crocus | Beautiful Flower Pictures Blog

Crocuses!!!!

by hankinslawrenceimages | Mar 1, 2017 | Iridaceae Family

In mid-February I spent a day at Longwood Gardens and was thrilled to see that the crocuses were blooming in the lawn near the DuPont house. I love seeing the first crocuses of the spring – for me it means winter is finally ending and that I’ll have more wonderful flowers to photograph in the near future.

I thought I’d share some of my crocus photos with you today.

Purple & White Crocuses © 2017 Patty Hankins

Marvelous March Morning at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens

by hankinslawrenceimages | Mar 16, 2016 | Amaryllidaceae Family, Iridaceae Family, Liliaceae Family, Orchidaceae Family, Papaveraceae Family, Wildflowers

Last week I spent a marvelous morning photographing at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond, Virginia. I don’t get to Lewis Ginter as often as I’d like to (something about all the traffic on I-95) but when I do – I always have a wonderful time. Spring flowers bloom at least a week earlier in Richmond than they do in DC – so a trip in early March means I get to see and photograph spring flowers a little earlier than I would if I just stayed at home.

Here are a few of my photos from Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens from last week

Cum Laude Daffodils

Bloodroot – sanguinaria canadensis

Purple Crocuses

Dwarf Irises

And in the conservatory I found a wonderful Leopard Prince Phalaeonopsis Orchid to photograph

Leopard Prince Phalaeonopsis Orchid © 2016 Patty Hankins

Now that spring seems to finally be arriving in the DC area – I’ll be out photographing locally more often. And I’ll admit – I’m ready to be out photographing on a more regular basis 🙂

Crocuses!!!!

by hankinslawrenceimages | Mar 25, 2014 | Flowers, Iridaceae Family

To me, nothing says Spring like photographing the first crocuses of the year. Most years – they bloom in the DC area before the first of spring. This year – I photographed the first crocuses of the year at a local garden on the first day of spring.

Here are a few crocus photos I”ve taken in recent years – hope you enjoy this little burst of spring.

Purple & White Crocuses © 2010 Patty Hankins

What flower signals to you that spring has arrived the way that crocuses do for me?

February Flowers at Brookside Gardens

by hankinslawrenceimages | Feb 6, 2012 | Flowers

We’ve had a very warm winter here in the DC area – and I’ve been seeing several of the trees in my neighborhood starting to bloom much earlier than usual. I also saw a few crocuses in a neighbor’s yard as I was out walking. So on February 1, I headed to Brookside Gardens to see if anything was in bloom yet. Usually at this time of year – there might be a few snowdrops in a sheltered location – and hints of other flowers to come. What I found – was a wonderful collection of early blooming flowers – and lots of people walking around the gardens with huge smiles on their faces!!!

I hope you enjoy seeing what I found at Brookside Gardens last week.

Giant Snowdrops – Galanthis elwesii

Winter Aconite – Eranthis hyematis

Some purple crocuses

And even a few daffodils!

I can’t wait to see what’s going to bloom next!

Spring at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, Virginia

by hankinslawrenceimages | Mar 27, 2010 | Flowers

Late last week I spent several wonderful hours photographing at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, Virginia. Green Spring Gardens is a wonderful public garden in Fairfax County. Located at 4603 Green Spring Road, the gardens are open year round with free admission. In addition to formal gardens, there is a wooded stream valley and a native plant gardens. The native plant gardens are one of my favorite parts of Green Spring Gardens to spend time in. Not only are there a great variety of native plants in the garden, but many have identification signs, which makes it much easier to figure out what I’ve photographed.

This was my first visit to Green Spring Gardens this year – and it was just a couple of days after I visited Brookside Gardens. There were significant differences between what was in bloom between the two gardens – a few warm days and a slightly difference climate make all the difference in the world.

The first set of flowers I photographed were a variety of reticulated irises called Natasha. They are a pale flower with blue stripes and a striking yellow patch.

I also found some wonderful daffodils to photograph.

And some pansies. I was happy to find some pansies in good shape to photograph – it’s been a tough winter and many of the pansies that wintered over aren’t looking very good.

The big surprise was discovering a rhodedendron already in bloom. The Korean Rhododendron (Rhododendron mucronulatum) is a early flowering rhododendron that adds a great splash of pink to a garden in the spring.

And finally – I found some crocuses to photograph! When I first arrived at Green Spring Gardens that morning, the crocuses weren’t open yet. After a couple of hours – they were absolutely wonderful. This patch of purple and white crocuses were my favorites.

It’s so nice to be photographing flowers outdoors again – while I love seeing them in conservatories in the winter – I’m really much happier photographing outdoors.

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