POSITIVITY POST - FLOWERS FROM THE NETHERLANDS

The tulips are from my archives but the article I read recently.

“Dutch Grown”, a floral company in the Netherlands, has donated over 10,000 flower bulbs to transform a park in Swannanoa, North Carolina.  

The company said, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow. That belief is our gift to Swannanoa and everyone in Western North Carolina.”

Once again it does the heart good to see people trying to help others by lifting their spirits with these kind acts. 

Thanks for stopping by and 

I am wishing you all a wonderful day

full of positivity!

FLOWERS AT THE GARDEN

 

In my last post I left you with my first photo above. I visited the garden looking for tulips and once again I wasn't disappointed. We hadn't left the parking lot yet. There is a flower bed that stretches the whole length where we leave our cars, and you can look through to the garden beyond. 

I saw many different varieties, but my app only said that they were 'garden tulips'. I tried to ID them without success, but I am happy to show you these.  Their names would have been nice so that I could put them on my list for planting for next season, but I was content to just look at each one. They were all beautiful! As you can see, this is a tulip post today. 

Many had opened quite a bit, a few with their petals flopping over, but they were exquisite!

The path we take, the house is the first thing that greets us and as we get closer, we can see their flower bed is full of them.

If you have been following me to the garden for a while, you'll know I more often than not take photos of this house.  Probably because I love the place!

Did you know that tulips originated in Turkey?

They were first cultivated as early as 1000 AD.

The word 'tulip' comes from an old Turkish word for turban, which looks very similar to the flower.

In the 1600s, the popularity of tulips went global.

At one point, the market for tulips was so intense, the flower was worth more than diamonds.

Today the tulip is one of the world's most recognized flowers.

We have over 150 species of tulips on our planet.

Of those species, there are 3000 varieties of tulips. Maybe that's why all I got on my app was 'garden tulip!'

There will be more of them next time, along with other flowers.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week has been a great one. Enjoy your weekend!

ON THE WAY TO THE GARDEN...

 On the way to the garden on Tuesday, we pass an old, abandoned house. One other spot driven by recently, we were surprised to see that that home had already been leveled. This was the second home in a month. I managed to take a photo of the previous place. The next day it was gone. I have been trying to get photos of all the ones in our area, and beyond. Seeing them for all these years in this state of disrepair, I have gotten used to these old homes. A lot of them look like they are just going to fall right over but I always wonder who lived there, thinking this was once someone's dream. What stories those old walls could tell.

My dear other half reminded me that there was another coming up in a few miles. It is hard to slow down as there is always a lot of traffic (the photo above is a cropped version of the first). When he said we were about to drive by, I already had the window rolled down, the strap of the phone wrapped tightly around my wrist and was ready. A 'someone's-one-time-dream-home-taken-on-a-fly-by' photo. It has been in this state for as long as we have lived in the area, and that's been for over 30 years plus. The house must have been built when the road was little more than a narrow country lane, long before this heavier traveled route appeared. I guess someone finally sold the land. We have an abundance of farmland that has been in families for generations, that have gone to the building companies. We often surmise a parent passed on and the children decided it was time. Land is always considered a premium right? 

I wonder what will be built in its place? Gas stations are going up everywhere, or more homes. I will be paying attention.

A few miles on we saw police officers on motorcycles going in the opposite direction. There must have been a dozen or more. A little further on we came across these guys. I thought they looked really sharp. As you can see by their short-sleeved shirts it was a warm day. We wished them well as we passed by.

So, from old, abandoned buildings, to motorcycle police officers. Next time it will be flowers from the garden.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

ARTSY TULIPS

One of the photos I took on our visit to Green Spring Gardens.  

The ones below are some of the effects from the ArtCard app on my iPad.

It is always interesting to see what that app can produce. 

Thanks for looking and enjoy your day.

 

LATEST WALK AROUND GREEN SPRING GARDENS ON 4-15-22 - PART 3

The tulips were blooming, a wonderful display.  So, here we have a tulip overload, with two other flowers.  

“Gardens and flowers have a way of bringing people together, drawing them from their homes.”

 ~Clare Ansberry~

"We don't ask a flower any special reason for its existence.  We just look at it and are able to accept it as being something different from ourselves."

~Gwendolyn Brooks~

"That's Heaven to Me, a little flower that blooms in May, a lovely sunset at the end of a day. Someone helping a stranger along the way.  That's heaven to me."

~Sam Cook~

The Grape Hyacinth, such a pretty blue!

"To me, flowers are happiness."

~Stefano Gabbana~

"I am in awe of flowers.  Not because of their colors, but because even though they have dirt in their roots, they still grow.  They still bloom."

~D. Antoinette Foy~

"Just living is not enough...one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."

~Hans Christian Andersen~

“Don’t hurry, don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”

~Walter Hagen~

“If you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for a moment.”

~Georgia O’Keefe~

“Good friends are like beautiful flowers in the garden of life.” 

