fantasy art and tree chatter of aquariann

After the wicked way winter started, I was in desperate need of some flower therapy. Fortunately, First State Comic Con was only 20 minutes away from Longwood Gardens, so Ogre took me there for lunch last Sunday. We had a marvelous meal at The Terrace Café, then strolled around the conservatory before heading back to the comic convention. I posted a profile photo at facebook.com/Aquariann , peering at this fluffy flower. It was my first time meeting this type of adorable blossom, so all I knew about it came from the plaque beside it that read: Scarlet Powder-Puff-Tree, Calliandra haematocephala , Bean Family, Bolivia. My friends were quick to point out that it was from a Mimosa tree, which is also a fun name to say. Featured Flower Picks: Double Pink Blossoms • Hellebores • Pink Simplicity Rose

For years, I've worked just feet from where this beautiful tree blossoms, and just found out yesterday that it's a Styrax Japonicus. Its common name is a snowbell tree , which is perfect because the petals were falling gently to the ground like snow while I was photographing the wonderful white flowers. Featured Flower Picks: Spring Garden • White Rose • Red Lotus How To Plant Your Own Post for Flower Friday: The only rule to play is that you can only add one link per week! The post doesn't even have to mention flowers, but only ones that do will be eligible for being picked as a feature next week. I will be sharing my flower image on other blog hops, namely Wordless Wednesday , and welcome all family-friendly links from fellow bloggers. Crafters can even link up an Etsy listing or other shop product! But if you want to promote a prize, please add it to my Giveaway Chest Linky instead to entice more treasure hunters. Please follow my blog throug...

Whoever originally landscaped my yard may not have chosen well with the dune grass (we eventually tore it out because of stray cats making it their home), but the Rose of Sharon tree they picked was perfect! I haven't tired of taking photographs of its pale purple blossoms yet. Featured Flower Picks: Nigella Damascena • Yellow Flowers • Purple Poppy How To Plant Your Own Post for Flower Friday: The only rule to play is that you can only add one link per week! The post doesn't even have to mention flowers, but only ones that do will be eligible for being picked as a feature next week. I will be sharing my flower image on other blog hops, namely Wordless Wednesday , and welcome all family-friendly links from fellow bloggers. Crafters can even link up an Etsy listing or other shop product! But if you want to promote a prize, I suggest adding it to my Giveaway Chest Linky instead to entice more treasure hunters. Please follow my blog through any of the so...

The pink magnolia blossoms photo I shared last week may have been my favorite flowers during my trip to Washington D.C., but this yellow magnolia tree bloomed a close second! I celebrate nature daily, but hope those souls that don't make a special effort today to stop and smell the magnolias for Earth Day.

I happened to be visiting Washington D.C. at the same time as the National Cherry Blossom Festival last weekend. Although I couldn't make it to the Tidal Basin to dance under the pink Yoshino cherry trees, I did swoon over several other beautiful blossoms. The tulip-shaped petals on the pretty pink magnolia tree above were my favorite. And if you follow me on Instagram, you already know how tickled pink I was to spy a giant Care Bear balloon lining up for the parade.

"Every tree is an angel!" - Mehmet Murat ildan The kousa dogwood trees are full of white flowers, and the blossoms on the magnolia trees should be following suit soon to turn their faces toward the heavens!

"Like a rose under the April snow I was always certain love would grow" - Evergreen Lyrics by Paul Williams I had hoped my beach grass macro would be my last snow photo of the year, but Mother Nature had other plans for St. Patrick's Day. The pine trees had the only green to be seen outside!

I've been warming up to the idea of redesigning my blog for months. The spark turned into a blaze when I realized I could draw on my Kindle Fire using a capacitive stylus and the SketchBook Pro app . Which was easier daydreamt than done. Drawing on a screen is so different than paper! Believe me, the undo button and I became tight like vines around branches. It took many, many tries to get my lines not to wiggle. Not to mention all the times I accidentally drew by resting my hand on the screen! My digital tree painting is nowhere near perfect, but I am pleased (and exhausted) enough to share it. The great part about it being digital is that I can easily alter it later - I'm already planning on splitting the top trunk into a few more branches after I get some other items checked off my to-do list. Plus, the flowers are on a separate layer so I can change the tree seasonally. I've included a screenshot below, so please comment if any components are broken and include the...

"You can't be suspicious of a tree, or accuse a bird or a squirrel of subversion or challenge the ideology of a violet." - Hal Borland I asked this silly squirrel to slow down to pose for me, but he just mooned me on his way up a beautiful tree at Longwood Gardens! Flutter to my Wordless Wednesday Directory for a list of blogs that regularly host WW Linky Parties. Grab my button as a reminder to return next week for more photography fun!

"Oh to be a pear tree – any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world!" - Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God I didn't know what kind of tree with white blossoms I shared last week until I did an image search for magnolia hybrids, but I'm pretty sure this is a flowering pear tree! Flutter to my Wordless Wednesday Directory for a list of blogs that regularly host WW Linky Parties. Grab my button as a reminder to return next week for more photography fun!

"Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come." - Robert H. Schuller Spring has officially arrived and white flowering trees are beginning to bloom! Flutter to my Wordless Wednesday Directory for a list of blogs that regularly host WW Linky Parties. Grab my button as a reminder to return next week for more photography fun!

"I Think That I Shall Never See A Poem Lovely as a Tree. Poems Were Made By Fools Like Me, But Only God Can Make A Tree" - Trees by Joyce Kilmer The sculptures and stone signs at Brookgreen Gardens, SC are stunning. Flutter to my Wordless Wednesday Directory for a list of blogs that regularly host WW Linky Parties. Grab my button as a reminder to return next week for more photography fun!

EDIT: Giveaway is officially over. Congratulations to Liberty Boblett for submitting the randomly chosen 837th entry. Trees may be beautiful in every season, but they're especially exquisite in autumn. Even after the leaves have fallen, bare branches silhouetted against a late October sunset are stunning. Deanna of You've Got Maille has captured the essence of a full moon rising above an ancient oak. She's giving one away to a lucky nightsky gazer. The wire tree pendant is made of winner's choice of black (as shown above) or bronze craft wire. A mother-of-pearl cabochon gleams through the gnarled branches. The design twists and spirals around a wire frame to represent the eternal cycle of life. Each pendant is handmade, so like real trees, no two are exactly alike. Deanna's shop is filled with unique chainmaille and wirework. Get lost in a metal forest of flower earrings, scale mail bracelets, fantasy chokers ... even chainmail hackey sacks and dice bags! It...

"The flower that follows the sun does so even in cloudy days." - Robert Leighton Flutter to my Wordless Wednesday Directory for a list of blogs that regularly host WW Linky Parties. Grab my button as a reminder to return next week for more photography fun! <a href="http://blog.aquariann.com/search/label/wordless%20wednesday" target="_blank"><img src="http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee329/aquariann/blog/wordless/125x125-wordless.jpg" alt="Wordless Wednesday" border="0" /></a>

"The butterfly is a flying flower, The flower a tethered butterfly." - Ponce Denis Écouchard Lebrun Flutter to my Wordless Wednesday Directory for a list of blogs that regularly host WW Linky Parties. Grab my button as a reminder to return next week for more photography fun! <a href="http://blog.aquariann.com/search/label/wordless%20wednesday" target="_blank"><img src="http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee329/aquariann/blog/wordless/125x125-wordless.jpg" alt="Wordless Wednesday" border="0" /></a>

"How do you get to wonderland Over the hill or underland or just behind the tree When clouds go rolling by They roll away and leave the sky Where is the land beyond the eye That people cannot see Where can it be?" - Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland Theme Song Flutter to my Wordless Wednesday Directory for a list of blogs that regularly host WW Linky Parties. Grab my button as a reminder to return next week for more photography fun! <a href="http://blog.aquariann.com/search/label/wordless%20wednesday" target="_blank"><img src="http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee329/aquariann/blog/wordless/125x125-wordless.jpg" alt="Wordless Wednesday" border="0" /></a>

"In the cherry blossom's shade there's no such thing as a stranger." - Kobayashi Issa Flutter to my Wordless Wednesday Directory for a list of blogs that regularly host WW Linky Parties. Grab my button as a reminder to return next week for more photography fun! <a href="http://blog.aquariann.com/search/label/wordless%20wednesday" target="_blank"><img src="http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee329/aquariann/blog/wordless/125x125-wordless.jpg" alt="Wordless Wednesday" border="0" /></a>

"Awake, thou wintry earth - Fling off thy sadness! Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth Your ancient gladness!" - Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn" Flutter to my Wordless Wednesday Directory for a list of blogs that regularly host WW Linky Parties. Grab my button as a reminder to return next week for more photography fun! <a href="http://blog.aquariann.com/search/label/wordless%20wednesday" target="_blank"><img src="http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee329/aquariann/blog/wordless/125x125-wordless.jpg" alt="Wordless Wednesday" border="0" /></a>

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." - Bill Watterson Flutter to my Wordless Wednesday Directory for a list of blogs that regularly host WW Linky Parties. Grab my button as a reminder to return next week for more photography fun! <a href="http://blog.aquariann.com/search/label/wordless%20wednesday" target="_blank"><img src="http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee329/aquariann/blog/wordless/125x125-wordless.jpg" alt="Wordless Wednesday" border="0" /></a>

"For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver." - Martin Luther Flutter to my Wordless Wednesday Directory for a list of blogs that regularly host WW Linky Parties. Grab my button as a reminder to return next week for more photography fun! <a href="http://blog.aquariann.com/search/label/wordless%20wednesday" target="_blank"><img src="http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee329/aquariann/blog/wordless/125x125-wordless.jpg" alt="Wordless Wednesday" border="0" /></a>