Spring Tulip Festival 2016

Every April, the county where in live in Washington state celebrates the advent of spring with a Tulip Festival. It runs the entire month, but the flowers come up and bloom in their own time. This year they were on the early side, with the large fields in full bloom just before the official start of the festival on April 1.

By mid month, the flowers in the fields were topped (by hand).

My favorite tulip viewing garden is about a half hour’s drive away, and is hand planted every year with about a million bulbs. It’s an amazing sight to behold with the incredible variety of tulips and other spring bulbs. The different colors, sizes, petal shapes and configurations are mind-blowing. Most of these are not fragrant, but a very few are. I think the only tulips I don’t care for are the fringed petal ones. They just seem weird to me.

Because the area has become so very popular with the help of the internet and social media, traffic to see these flowers can be a bit of a nightmare. I chose a Monday later afternoon, when the crowds were thin, to indulge my love of photographing nature. Enjoy a handful of my favorite shots.

Please remember that these photos are copyrighted to me. If you’d like to use one, simply ask.

Do you have a favorite flower? Do you prefer selecting a flower based on how it looks, or its fragrance?