Tulip mania Singapore style

Hi and welcome! Singapore has its Kew Gardens called "Gardens by the Bay". At spring time every year it puts on a display of tulips from Holland. I went last weekend and here are some photos for you.

The grand view in the Flower Dome!

Which is more interesting, the tulips or the people looking at the tulips?

Read the information in the photo to find out the inspiration for the display

Classic, colourful clog

The greenhouse is impressive

Now, to the tulips

Hmmm, well maybe not!, but lovely splashes of colour.
Hyacinths are also common European spring flowers and are part of the Dutch experience. The Flower Dome was completely filled with their fragrance

Foxgloves instead

Who's complaining?

A rose among the........other flowers!

As red as red can be.....

All Dutch people live in houses like this, right?

Layers

Love these

Blue and white, a perfect combination

Tulip mania or tulipomania was a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices for bulbs of the recently introduced tulip reached extraordinarily high levels and then suddenly collapsed

At the peak of tulip mania, in March 1637, some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman!

It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble (or economic bubble)

Fiery!

The term "tulip mania" is now often used metaphorically to refer to any large economic bubble

Originally cultivated in the Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey), tulips were imported into Holland in the sixteenth century

Not tulips but one of my favourite flowers.......

.....the Hibiscus.....

.....delicate and proud

More clogs

in and out of focus

Flower within a flower

Young twins

Petal power!

I'm gorgeous!

A Spring Day, Central Park, Plymouth, UK

Hi and welcome!

I went to the UK in March and was very fortunate to have some stonkingly good British weather.

In Plymouth there is a large park called "Central Park" It was my playground from when I was 11 to when I left to go to Liverpool University at 18.

I hope you enjoy these shots of how gorgeous everything looks under a blue sky!

Pounds House above is a Grade II listed building.
It was built in the mid 19 century. If you click
on the link you can see it situated in the park
as a bird would!
















A splash! The little cottage is the guard house
at the top of the drive leading to Pounds House
















The house is now used for wedding receptions
Great if the weather is like this on your wedding
day
















The park immediately surrounding the house
is called Pounds Park. It used to be the
gardens of the house
















The trees are quite old. I remember them well
from my teenage days






















Most of Central park is not
"ornamental" but in Pounds
there are a few cultivated
areas
















There used to be six of these trees in a circle.
Now there are only four. They were always
known as "six trees"






















The path to Pounds House. The trees
that line the pathway are cherry trees.
The blossom is gorgeous, but it was a
bit too early when I was there
















One of the "six trees"
















Looking towards a cultivation of beautiful
camellias (close ups coming soon!)
















I love this tree
















Now for some....
















...gorgeous....






















....camellia flowers
















A white splash






















Just waiting....
















....to be photographed
















Spot the crow!






















Lovely shapes.....






















.....trees have











and spring wouldn't be complete without
the daffodils

Come back next for some shots of Trafalgar Square in similar weather