Tulips in the Wind

Before New York was New York, it was New Netherlands. The Dutch established New Amsterdam, the provincial capital, at the southern tip of Manhattan in 1624. New Amsterdam gave way to New York when the English took it over in 1664, not long after "tulip mania" had arrived and then collapsed in the Netherlands.

Red and yellow tulip, Green-Wood Cemetery, May 5, 2022

Yellow tulips near the Boathouse, Central Park

Purple tulip, Green-Wood Cemetery

All this history came to mind this spring when I photographed and filmed the glorious tulips in Central Park, on Cross Bay Boulevard, and in Green-Wood Cemetery in New York City in April and May. The first day I began to videotape the tulips in Shakespeare Garden in Central Park, the wind was blowing the tulips in magical ways. The gardeners this year created beds of multicolored hybrids, which I documented in a video, “Tulips in the Wind.” The music, by Chopin, is exquisitely performed by Olga Gurevich (obtained from MusOpen.org, a royalty-free music source).

I took hundreds of photos of the tulips, and I offer them here. They were taken April 16 through May 12. There were times looking at these photos that I thought I was experiencing my own tulip mania, and I imagined I was at Keukenhof.

The photos in the groupings below were included in the video.

April Showers, April Flowers

New York is blooming these days. I went to Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Friday, and will soon post a video and lots of purty cherry blossoms from that visit. Saturday was a rainy day, so I spent a brief time in Central Park, part of the day watching a visiting wild turkey, and part of the day at Shakespeare Garden looking at the tulips, daffodils and other blooms.

Tulip, Shakespeare Garden, Central Park, April 22, 2017

The short Contemplate This! video does not include all of the gorgeous petals I saw on Saturday, but has quite a few of them, all set to Antonio Vivaldi's Spring (3rd movement), from the Four Seasons, performed by John Harrison and obtained from MusOpen.org, a royalty-free music source.

Despite the rain and dark lighting, I did manage to take some photos I really like.

Pink dogwood, Shakespeare Garden, April 22, 2017

Fritillaria, Shakespeare Garden, April 22, 2017

I didn't make it to the March for Science on April 22 — a cause I really believe in — no excuse, really, except that I was tired from a long day Friday in Brooklyn and a long night at the Metropolitan Opera for Der Rosenkavalier. I stood for the first two acts, and felt both hours of it in my back and legs, but a lovely woman gave me a seat for the last act, and I was so grateful. It was wonderful to hear and see Renée Fleming in the opera again (I saw her in the Strauss opera in Paris years ago). She owns the role.

I have put up a video showing the Tompkins Square red-tailed hawks and Pale Male and Octavia, the Fifth Avenue hawks. I will post here soon, too. A lot of editing to do, and a lot of pictures to take. Who thought retirement would wear me out so much!