~Katrina Mayer~

“Spring, when the earth tilts closer to the sun, runs a strict timetable of flowers.” 

~Alice Oswald~

“I put flower buds in a lot of little bottles around the house so I can see the blossoms open everywhere.” 

~James Patterson~

“Spring comes: the flowers learn their colored shapes.” 

~Maria Konopnicka~

If you have been following my trips to Green Spring Gardens, you may have seen other posts with the last plant for today.  I wanted to track its progress.  I had never noticed it before February of this year.  You can see that first sighting at this link where I share more.  It is Edgeworthia chrysanthia.

Thank you for visiting.  Have a wonderful day!

I CAN FEEL...

 

I can feel the silence straining,

About to burst out from the seams,

To shout that no one should be hushed

When on the grand pursuit of dreams.

And for those who are not heard

We ought to raise our voices higher,

Everyone deserves the chance

To chase what sets their soul on fire.

~Erin Hanson~

(Erin Hanson is an Australian author/poet who was born and raised in Brisbane, Australia on June 22nd, 1995.) 

GREEN SPRING GARDENS CONTINUED - MORE FLOWERS

 

The Magnolia blooms were a little past their prime but still very pretty.  I learned that the trees can last 80 to 120 years.  The size depends on the species.  Smaller species are only about 15 feet tall.  Larger species can grow to 80 feet in height.  

Magnolias are believed to be the earliest known flowering plant, with their fossils dating back over 100 million years.  Magnolia trees even existed before bees, so they rely on beetles for pollination.  

Instead of nectar the flowers produce large quantities of pollen that the beetles use for food.  I read this information and more at this link.

I shared information on the history of the house here if you would like to take a look.

This is the Grape Hyacinth (Muscari)

It is a perennial plant native to Greece and Asia and grow to be 6 to 8 inches in height.  

Despite its name it is not actually related to the hyacinth; muscari are members of the Lily family.  If you go to this link you will find a lot more information.

This is where I found the poem that I shared in my post a little while ago. It was outside a fenced off garden where they grow produce and other plants throughout the year.

The following cluster of flowers is called Virginia Springbeauty.  It is also called Fairy spud, Spring beauty, Good morning spring, Narrowleaf springbeauty, Eastern springbeauty, Common spring-beauty, Spring-beauty and Grass-flower.

It is native to Eastern North America, from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean.  It is a very important native plant for bees, as it is one of the earliest nectar sources.  This is one of the earliest wildflowers to bloom in Spring.  The tuber roots are edible and taste like sweet potato.  It can grow en-mass and is a gorgeous pink-white carpet on the forest floor.  They are often found growing near Wild Violets.  All this information I found here.

Wild Violets.  

There are 600 species of Violets.  They have been cultivated from about 500 BC and their color can depend on the species; they can be purple, blue, white, cream or multicolor.  

Native Americans had many uses for violets.  They made blue dye from them to dye their arrows.  They also soaked corn seed in an infusion made from the roots before it was planted to keep insect pests from eating the seeds.  

The Inuktitut/Inuit people placed stems and flowers among their clothes to give them a sweet fragrance, and almost all ate the leave and flowers.  

Violets were also Napoleon Bonaparte's Signature Flower.  He used the blooms to cover his wife Josephine's grave when she died in 1814.  In fact, he was called Corporal Violet by friends, after promising them he would return from his exile in Elba before violet season.  Bonaparte's supporters even used violets to determine if someone was loyal to him, by asking them if they liked the flowers - only a response of "Eh, bien" proved loyalty, according to the American Violet Society.

This is the Hellebore, and my information and more came from this link.  It is a plant that belongs to the buttercup family.  There are around 10 species of hellebore that originated from Europe and Asia.  Hellebore was extensively used as herbal remedies in the past but due to a high content of toxic substances, hellebore is mostly cultivated for ornamental purposes today.  Christmas rose, Winter rose and Lenten rose are popular types of hellebores.  Despite their name, they are not genetically related with roses.  The name "Helleborus" originates from the Greek words "helle" which means 'to take away' and "bora" which means "food".  The name refers to the emetic properties of this plant.  Like many plants it is quite toxic.  Historians believe that hellebore was one of the plants (part of an herbal mixture) responsible for the death of Alexander the Great.

These are the flowers that I was asked about yesterday.  The ID marker is a little fuzzy but it will show you what they are.  At this link it said, "'Golden Bells' Miniature Daffodil charms with dainty golden cups atop stars of small basal petals.  Cheery, upward-facing blooms extend the daffodil season from late spring through early summer.  Once established, each bulb can produce up to 15 flowers for masses of buttercup yellow color.  Their dwarf size and narrow leaf blades make 'Golden Bells' idea for naturalizing in lawns and meadows (Narcissus bulbocodium)."   

More here. "Daffodil 'Golden Bells' is known as the Yellow Hoop Petticoat narcissi."

I will finish now.  I tend to get carried away when finding out about the flowers and plants I photograph.  

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope the flowers around you bring you joy. Enjoy the rest of your week.