flowers
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Checklist
Snowdrops: Check! Crocuses: Check! Witchhazel: Check! And half-a-dozen or so Red-winged Blackbirds, bringing the area around the Terrace Bridge to sudden, raucous life with their insistent “I am now here!” vocalizations: Check! It was interesting to observe these birds, all males. Two at the feeders presented variations in plumage, with one bird sill having some…
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Tulipmania
These photos were taken last April 16th in the gardens along the Brooklyn Promenade. I’ve been hoarding them since for a heart-of-winter day, like today. Enjoy.
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Confused Tulips
More likely a confused blogger. I am informed by a sharp-eyed reader that these are autumn crocuses, Colchicum speciosum, not tulips (their stalks were distinctly pallid, making me think they were ailing tulips). At the very southern end of the Promenade right now. With two species of ants exploring their tender hearts.
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Re-blooming
A resurgent Magnolia bloom, as sweet smelling and disconcerting as early spring. Yesterday afternoon, Atlantic Avenue entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park.
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Form
The forms of nature are virtually infinite. These buds will soon resolve themselves into the saucer-sized flowers of Rose Mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos).And inside one of the blossoms already opened.
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Short-horned Long-horn
Genus Melissodes, a long-horned bee. The females don’t have the really long horns (actually they are antennae). Note the hairy legs thick with pollen.A solitary bee. There are more than a dozen species in New York. Sunflowers are one of their main food sources.
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Brooklyn Bridge Park
The cattails (Typha angustifolia) are as high as an elephant’s eye. In fact, one of the gardeners was actively clearing some of these out, saying they were growing outwards and the goldenrod was growing inwards, and without care there would not be any pond after too long. Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), my favorite milkweed family…
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Cactus Flower
I usually see the Prickly Pear cactus (Opuntia humifusa) out at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge about this time of year, but I haven’t been on the A train in a while. I heard recently that a patch was discovered in Upper Manhattan, which is at the other end of the A train. This flowering specimen,…
Backyard and Beyond 