This is the out-of-the-iphone-camera red, red, red of the ‘Beauty of Livermere’ oriental poppy. I wait for its brief yet happy-making appearance every year.

The crinkled tissue-papery petals of the freshly opened flower and the inky black markings and purpley stamens just add to my joy.

My growing patch lost two buds to (probably) marauding squirrels climbing the obelisk placed to keep the stems upright. This spring in Toronto has been particularly wet, so those stems are taller than usual. Naturally, the flowers lean into the sun, so my neighbour enjoys the best view.

That red certainly draws the eye in my messy front garden.

The arrival of the ‘Beauty of Livermere’ poppies is always a thrill. So red! So crinkly! So look-at-me-everybody! #bloomscrolling #canadagardens #torontogardens #gardensky 🌱 #messygardens #photographingflowers #nofilter

An aging purple tulip with blue and white markings, yellow stamens and an acid-green pistil. Sometimes I love the look of a tulip near the end of its flowering period, like this one. The petals take on fascinating sculptural shapes.

The wabi-sabi beauty of a frizzled tulip. #bloomscrolling #canadagardens #torontogardens #springgarden #bulbs #tulips #photography #photographingflowers

So much depends on a white tulip. On the wane but lit by sunlight, it almost looks like an etching. #bloomscrolling #canadagardens #gardening #gardensky 🌱 #flowersinavase #photographingflowers #photography #blackandwhitephotography

White lily-shaped tulips with pink stripes in foreground with pink and deep red peony-shaped tulips in background. Each May, Canada’s capital city benefits from the gratitude of the Netherlands (in the form of a festival’s worth of bulbs) for offering the Dutch royal family safe harbour during WW2’s period of occupation by the Nazis.

White, orange, magenta, and deep purple tulips combine like a bold, abstract, pointillist painting.

Yellow tulips blushing red at the petal tips brighten this bed across the Rideau River from Canada’s House of Parliament. While the main festivities happen elsewhere in town, the whole city participates in this spring event.

Sunshine illuminates this brilliant bed of pink, orange, purple and red tulips in Commissioners Park, which is festival central. 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of Dutch liberation.

Canadian Tulip Festival, a tulip extravaganza every May in Ottawa. tulipfestival.ca #canadagardens #tuliptuesday 🌱 #gardensky #gardening #spring #gardentravel #photography #photographingflowers

Pink annual poppy with purple patches, a ruff of creamy pink stamens, and a charteuse centre. A bee nestles in the stamens, collecting pollen.

#bloomscrolling and thinking of warmer days to come. #canadagardens #gardensky #gardening 🌱 #poppies #photography #photographingflowers #bees #goodmorning