Tulips at Childhood's Gate

Heavy rains were expected later in the day, and storm clouds were gathering overhead. I rushed into town early, hoping to snag a few more minutes with the tulips at the Arboretum before the rain hit, as the tulips are at that delicate stage where the rains will bring major petal fall.

The sky was the blueberry color of a bruise as I arrived at Childhood's Gate, the children's garden within the Arboretum. It's one of my favorite places, and I think it would be a favorite of yours too, if you could visit. It's just a lovely play space of a garden, chock full of neat things to discover at every turn.

In the left part of the photo, you can see the transformational canopy that you walk under to enter the gardens. It is colorful and pretty: it says you're entering a space where you're going to have FUN! To the left of the canopy, you can see the kaleidoscope that I play with every time I visit. Beneath one of its lenses (there are three), I viewed a fallen purple tulip; made pretty designs out of it. So cool: organic fractal art.

There are some trellises in the middle for growing things to climb. Late in summer, vegetables grown on those trellises and in these flower beds now loaded with tulips will be donated to the local food banks. Yes, veggies from the children's garden will fill the bellies of hungry people.

In the right top quadrant are several colorful Adirondack chairs, but I hardly ever sit in those. Behind them is a wall of green plants; on the other side of that is the huge tulip display I've been carrying on about for weeks and weeks now.

Just to the right out of frame is the bison whom I think of as Ferdinand the Bull; on this day, he was surrounded by white tulips, and I think that would have made him happy, as that's what Ferdinand was always best at: sitting peacefully, sniffing the flowers.

And behind me, of course, is the Glass House, which houses the Christmas tree in the holiday season, and every other season of the year contains creative displays and toys for children to play with. The news is this: the garden is not just for children! Come and play!

The song to accompany this image is the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young classic, Teach Your Children Well. However, on this day (the 1986 Bridge School concert), they were joined by quite a few friends, including Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty. Enjoy!