Well, it's now Memorial Day Weekend!

And here I am!

Yesterday I went to Genesee Country Village and Museum with someone who'd not been there before!  It was blistering hot and I went through my water bottle faster than anyone SHOULD go through that much water.  BUT it was a great day and completely unlike this time last year.

I am going to post pictures of flowers for the most part.  I'm not a good enough photographer that they're going to be wonderful, but oh goodness, the poppies!   And the heirloom peonies!  And the foxglove!  Not to mention...

Okay - I'll be semi-quiet now...Stop it!  I CAN be semi quiet!  Sort of.  If gagged.

This is the blossom of the tulip tree.  No, it's not a tree full of tulips, but the blossoms DO look very much like a standard tulip.  To my surprise (mostly because I usually arrive at the museum after the last of the tulip trees is just about done blossoming) there are several of these trees on site!

Here is a shot of the tree - can you spot the individual blossoms?  I tried hard to get back light enough so they looked as illuminated as they did in real time, but the tree is quite high and I didn't have an extension ladder to get closer.

The tree's formal name is the Liriodendron, and they are related to magnolias.  But Tulip Tree is kind of a neat name and fits...sooo...

There were several spikes of foxglove in the formal garden at the Livingston-Backus house.  The colors were lovely, and I thought this one was the most striking of the group.  The flowers almost looked artificial, they were so perfect.

These are double peonies and very lovely.

I've put in several pictures of the heirloom peonies that can be found in the garden in front of the gazebo behind the Octagon House...There were banks of them and many were just ready to bloom.  It was a really spectacular sight!

The biggest show offs were the poppies.  And I don't mean maybe - I just wish I could have captured them better...!

This is the blossom of a horse chestnut.  The center of each little bunch of flowers is pink and quite festive!.  Remember, however, that horse chestnuts are not edible, unlike their non-horsy cousins...

Iris aplenty...

More forget me nots than there had been two weeks ago, and there were bunches then!

And the tiny flowers that can appear underfoot when one isn't looking!

There were even flowering things in the vegetable garden - these are, possibly, the blossom of the chive although I could be way off in left field on that one!

That rarity, a shy peony!  It was, I have a feeling, somewhat overwhelmed by its bright orange cousins next door!

And there you have some colorful creaturse that defied the heat, the wind,and the presence of any number of school children visiting the Museum for the day.  There were many more, but I don't think my pictures did them justice, so these are what I decided to post today!

Next time?  A Japanese meditation garden in Gateshead, England!  

Hugs to you all!  Have a most excellent day!

I didn't post yesterday BUT

here I am today.  Actually, I'm old fashioned.  When the lightning started whizzing too close to me last night, I decided to back the heck out of Dodge and post today.

As requested by the various trees and bushes of Highland Park, I'll keep comments to a minimum (stop laughing - I can TOO keep comments to a minimum!) and put pictures up.

I was going to divided everything by type of picture (plant, tree, landscape-y stuff) but that's not me...soooooo

Here we go.

Remember where I was on 4/17 .  Now, across Reservoir Drive from there is another part of the park.  Lamberton Conservatory is behing me in this picture, and I'm looking at TREES!  LOTS of trees!

They look like "trees". But virtually all of them are of different species (Highland being an Arboretum and all).  This one is a Northern Red Oak.  How do I know?  I'm glad you asked.

Most of the plants have tags of some kind.  So if I'm saying something is a "such and such" it's not because of my tremendous knowledge (I know that's depressing...but....  :)

This mammoth beastie is a Hackberry tree.

To give you an idea of the height of these things, I decided to do a straight up shot.

Tree bark is incredibly varied and interesting (remember as you roll your eyes that I love rocks as well)

However, lest I make you insane with too many trees in a row, I'm switching for a few minutes to May 2.  These are rhododendrons (rhodies).  The day was grey for the most part, so the colors seem a bit flat...but I decided to take 'em anyway.

Flowers for the next few pictures:

Azaleas as well!

And rhodies.   I've just posted 'em any whichway so your minds can stay nimble while you try to figure out which is which!

This is a dogwood...(picture above)

A white lilac, variety Mildred Wilmont (my spelling is questionable...)

