Spring Maple

The maple I see from my office window has change a lot in the past month.  The snowy picture of the tree is from mid-March!  

By early April it was tinged in red flowers.

I took some close up pictures. The one on the right is with the 8x loupe. They are small but the color stands out in the springtime forest.

Now the tree looks drabber from afar

But that is just the blending of the red and green as the samaras develop.

Blooming Variegated Croton

A few weeks ago when we walked around the Brookside Gardens conservatory, the variegated crotons had the beginnings for flowers. The collage beginning this post shows the buds on the long stalk. They are closely spaced when they first form and then the stalk elongates beginning at the base to give the buds room to grow larger.

Last week the variegated crotons were in bloom as shown in the two images below. The buds closest to the plant open first.

I took several of images with the 8x magnification loupe. The plant is so colorful that the flowers don’t have to be!