Perhaps the main attraction is that they signal that Spring has indeed arrived, against all odds.
They remind me of my wedding day, I begged the grounds-people at the Salt Lake Temple to allow them to stand just one more week and I like to think they did, just because I asked. I was so delighted to be surrounded by tulips in my wedding pictures. Since then, my husband has shown his devotion to me by way of the tulip.
Tulips signify hope and love and everything good. But it is not just their message that makes me so enamoured of them..
The colours! Oh the colours! So incredibly vibrant. Have you noticed that when you see a bed of fresh red tulips, they have this amazingly vivid shimmer to them that makes them almost resemble a mirage? Sometimes when they are grouped together like that they look like a photo that has been too enthusiastically photoshopped, you can't even see the detail for the colour. It's surreal...but stunning.
I love the shape. The tulip is so classic but never stuffy. They are cheerful and happy but never unruly. When a tulip is in its classic half closed state it could not be more adorable. On their long elegant stems though they are somehow stately at the same time. Adorable and stately, it's a tough combo to pull off but the tulip can do it.
When they open their petals to bask joyfully in the sun, we are allowed a peek of their gorgeous faces. Streaked with colours they look like a painting of a sunset, impeccable stamens, liberally dotted with fluffy yellow pollen. They are the perfect specimen of floral beauty.
The only thing I don't like about tulips? They don't last very long! I spent some time yesterday afternoon photographing some of my precious babies from very angle. Click on the collage to enjoy their beauty with me. Do you love the tulip the way I do?
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9 comments:
YES! I had a bouquet of white tulips when Randy and I got sealed. LOVE LOVE LOVE them!
I love tulips - but the gophers we have love them in a different way! So I have daffodils. You photos are beautiful! Have you tried doing floral still life photography? Today I posted a still life image I did of some tulips in a glass basket. Drop by and "smell the flowers" at http://photographyhints.blogspot.com
Popped in from SITS to say hi! I love daisies!
I'm with you. I love the tulips. Although for many, many years I hated them after having to be one in an elementary school play. Nothing like wearing a big cardboard and tissue paper tulip on your head to humiliate you enough to take it out on the real flower. Eventually I got over it and they are now my favorite flower. Go figure.
I am not typically drawn to blogs, however when a guy has a degree in Botany, he may as well apreciate a blog about Tulipa gesneriana. What more can you ask of a plant; pretty, interesting and fully edible. (I did not say that it tastes great, but the petals are not bad in a salad.) Watch your skin though as they can cause dermatitus from handling any part of them, including the bulb. I find it particularly interesting how the sepals and petals appear almost identical in most specimin. The outer three petals are homologous to the little green leaves under roses. So, there are only three petals on a Tulip, even though you would never win an argument with a teenager on the subject (since they know it all).
Tulips are so pretty! I wish we could have some but our landlord hires landscapers who "don't do flowers". =(
Yours look beautiful though!
I do, I do. And I know so do you. You beheaded almost every one in my bouquet, and I was too stupid to realise. So there I am, photographed for posterity, cluching these stalks tied together with ribbon, with one or two weary (and wary) heads looking fearfully around for you! I will try and find a photo to scan for you.
Marmie.
A PS to my comment. Posted it before I had clicked on the pic. It truly is BEAUTIFUL! WOW! Who is the Blonde Duck?? Sounds like someone I know.
Marmie.
I have always liked tulips but you made me realize why with this post....it is the shape. :) I love it. I like how you say it's classic but not stuffy.
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