Just a pretty view.  The little burst of pink added some interest...gods, I sound like an interior designer.   No WAY!  

A regular gang of azaleas!  I had to squint  - the color was too bright!

This is another paperbark maple.  And friends.  Rhodie in front, cherry to the rear...

This little rhodie is only about two feet tall - talk about a lot of bang for the buck!

The sun was in an out - this is it being a little out on the azaleas!  MOST excellent!

Well, between Photobucket dieing every three minutes and now blogspot having a coronary, I'm going to post one last picture for today and try again either later tonight or tomorrow.  Thank heavens for "draft" functions, you know?

This is  a look down that little walkway that starts in Azaleas and walks out into Lilacs and others that are well up on the flank of the moraine (hill left by a retreating glacier).

I hope you've liked the pictures (and the fact that I didn't talk too much!   Yeah, the sound you hear is the trees, bushes, flowers and individual boulders clapping in relief!).  Have a great day!

Highland Park, Rochester, NY Today (April 17, 2012)

And here I am!  Yeah, stop laughing hysterically - I know you think this is an illusion, but it isn't.  It's me - or, more correctly, it's I.  Here and in the e-flesh.

Today I went wandering back to Highland Park, where I last went in November (see last real post) and took pictures of beautiful trees. 

Highland Park is 150 acres large and the area I saw last fall is one corner of it.  Today I went to part of the park that has 500 (correction from yesterday - mea culpa!) different varieties of lilacs, not to mention hundreds of other trees, plantings of all sorts of flowers and shrubs - it's a beautiful place!

Our spring has been rather odd - and between unusual warmth and more seasonally cold weather, the flowering plants have been somewhat...er...confused.  I was afraid I wouldn't find much blooming and I'm happy to say that I was DEAD WRONG!

For those of you who live in Rochester, I'm in the area right around the Reservoir (it's not the only reservoir for Rochester, of course, but it is one of them).

Here we go!!!!

Magnolias - They're actually all over the place in terms of blooming.  Some are all done, some have yet to come out, and some (poor things) were caught in that mind numbing cold we had after the very warm warmth.  Their blooms show the result...but most of the trees in the park seemed to have managed fairly well.

The first view is of several beds of Daffodils and narcissuses (narcissi?)

See them marching toward the back of the picture?  This is purposefully done planting that keeps the eye and the curiosity moving.

And, being a curiosity in my own right, I kept right on moving!

The tree is one of the magnolias...and the flowers looked pretty healthy, although a bit past their peak.

Here's a close up of the blooms:

 Each of the magnolias in the area is a different type, but I was remiss and didn't get all of the names (they were too pretty!  I got distracted!!!!)

This is yet another one and quite young.  It has blooms, but time will tell if it's going to be okay after the strange weather...

This magnolia is past its peak in terms of bloom, but the ground was all carpeted with the petals and really lovely in its own right!

I got a little closer and took a shot.  The colors are so beautiful and the blooms are such a bright punch of cheer...gotta love 'em!

You guessed it!  MORE!  I'll be quiet now....let the piccies do their own talking for a bit.

Oh, okay - can't be that quiet - all of the bloooming trees are magnolias, including the yellowish one in the front left....

I took a breather from all the blooming things and caught a shot of some branches (well, of a tree, naturally) on the hill up on my left.  And there are some flowers blooming underneath the tree's branches.  I just loved the branches from the get go..

Still looking up and left, past the previous picture -here are two maples - this is their spring color.  The leaves are delicate and just lovely.

This is a close up of the trunk and lower branches of a red paper bark maple, a tree I've never seen before, but it's gorgeous!  Their color is deep and rich and I don't know how well I caught it with the camera, but you have an idea at least.  I have another shot right below this paragraph.  Or I will have in a second...hang on...

It's a good thing to remember that Highland Park is really an Arboretum (a tree park) so you can see many different plants that you might not expect in most parks in this area. 

These are the spring colors of this maple - again, it'll be red all summer and then really have a go at color in the autumn!  And I get to watch and take pictures!  How cool is THAT?

Here we have another picture in the same general areas as the last couple.  There is a wonderful branch and some cool shadows.  The purple flowers are grape hyacinths.  The wrought iron fence encircles the reservoir - we are gradually climbing toward it.  Yay!

