Ilkeston - The Colour
Of Spring
w/e 10 April
2005
All
this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490
Falling temperatures, a bitterly
cold north wind and even snow flurries towards the end of the
week reminded us that winter has not yet had its final say but
hopefully the milder conditions forecast for the coming few days
herald the start of spring proper. I did manage however during
one of the more amenable spells last week to spend a little time
in Victoria Park. It was even warm enough to sit awhile upon
this bench (below) and, before you ask, it was that shape before
I sat on it!
From the bench I had this panoramic
view of the park with a host of those famous daffodils cascading
down the slope from the bandstand to form a partial backdrop
to the formal flower beds directly in front.
The flowers cut a colourful swathe through the green of the grass
and while the temperatures may still be hanging on to their wintry
values, the colours are most definitely of spring. I decided
to take a closer look.
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First of all I directed my attention to the formal beds where
pansies in a multitude of colours were interspersed by hyacinths
of a delicate peach shade.
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Overnight rain had splashed earth on to the underside of the
leaves of these tiny blue flowers that nestled beneath some of
the trees in the park. I am no horticultural expert but I believe
these are called Spring Squill.
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all the colours in the park were planted in the ground and among
all the hues and shades I "spotted" one of our canine
friends in good old black and white. There were in fact three
of these dogs but one of them was rather over friendly and left
an impression of his nose on the lens of my camera (see right)
which I did not see until later. The above image therefore has
been heavily cropped.
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Blossom on the trees too added to the colourful display and although
there are some green leaves in the background this one is mainly
pink.
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Not to be outdone by the flowers, dogs and trees, the shrubs
were also putting on a good display, this forsythia being among
the leading contenders.
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And finally another shrub. This bushy plant has tiny holly-like
leaves less than 1" (2.5cm) long and at first glance, what
look like orange berries. Closer inspection however revealed
that they were not in fact berries but small flowers. A couple
of them can be seen opening up in the centre of this picture.
I thought that the shrub could be a berberis and a number of
people have now written to confirm that this is so. My thanks
to them.
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