A More Global View of the Tulips and Daffodils

While the color and translucence of the tulip petals is a limited seasonal burst of natures expression, the way the farmers grow them is even more impressing.

More Tulips

Some of the tulips are elegant and stately. Like Audrey Hepburn in one of her movies.

Tulips and a Daffodil

Funny how we often assign a color to an object when very little, if any, of it is actually that named color. For example, the white tulip above is many shades of yellow, a pinch of green, and perhaps a few other subtle colors tossed in on top of the little bit of while we see.

Tulips in Colors Galore

I often wonder, when I see so many colors of tulips, if this ability to be bred to nearly any color is not what the attraction to tulips is really all about. they don't last long. There is a limited range of soils and climates they can thrive in. You really need to be in the right place at the right time to enjoy them.

But when you are in that right place at the right time, there is a world of color to enjoy.

Even the white ones have a multitude of colors in them to delight the eye. This one below, with the red tulips and the green leaves in the background, is showing the shades of white to good effect.

 

Skagit Valley Tulips

No set of flower photos from the PNW would be complete with a few images of tulips. Today we start a series to really make this complete. It is tulip time in the Skagit Valley to our north and the Tulip Festival is in progress.

Along the Skagit River

We took a ride up to the Skagit valley to see if we could see any bald eagles. Short answer...no, we couldn't. But we did see some scenes that were worth a look. At Marblemount, the Skagit River takes a turn and this bridge crosses it. Underneath the bridge is a boat landing where I stood to take the shot.

Great Blue Heron

On the other side of the peninsula from the foggy beach is a much wider beach area and, as you may recall from the earlier visit, there are tide pools there with small creatures in them. But today, were were treated to a Great Blue Heron hunting for lunch.

...And Here's What the Beach Looks Like

When we arrived at Rosario Beach in late morning, we were treated to the arrival of a so-called marine layer. This layer of fog, trapped near the surface of the water came pouring in as we watched.

So, We Went to the Beach

We gathered our gumption and headed out to shore for a bit of sunshine. As you might surmise from the image above, sunshine here is not like yours. Yes, it is warm when the sun is shining on your back. At least it is on my black when I'm wearing my winter sweater. While Seth is all decked out for a real summer, Seamus is only about half way there with his long pants on.

Standing out by the tidal pools at Rosario Beach, Seamus is finding tiny crabs and fish to explore. It was a lot busier than the last time E and I came here on our own.

Flowers and a Larger Scale

Since about this time every year, Skagit Valley tulip growers host a festival, we thought we'd drive up and see if there were any to be found in the fields. We found very few compared to previous years. The field above is the only collection of tulips we could find.

Skagit Valley

A drive north again to the Skagit valley. You may recall that this is the place where, back in the spring, we saw endless fields of tulips. Now all that is gone and the fields are empty of such colorful things. What has replaced the tulips is fields of grass and Snow Geese. With Mount Baker in the background on this sunny day, it is a mighty inviting place. Unfortunately, I was too slow to catch this flock of hundreds in the air circling for their landing. But we got to see it as we drove towards the field and it was pretty darned amazing.

Tulip Town

Leaving Mt. Baker, I drove west to catch I-5. This took me to Bellingham and then I turn south on the expressway. A short way south of Bellingham, I saw a cloud bank in front of me as I drove, clearly rolling in from the west. It was a combination of fog and cloud and seemed to cover everything. Indeed it did. From that point onward, I was in clouds for the next 5 days until the sun finally came out.

But a stop along the way at a tulip farm called Tulip Town not far from Mt. Vernon (about midway between Bellingham and Everett) once again brought a bit of sunshine into the day.