For anyone looking at this who's not from Rochester, a day like today, while grand, had lighting that varied all over the place - note the blue and the little white clouds?  By the time I left, the sky was grey and glowering a bit.  However, halfway home?  Clear as a bell and nice again!   Keeps us flexible,you know?

Here's a nice overview from the trail climbing to the reservoir.  I loved the way the flowers and trees and land painted such a beautiful picture (I'm not good with poetry.  I let the pictures do that...)

More pretty stuff on the flank of a hill...

This is a Nanking cherry tree (with most excellent branches and a root system that keeps it solidly in the sloping ground!

When I like a tree, I LIKE a tree - fortunately for you, I only took a couple of shots - this time.  Grins evilly...there's always the NEXT time!!!

This is a view down one of the hills - See the tiny little cherry tree (all its blooms are done for the spring) right in the middle there? 

And here is another picture that says volumes without my clumsy words to detract from it.

I'm not sure what these peach colored blossoms are, although I think they might be cherry blossoms...

In case you're tired of flowers and branches and such - here's some sky! 

I have magically transported us to the top of the hill where the reservoir is.  And here we have some pretty white flowers.  Snowball bushes, you ask?  (That's what I thought for about...oh...hmmm )

There were butterflies there like you wouldn't believe (see the one I actually got to sit still long enough for me to snap a shot of?).  That when I realized that these are not snowball bushes.

Here's one up close and personal.  Yup - the shape of the individual little teeny flowers gives it away.  'Member I said that there were over 250 different types of lilacs in Highland Park?  This is one of them!  The fragrance was most excellent, and I didn't sneeze even once! 

Two butterflies on this one!  What a nice variation from the more recognizable lilac bushes we see in yards so frequently. 

This spray of cherry blossoms is just beautiful.  In the background you can just make out a street light of the type that were used all over Rochester for years. 

I'm actually standing on the top step of some stone stairs that lead down the back of the reservoir hill.  Yep, there are all sorts of wonderful things in this Park.  All SORTS! 

They're pink and they're pretty, but I'm not sure whether they're rhodies (we have lots around here) or peonies...I'm terrible!  I can't be sure!  Well, I can be sure that I'm terrible, but I'm not sure about what these are!!!!  AAAAARGHHH!)

These, however, are going to be peonies (I think) in about 96 hours.  Must remember, must remember.  The park is free to everyone, so I have no qualms about going back and seeing if these have managed to bloom by the time I return...

Isn't this pretty?   Heh - I know...I have to find a synonym...pretty, wonderful...gorgeous...

Myrtle...Vinca, I mean.  Pretty ground cover (no mowing involved!)

Rhodies?  Peonies?  Help!  Pretty - that's all I can say!!!!

Fortunately for all of you?  I will not wax rhapsodic about the boulder here, even though it comes from an ancient sea bed...be quiet, Gayle  We are enjoying the pretty trees!  And the nice boulder.

I did find some lilacs that had begun to bloom - they're mostly on the one hill that goes down toward...hmmm..Highland Ave?  That steeper one with the excellent drainage and the good sun exposure...

But they are not anywhere near peaked ... still have some time to go...

I walked off the trail and over hill and dale a bit - the ground is softer than the trail and I wanted to take a look at the trees.  So here are some!!!

Cherry blossoms - they're just gorgeous...and I had fun trying to get up close enough to get some detail...

More detail (couldn't help it!!!!Honest!)

I felt like I was in the middle of a Longfellow poem, you know?

Then there are the double cherry blossoms!

Not to mention more of the small maple trees (and this one is pruned to be the shape it is, I 'm pretty sure...)

Watch under your feet, because there's always something to see here!

These lilacs are fairly out, although there are still many tight buds...

like these.  This will be one of those red-purple lilacs when it blooms.  Spectacular!!!!

And, for this walk through the park, I'll leave with a picture of two magnolias set about with splotches of those tiny blue flowers that are almost white...

I hope you've enjoyed!  Next time?  Who can tell?   If who CAN tell, Who'd best not!  Let's keep it a secret!

Have a good day, everyone!