…the deep, ragged
edge
between solstice seasons, where
light
changes quickly, it carries us
forward
on cool, stuttering
breaths.
Photographs taken at Kruckeberg Botanic Gardens in Shoreline, Washington, just outside of Seattle. The garden is a small local treasure. Originally the home and garden of Art Kruckeberg and his family, this deeply shaded spot in a residential neighborhood is now a mature public garden. Dr. Kruckeberg taught Botany at the University of Washington, and with his wife Maureen, was active in local botanical groups. The couple collected plants that feel right at home in the Pacific Northwest, blending seamlessly with native species. Though set with exotic trees from Asia and other unusual specimens, the garden retains a natural woodland feel.
An early outgrowth of Kruckeberg Botanic Garden was the MsK Rare Plant Nursery, a rambling collection of cuttings, seedlings and plants that keeps the garden supplied continuously with new material and offers area enthusiasts locally grown natives and exotics. Set on a steep hillside, the four acre site’s winding paths slow you down and invite closer looks. Not a place for grand vistas, it is an intimate, quiet experience.
In the midst of a very busy week I was able to squeeze a restorative hour at the Kruckeberg into my schedule last week. Surrounded by green on all sides, I felt my shoulders drop as my breathing slowed and tension subsided – a welcome respite. Sun filtered down through immense trees, highlighting a patch of tiny cyclamens on the ground here, and budding branches above there. Only a few other visitors were around, and a gardener or two. Joy made a small clearing amidst the day’s worries.
bluebrightly 
Such a beautiful ode to springshine. My dearly departed hubby used to love the Trilliums. But they were all so sweet. The gardens sound like a great place to visit anytime to smooth out the rough edges.
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Yes, exactly. Trilliums were a favorite of mine growing up, in upstate New York, but they were already getting rare. I would see a few each year as a child, in the woods behind our house. As I got older, opportunities to see them were fewer and farther between. Now that I’m in the Pacific Northwest, I can appreciate them without thinking every one I see will be the very last. They are a regular sight in the woods, and such a beacon of joy.
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and I forgot to add, what a good way to remember someone – by the flowers they loved.
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I don’t remember seeing Trilliums when I lived back east, but then I was a city girl. It’s true. I think of dear hubby whenever I see them in the wild these days. Truly a beacon of joy announcing the onset of spring.
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Wow.. Great post. Really beautiful photos.
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Thanks – so glad you liked it. Thanks for commenting.
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Glad you were able to have this restorative hour and share it with us Lynn. Simply beautiful!
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Now I need more! 🙂
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Oh, oh! The maiden’s hair fern!!!
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Aren’t they totally enchanting? I love them, the wild ones and the cultivated. They’re planted a lot out here, and you see them regularly in the woods too, in the right places of course. Thanks for commenting.
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What a lovely respite and perfect words!
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Thanks Cathy – you can critique my writing any time! 🙂
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Wonderful set.
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Thank you – it felt good to be there. I know you love Spring, too.
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Will wait a few more weeks for anything close to budding here. Love the soft lime-green whatever it is … also miss looking for bokeh. Thanks for sharing your wonderful photos.
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I wonder if you mean the maidenhair fern? 6th photo? Because i did desaturate that one – the green was really intense and I liked it better this way. You’ll have it all soon!
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That may be the one, the lovely pale green. So soft and beautiful.
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Excellent impressions. Made me think about the word relief.
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Exactly! Totally. Thanks – always good to hear from you – I imagine your Spring is also very beautiful now.
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That sixth one (the maidenhair fern) is just enchanting!
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Funny! I desaturated it a bit because the green was so intense. I have a few more like it – I was going for a more abstract interpretation on those and I didn’t think it quite worked, but it was close. But now I guess it did work! Gotta do more!
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I love the early spring unfurling of the ferns! Beautiful details.
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Me too – just love it. And it’s good being in a place where I know I can travel vertically and see Spring backtrack a little, so it doesn’t all disappear too fast. Good to hear from you.
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Wow! Sensitive, soft and lovely pictures! You inspire me💚 Also a god text 😊 Have a nice day😊
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You have a nice one, too – we have lots of sun today, and the mountains in the distance are gorgeous. I have to get out now! Thanks!
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Thanks! Wish you a beautiful trip! And hope I will see some picture from it later😊☀️💛
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Beautiful words and pictures, my friend >>> especially like the 4th image down, its one of those pictures that the more I look at the more I see; and the image below that one, with the illuminated strands of spiders web, is gorgeous. A 🙂
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That’s interesting because I didn’t like the light in that photo so much – it’s an Epimedium, tiny flowers that grow very close to the ground, so I had to get on the ground and use the flip LCD, even then it was a stretch – literally. We get loads of spider webs here, and I’m pleased that now I have the camera and lens to photograph them decently. Sometimes they do add something, right? Other times, not so much!
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swoooooooooooooning
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🙂 Happy to send you to the floor!
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Sounds like you spent am idyllic hour, Lynn. Your photos and words are full of the joys of spring. 🙂
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Always my favorite season…my other favorite season is the dreaming-about-tropics-in-the-winter one! 😉
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Love the maidenhair fern image; beautiful.
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Thank you so much – I’m late in replying, but I appreciate your comment.
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So enjoying your beautiful spring shots Lyn, you seem to be way ahead in the spring blossom stakes!
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I SO love this time of year. It’s just been gorgeous here, too. And two weeks early! If only I could apply your slo-mo internet speed to the growth hormones happening out there…
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