I visited the botanical garden this afternoon to see if I could find any color. There wasn’t much, but a few things did catch my eye.
Tag: Botanica
Wildlife
I made another trip to the botanical garden this morning, where I surprised an egret in the algae pond.
The commonest rose in cultivation
The hybrid wichuriana “Dr. Huey” is the most commonly-used rootstock for propagation of roses by bud grafting. When gardeners are careless about removing suckers, the understock will take over. The result is a brilliant but brief display of bright red blossoms at the beginning of the rose season. This example was blooming in a Wichita garden in mid-May, but you can find them everywhere grafted roses are grown.
Hanami 2014
The only Japanese cherry left in Wichita that I know of was at the height of its bloom today.
Barely spring
Spring is running about three weeks late this year. There still is not a lot of color at the botanical garden, but I found a bit more yesterday than on my previous visit, including the very first blossoms on the last remaining Japanese cherry tree.
If you’re heading to Japan in the near future, here’s the blossom forecast.
Sprung
For a while yesterday it seemed that spring had finally arrived, with temperatures around 70°F. There even were thunderstorms in the later afternoon and evening, with hail. All that was missing was the tornado warning. It couldn’t last, of course. It’s back to winter this morning, with north winds and temperatures down in the lower 30°s.
While it was pleasant out yesterday, I made a trip to the botanical garden with my toy camera. Very little was in bloom, but I did find some color.
Back to the garden
I finally got back to the botanical garden today for the first time since the rains began. I was disappointed to see that the yoshino cherry had been cut down; Botanica is down to one flowering cherry. The Japanese apricot is still there, though, and it looks healthy.
More pictures beneath the fold.
Don’t pet the caterpillar
Spines and fuzz
A few pictures from yesterday evening’s expedition. This time I used only the 50mm lens (effectively 75mm on my camera).
Inaction photo
A couple of Wonderduck’s relatives dropped by the botanical garden yesterday.
The usual pretty pictures are below the fold.
This is not going to end well
Some years back, one of the local Walmarts stocked rhododendrons in their gardening department, and I saw a number prominently planted in yards around town. Every single one was dead by midsummer. I spotted these for sale this past weekend. (It is possible to keep some species of rhododendron alive in Kansas in the right spot, but it’s not easy, and they don’t flourish.)
Is it really spring now?
I suppose I should explain why I’ve dropped every show of the spring season and have instead been re-watching Shingu and reading Alan Coren, but I think I’ll just post a few more pictures instead.
Update: A climatological footnote from this morning’s forecast.
… Coldest April since 1997 across the area…
Wichita… the average April temperature was 51.3 degrees… which was
the 7th coolest April on record since 1889. The normal April average
is 56.1 degrees.
It might snow tomorrow.
Cherry blossom season is ending …
… but crab apple season is just starting.
More pictures from yesterday’s trip to Botanica below the fold.
Not an abstract painting
… just a close-up of the fountain in the kids’ garden. More pictures from yesterday’s trip to Botanica are below the fold.
Is it possible …
… to do macro photography with a 50mm lens and an extension tube, and without a tripod?
Just barely.
More pictures from today’s trip to the botanical garden below the fold.
It’s not official …
… until the first tornado warning, but spring is almost here. Trees are still leafless, but daffodils and small bulbs are in full bloom. I visited the botanical garden yesterday and found the pink okame cherry in bloom. The white yoshino cherry is lagging about a week behind. (The very double kwanzan cherry, I am not happy to note, has been cut down.) There are more Botanica pictures beneath the fold.