Posts Tagged ‘flowers’

Flowers, a sign of spring.  No real flowers outside yet and probably not for quite a while!
Instead we’ll have to settle for European pottery florals from the Gardiner Museum today.

below:  Ewer and basin, Sèvres France, 1757,  porcelain, attributed to Jean-Claude Duplessis.  Pink ground with foilage-like edges.

1757 Sevres ewer (water jug) and basin in pink and white with a tiny bit of blue, floral patterns

below: Purple flowered mullein plate, from Derby botanicals, pattern 216, England, c1800.

yellow rimmed plates with pictures of flowering plants in the center

Yesterday Toronto got a brief respite from the frigid temperatures that we’ve been experiencing.   Instead, more snow fell.   I think that most of us are getting tired of this thing called winter, including me.  So, here are a few photos from inside the conservatory at Allan Gardens to brighten your day.

fan shaped arrangement of fern fronds in green and red, Allan Gardens conservatory

reddish coloured new growth on a green plant

close up shot of a dark pink and white tulip in bloom

close up macro photo of a bud on the end of a thorny stem

close up macro photograph of the center of a red poinsettia showing the stamens and other parts

three yellow daffodils

cedar branch in focus in the foregound with a bed of pink and yellow flowers out of focus and blurry in the background

A succulent plant with wide narrow leaves, view from the top, looking down at the top edges of the leaves
close up of the inside of a dark pink hibiscus flower with focus on the stamens.

On a fence at Adam Beck Junior Public school in Scarborough is a wonderful “mural” composed of pictures painted by some of the students.  Kudos to all involved in the project!

a large number of colourful paintings by students at a junior public school.  Some are scenes of Toronto, others are of animals or plants or buildings.

A “Danger due to construction” sign, the CN Tower and a Toronto police car.
Ladybugs, flowers and trees.
On the very right is a picture that looks like a sunset or sunrise.  What you probably can’t read are the words written on the blue stripe.  They say, “the story of my life”.

Close up of the fence at a school.  About twenty paintings done by the students.

 Buses, soccer balls and a hat left on the fence.
Another CN Tower, an arena, and ice cream.
Stop bullying too.

close up of the left part of the fence with paintings by students at the school.

A Canadian flag and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

more of the collection of paintings by elementary school students that are hanging on a fence around the school.

Yesterday I came across some interesting colourful garage doors on Scarfo Lane that I have not seen before.   I didn’t see any signature on them so I don’t know who painted them.

Walking south from Herrick Street…..

a blue animal like creature is carrying a stick over his shoulder.  three wood bir houses are at the back of the stick.  A blue bird is sitting in front on the stick, and looking at the creature.

street art mural on an alley garage door.  A red deer is seated in what looks like a computer lab, or factory.

street art mural on a double garage.  yellow background.  three floating logs with birds sitting on them are being pulled by a creature with a pink and purple head as well as a blue body.

street art on a garage door - paisley shapes in blues and purples
 

and then walking north from Herrick St…..

an alley with garages on both sides, also tall trees that have lost their leaves, small piles of dead leaves along the sides of the alley.

Looking north from Herrick St.

graffiti of a black and white dog's face on a metal garage

looking down an alley with old garages on either side.  A tree with orange and red leaves is in the picture too.

Fall colours in a lane near Queen West and Bathurst.

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Two sunflowers on a sunflower plant with big green leaves.  The sun is shining from above so the leaves look translucent.

sunny sunflowers

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Leaves in reds and purples are hanging in front of a red garage door - close up shot

autumn vine in front of a garage door

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Trees with autumn foliage in a cemetery with lots of light grey  tombstones

A quiet corner of Mount Hope Cemetery in the late afternoon.

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A bicycle is leaning against a wood fence and a green wall.

parked in the alley

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close up of a few leaves and the shadows that they make on a orangish wood wall.

shadows and grain

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A front yard has autumn decorations - straw men in funny hats and patchwork clothes.

straw men in the garden

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A storefront, Bobs Garden Centre, with four rows of large potted plants, colurful flowers, for sale.

Bobs Garden Centre with pots of colourful autumn mums for sale
Their blog.

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There are two tall locust trees with small yellow leaves.  Some of the leaves have already fallen and they are on the ground, and on the cars parked in the driveway.

Raining little yellow leaves in Scarborough

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fall coloured leaves at night, light is from a streetlight.

leaves under the streetlights

I ventured out to Etobicoke because I heard that Centennial Park had a conservatory and I was curious about what was there. Taking photos of flowers and plants is not my forte but it was an interesting place to experiment with colour, texture and composition. I do not know the names of most of the plants that I saw there, and very few were labelled. There were geraniums, anthuriums (red & white), bougainvillea, bamboo, lots of different cacti and succulents, to name a few.  The photos below represent only a sample of what was growing there today. 

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pink bouganvillea
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a greenhouse room full of different kinds of cacti
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red geraniums

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green and white jagged edged leaves.

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Spring in the City

Hopeful signs of a new season that I have spotted this week.

A large garden full of orange tulips.  In the background is the grass and trees of St. james Park.  There is a couple sitting on a bench on the far side of the tulip bed.

orange tulips galore in St. James Park

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Tulips and other spring plants starting to grow in front of a wall that has been painted with graffiti

signs of spring in front of the wall

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Flowering white tree in front of the entrance of Metropolitan United Church

Even spring can look grey if you look at it from the right angle.  Metropolitan United church.

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flower boxes with dark pink petunias.

pretty in pink, and purple…. boxes of flowers along the fence, Davenport Road

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many yellow and white daffodils are growing in front of a picket fence.  There are a number of trees with new leaves behind the fence.

daffodils and picket fence, Riverdale Farm

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A row of orange tulips growing in front of St. James cathedral.  Close up of the building so only part of one wall, with lower corner of a window, can be seen.

growing in the shadow of St. James cathedral

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A tree with pink blossoms is growing in front of brick row houses, one red brick and one that has been painted light grey.

pink on brick, near Kensington

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Ivy begins to grow again on a wall that has been painted with beige, blue and orange graffiti.   Close up picture of the graffiti so it looks like an abstract shape

almost smiling at the ivy growing on the alley wall

 

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