Brookside Gardens Buds and Flowers - April 2014

Every spring I rejoice with the new growth at Brookside Gardens - the leaves unfurling, the early flowers opening. It is such a relief after the drabness of late winter. This week we have experienced some cold days (again); the images in this post were taken earlier in April on a warmer day.

I’ve been experimenting with the 8x loupe for much of this spring’s photography and noticed small features of opening leaves and flowers more than ever before.

Some leaves start out with pleats along their vein lines

Some flowers lift to the sun

And others bow.

Some fruit trees bloom so early that they are frequently caught by hard frosts.

The center of some flowers stays in the deep shade of the surrounding petals.