Flower Power!

Sing with me, to the tune of "Going to the Chapel, and we're gonna get married..."

Only switch it to "Going to the Temple and I'm gonna get dirty..."

It is bleak and rainy here today.  Thankfully I prepared ahead of time for just such a day: I saved a cheery group of flowers pictures to post later when my climatic world needed a boost. 

After all the fun I had a Red Butte Garden on April 1st, I had to check out Temple Square's garden on the next day.
The garden was getting there...flower wise. I happen to know the end of April is prime Temple Square Garden viewing time.
But as it was, I still I was down on the ground taking pictures of what was in bloom, clicking pictures of the flowers and breathing in their amazing fragrance.

Pink, white, blue, purple..all the possible colors were blooming nicely.

Even the buds looked beautiful in the (very) warm sunshine.

A couple of daffodils were up and open.

But really, it was all about the hyacinths at first.

I hadn't realized before that their pollen matched their petal colors!

The white and yellow combo daffodils were reigning in the daffodil blossom selection.

Twirly daffodils...
I do love their ruffles.

Temple Square has lots of really pretty fountains; I wanted to try the camera setting where the flowing water would look like a white blur, but just didn't remember how to do that.
I settled for crisp instead.

The flowering trees were just budding.  I had to stand on a raised wall and wait for the breeze to settle to get this shot.
The bud was smaller than the tip of my baby finger and I kept wanting to lean in closer to the bud...and also realized that I could easily take a tumble if I wasn't mindful of where I was.
It would be nice to have someone to hold on to the back of my shirt in these situations.

I think that was one of my most favorite shots that day. 

Some heather was in bloom; I have a friend who yearns to see Scotland with heather upon the hillsides, and a few other friends who have gotten to see that Celtic pink equivalent to Texas bluebonnet.

Each tiny blossom is about the size of an apple seed by the way.

The color gradation on the Hyacinth blew me away.
I took a lot of shots trying to capture that turquoise to lavender gradual shade shift.

It is always nice when a flower is growing in a raised bed like this daffodil; I don't need to get flat on the ground to get an upshot like this shot.

But I still needed to get "down and dirty" for this tulip.
Totally worth it!
The clothes I was wearing were all washable!

These little flowers were smaller than a penny and I used to call them English daisies.  They frequently are found growing in lawns but the Temple Square gardeners included them in the planting design of the tulip and daffodil beds.

Getting pansies back lit is starting to fascinate me...

Check me out!
Yes, that really is ME in this picture, standing in front of the fountain.

Here's another shot of me...

Goofy fun being able to take a picture of one's self taking a picture.

(A special thank you goes out to whomever keeps the Temple Square windows so immaculately clean that they make such pictures possible.)

Don't you think tulip petals are sensual?
I mean more so than rose petals or daffodils and such?
There is just something so silky and skin like with tulips.

Even the way the stem joins with the petals is smooth and elegant.

Heart's Ease...Jump up and Kiss me....Johnny Jump up.
Just the tiniest bit of garden cuteness.

Sniping a shot...
Love that peachy pink!

The stripes up close...the pale margins of the petals....

Then these tiny blue stars, some solid blue and others had white centers that changed to blue further along on the petals.

The brown tissue paper daffodil hoods, now cast off but still adding interest to the buds.

I went ga-ga over this tulips, for both the glowing colors and the twisty stamen inside.
If I could shrink down to a quarter inch size, I would be wandering around in this tulip for hours.

(I actually did visually wander around in the tulip visually through my camera for a pretty long time.  I even misted it with a bit of water, and a woman quickly galloped up to me to ask what I had just sprayed on the flower.  I guess I am glad there are people who keep an eye out for possible flower terrorists...God bless the watchful citizen!)

Occasionally I am in the right place at the right time, like this time where the sun was in the perfect place to back light the fountain when it went off, and also made silhouettes of the Temple and Office Building.

I do happen to know what Temple Square garden will be like in a couple of weeks:  Tulips every where, rare and unusual tulips and fascinating color combinations. Last year I think I took 300 pictures of the tulips in one visit...these lovely tulips are merely the first wave in the tulip extravaganza.

Solid reds...

or a swirl of colors...

Each tulip lights up joy in my soul.

Tree's bark glows...

These sweet charmers filled out the flower beds in drifts.

Each penny sized flower was so cheerful!

Some were deep blue, others baby blue, some had white centers and others not.
I suppose each color variation is a distinct variety....and would be fun to collect such bulbs for my own garden.

I was shooting a lot with my little macro lens to get soft effects, then switching to my camera macro setting to get crisper pictures.
Soft focus daffodils are so dreamy....

Tulip pollen in abundance!  I know tulip breeders play use tiny brushes to gather and transfer pollen in hopes of creating a new tulip variety.  What patience they must have to wait to see what flowers in the following years.

I shot a lot of these flowers around a LDS gentleman who was seated and chatting with several young "elders" about what they had been up to.  They didn't seem to mind me, and I enjoyed eavesdropping on their talk.   All of us were smiling...how could we not in such a beautiful environment?

The tulips...oh my goodness!  Each was a work of art!

The twisty stamens!

Single blood like drops on each petal.
A folk tale inspiration flower if I ever saw one.

My second favorite shot of the day.

Don't you love all the colors in this puffy flower?

I'll surely go back to Temple Square on another day when it is sunny and even more flowers are in bloom.
Meanwhile the rain continues.
It was nice to escape from it for a while via electronic time travel back to a more suitable flower viewing day.