Dogwoods at Dawn

Sunrise 200 mm 1/40 sec f/5.6 ISO 2200

When strangers want to commiserate with you about the weather, you know the weather is being a problem. Between a mid-spring flu that was an insult to my proud immune system, and the delayed warmth of a true spring, the last month or so was just plain irritating. Spring took a wrong turn this year, and had trouble finding its way back. April days, which are usually pretty dependable for blooming flowers and those first days of sustained warm sunshine, often failed miserably with their chilly efforts. With frost and freeze warnings lingering into the first week of May, maybe it was just as well that a sore throat and weary, aching muscles sent me to bed to recover. The gardens would just have to lie there for awhile longer and be content with being sparsely populated. Sure, up came the daffodils and the tulips and the hyacinths, but the annuals and herbs and whatever perennials were needed to fill in bare areas in the garden continued to wait until the chance of frost was no more and my health was fully restored.

Late afternoon 200 mm 1/400 sec f/5.6 ISO 140

Sunset 200 mm 1/100 sec f/5.6 ISO 400

Depending on where one was in Virginia in April, the flowering trees were a hit and miss affair. I've been spoiled through the years with the trees on my two-acres; they have consistently bloomed from mid-March to, at the latest, mid-April. This year it took as long as the first weekend in May for my dogwoods and red buds to pull it together and behave in a springlike fashion. Fortunately, a perfect excuse to roam the countryside in search of springtime trees presented itself. Chris and Michael, old friends, friends who are family, arrived for a long weekend and long drives to see my part of the country. Like no time had passed, Chris and I talked non-stop and took an endless amount of photos. I tried to convert her to the joys of crawling through the flowers to shoot in the rain and against the sunset, and with the bees and the butterflies pollinating to their heart's content. She is more about landscapes and reflections and sunsets over the water, and she captures these things beautifully. We went from the southwest corner of Virginia over to Williamsburg and Jamestown, and up to Thomas Jefferson's home of Monticello. We ended with the beautiful solemnity of Arlington National Cemetery. With a range of travel as broad as that, I found, despite Mother Nature being stubborn up for some unnecessary reason, a nice amount of trees that knew it was their time to flower. So this post is simply dedicated to the gorgeous blossoms on Virginia's springtime trees. The red bud with its busy bumble bee. The white dogwood against a reddish dawn, a soft orange sunset, and with the soft light of late-afternoon. There was a gorgeous almond tree blooming on the grounds at Monticello all soft, dainty pink with small carnation-like flowers. I found a lone cherry tree near Blacksburg that was barely beginning to flower. Finally, there were the magnolia trees gracing the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. The showy, deep-pink flowers were a beautiful backdrop against the blue sky and the unseasonably chilly day.

200 mm 1/320 sec f/5.6 ISO 100

200 mm 1/800 sec f/5.6 ISO 140

200 mm 1/160 sec f/5.6 ISO 400

200 mm 1/500 sec f/5.6 ISO 200

The last remaining petals on my dogwood trees are blowing about the yard today as an impending thunderstorm is rushing in. A few more days and the trees will be fully green. It's an intoxicating green that says summer is quickly coming, and it will now be the garden's responsibility to provide the pinks and reds and purples in the summer landscape. My early morning pal, the wee Carolina Wren, flits about the porch with exuberant glee; occasionally he chirps excitedly on the porch in the early evening as well. As twilight approaches, he grows quieter as the lights in my backyard flicker on and I listen to the last of the day's birdsong. Frosts and freezes are a long way off, and all of nature knows this and fully appreciates mid-spring in all its glory.