sarah Raven’ tulips. Top right is called ‘National Velvet’ a glossy, red flower and one which appeared yesterday.

Oh, and the little yellow one that sneaked into this collage is a species variety, called ‘Tardis’, a prostrate plant with multiple flowers consisting of yellow petals with white tips. It supposedly naturalises and self-seeds. Planted under the corkscrew hazel (that curly tree that always seems to pop up in my sunsets) I am hoping it goes mad!