Friday, April 20, 2012

It's Tulip Time!

My life has been colorful lately, which has given me so much photo blog material that I have too much!


I never did get to Part III of Lakewold Gardens.  It's still on the list.  Then there were birthdays and little league and, and ......... No, I'm not complaining!  It has been wonderful.


This week, on Wednesday, we traveled north to the Skagit Valley again for the tulip festival.  Located in this valley are the largest bulb farms in the country, and in April it's show time!


You know what they say about April showers, except it's April flowers too, around here. The weather was iffy, the sky dramatic, but the showers were light and manageable.


Here is our first view of what was to come. 
And then right away we pulled into a parking area to view fields of flowers from the famous RoozenGaarde farm.
 Diversity is beautiful.



 Across the highway is my favorite barn, this year surrounded by fading daffodils.
And right next door, so of course we had to stop and shop, is Christianson's Nursery, a favorite of ours.
 Tom found the fancy leaf geranium he was looking for.
 There are several large display gardens in the valley, and then there are drive-by fields.  Here are two drive-bys.

 The display garden at RoozenGaarde is amazing, and this year the tulip fields, which are rotated each year, were right there!
Meeghan Black of Seattle's NBC affiliate was taping her Northwest Magazine show.  So that's how they stand in the rain without getting wet.





It's about here that I began to have a very hard time selecting which photos to post.  I went camera crazy, so I had to reduce my show to about ten percent of what I took.  There will be a Part II tomorrow.
 The orangey Princess Irene tulips are just coming on.  We have some in our garden too, of course.










 Ribbons of display blooms, a rainbow of fields behind, topped by snow capped mountains.











We had lunch here under a tent, browsed the gift shop, and then reluctantly departed, but not far.  Next up, Tulip Town.

14 comments:

  1. Just beautiful. I'd love to see these tulips in person some time.

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  2. Oh Linda, this is too much for the eyes to behold in one day. Wow. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's photos.

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  3. Gorgeous captures, Linda! I'll be going to the Tulip Festival next week and I am really looking forward to it! The flowers are so incredibly beautiful! Love the variety and the colors! Have a great weekend!

    Sylvia

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  4. Beautiful - flowers and photos! Need to get up that way.

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  5. Linda, this place is just spectacular. You did an awesome job of capturing all the colors, contrasts, and settings. I loved it.

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  6. Sigh. My pictures now seem so... ordinary, after yours. Just beautiful! I love the header, especially. :-)

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  7. Stunning pictures! We will be home next week and were hoping the tulips would still be in bloom.

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  8. Oh Wow! I think I need to put this on my bucket list! Your pictures are wonderful, thank you.

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  9. Wow Linda! What a magnificent selection of tulip photos. And different varieties of tulips too. The purple of the hyacinths set them off nicely. Thanks for the cheerfulness of colour - Dave

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  10. DJan sent me over! Boy am I ever glad I came..your tulip photos are awesome. So very pretty. My favorite is looking down the pink rows! However I enjoyed them all..thank you! :)

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  11. so much variety, I love the multi color tulips!

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  12. I really have to get back to work, but I couldn't resist scrolling down. This is beyond belief! It's all so incredibly beautiful. I'll have to bring my mom upstairs to see these photos.

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  13. Just flat out powerfully moving. Thank you so much.

    Reading on.....

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