Wednesday, May 05, 2010

May Flowers

This post is part of Roxana Villa's May Flower blog project. Visit her Illuminated Blog for a full list of participants and links to their articles.

I'm going to take you for a little walk in the gardens I frequent in the West End. Summer arrived here early, after a very long spring that began sometime in December. Spring and summer flowers are blooming in succession as well as simultaneously. These photos were actually all taken on April 24th. Vancouver is one big flower party these days!


Cherry Blossoms, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

Cherry blossoms, certainly the symbol of spring, or even early spring if you wish. They are still decorating the city by the hundreds, refusing to leave the party. They want to observe the summer flowers too!


Lily of the Valley, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

Lilies of the valley are rather rare in these parts, and this is the very first time that I've seen them in such abundance. With their tiny bells they announcer of summer, just like snowdrops announce the end of winter. They remind me of hidden gardens and all things bright and green.


Bleeding Hearts, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

Wild bleeding hearts are perhaps not as impressive as the cultivated and more defined variety, but they are such a romantic reminder of love gone wrong. I imagine their scent to be green and poisonous, although in reality they have very little to offer in the world of scents.


Chocolate Lily, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

Chocolate lilies are an alpine surprise that is always a little funny to find, with their queer checkered petals shaped like chocolate Easter eggs...


Coral Rhododendron, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

These rhododendrons smelled exotic and tropical, like a giant indolic lily. The yellow rhododendrons in my building's garden are already in full bloom and greet you at the door with a hit of lily-scented cloud...


White Magnolia, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

Star of the show, this dwarf white magnolia is such a beauty, even if not as fragrant and gigantic as the others that were blooming earlier this spring.


Pink Rhododendron, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

This big pink rhododendron was a surprise to me, because the large bell-shaped ones tend to be nearly odourless. This was a complete perfume, and smelled like a dewy orchid. It was simultaneously sappy, resinous and a little pine-like and soapy.


Gardenia, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

Even my gardenia plant, which always refuses to open its buds, has opened several flowers that were tightly sealing their fragrant secret written on white petals and coiled in a green capsule that only summer knows its access code.

We already have lilacs and peonies blooming, as well as elder flowers. I wonder: what will be left for summer?

Labels:

7 Comments:

At May 06, 2010 10:50 PM, Blogger Flora said...

Gorgeous images, what a lovely walk in the garden, thank you!

 
At May 08, 2010 8:05 AM, Anonymous Laurie Stern said...

Hi Ayala,

Thank you for your beautiful photos and writing of some of my favorite flowers of spring! The coral rhodies , fritallaria, and bleeding hearts, oh my! Very rich!

XOXO~Laurie

 
At May 09, 2010 4:47 PM, Blogger ScentScelf said...

Oh, fritillaria...bending checkerboard happiness. Thanks for the lovely photo tour.

 
At May 09, 2010 8:32 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Beautiful flowers! Wish we could grow lily of the valley here but we don't have enough winter chill. I love bleeding heart! Love your photos. :)

--Laurie

 
At May 09, 2010 9:30 PM, Blogger Ayala Moriel said...

Flora,
I'm glad you enjoyed the walk!

Laurie,
Glad you like my photos. These are some luscious flowers we got all at once...

ScentScelf,
Chocolate Lilies are so rare to come by, even if they don't look at their prime they bring a smile to my face.

Gardengirl,
I think lily of the valley requires a certain type of soil too (very acidic if I recall correctly?). Thankfully, Vancouver has excellent gardeners. Because I'm not, and I can still enjoy these gorgeous plants around me!

 
At May 11, 2010 7:47 AM, Blogger Dennice {Fringe} said...

Simply stunning photos. I can almost smell those gorgeous posies....Thank you for your wonderful post which was beautifully written!

xo
Dennice

 
At May 21, 2010 11:25 PM, Blogger Archiedixon said...

Above all white magnolia is the best one. I have searched on the web and I seen lots of flowers like Vancouver flowers they are also so beautiful like that.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home