New Fedge at Children's Museum Garden

Is it a fence or is it a hedge? Neither.  (The alternate answer is yes!) It's both. It's a Fedge, which is kind of fun to say, I think.

Peony Late May Morning Weather Report

Yet again this May, the  day started out wet and gray.

Sweet-looking, Sweet- smelling Thing

It's a shame I guess that this sweet looking and sweet smelling flowery thing is so successful that it's considered to be an invasive in some parts while just fast growing lumber in others.

Opuntia humifusa! I still say it like I mean it and am making an important point!

Opuntia! ☝ I still say it like I mean it and am making an important point!  Unfortunately in reality I am still mispronouncing it. I guess studying the botanical name for that ID test at Brooklyn Botanic while mispronouncing it (and pointing) really imprinted that mistake pretty deep in my mind. I think I was trying to associate pointy (like pointy cactus) with Opuntia, so I ended up with the hard t sound stuck in my mind instead of that crunchy, Cha Cha Cha punch sound, which is the correct pronunciation. 

Hardscape in the Memorial Garden for Ellie Greenwich at Hofstra

There's a pebble treble clef underfoot and musical notes being tossed up above by the juggling sculpture in the memorial garden for Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Ellie Greenwich, at Hofstra.

I like the pebble treble clef but this little pocket memorial garden was perhaps a hair too peaceful when I passed by, as there was not a baby in sight doing the hanky panky. 🎶

Black Locust Foraging Time

Some people, I guess, would look at these pictures and immediately think, "pancakes".  I imagine foraging might make you think about what it might have been like to live long enough ago that most of your thoughts upon seeing things were "hhhm, I wonder if I could make that breakfast".

By the Berm

I stopped by the berm beside the road this evening for a few minutes, watching a bee visit flowers and snapping some pictures.

It smelled dreamy in the sensory garden

It smelled dreamy in the sensory garden at Hofstra so I lingered for a little bit. Mission accomplished for its designer.

Love Is In The Air

Um. I mean the pond?

No wait. It is in the air. 

Oops. I meant the pond. 

Butterfly Season Begins

Female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

It's official. Butterfly season 2018 has begun for me with a glimpse of some yellow on yellow to chase for a moment on this perfectly sunny day which followed a week of mostly rain. Old timey butterfly fact of the day: Wikipedia says the first known drawing of a North American butterfly was this species.

Going to Seed and Set to Flower

The species tulip are ahead of the alliums, already going to see while the alliums are just getting ready to flower. On this gray day in May though they were almost the same shade of green.

Irises in May, 1890 and Today

Not so long before his death, Van Gogh made that famous painting of Irises in May that once sold for a mere 53 million bucks and also this still life with an Iris bouquet.

It didn't cost me a dime to stroll past some blooming irises and buds this spring. Cheap thrills!

Composition

I was daydreaming about putting a little something together, a bouquet, a garden, some plants in a pot maybe...something.

Buds and Blooms From Around the Block

Someone is waiting on poppies and it looks like someone else let a kale or another brassica vegetable overwinter and flower.

Rainy Sunday Pinks and Painted Leaves

I guess if it's going to be a grey and rainy Sunday in May, some sweet pinks catching rain drops and leaves which look like they were painted by hand quite possibly just to delight me ain't too shabby.  

Some Pitstops This Week

In front of some new leaves.

At the lineup. Whodunnit?

Discovering the Red Buckeye blooming at dusk.

For color. 

Same Tree, Two Seasons

New leaves this spring and old leaves getting ready to drop last fall.

None of These Things is Much Like The Other

Apart from all being spring bloomers, none of these flowers is really that much like the others.

And in a way, this diversity is pretty convenient because it's not like you're ever liable to confuse a fothergilla with a tulip or a lilac once you get to know which is which. 

Spring's Totally Sprung

There are flowers everywhere this week. Underfoot, in pots...

and on the trees you pass. 

Pink Dogwood in Early May 2018/2017

This years dogwood blooms are a bit behind last year's, but only by about a week.

Tulip Era, 2018

I might have missed the Tulip Era in Turkey, (1718 through 1730) by 300 years (and some miles!), but I made sure not to miss the tulips of 2018.

Some Things Found and Some Things Blue

Hyacinth flowers drying out and Muscari in bloom.

Something Old and Something New

New Ginkgo leaves at dusk above is the something new.

And Crepe Myrtle seedpods are the something old.