Thursday, March 20, 2008

Pink odium

It's in the Code of Curmudgeonly Conduct--Thou shalt loathe pink! I realize my pink petulance may lose us the few blog readers we have, but what can I say.  I much prefer the lavenders, blues and purples, the yellows, oranges and reds, white, even the recent trends favoring chartreuse and black in the garden. I guess you could say I prefer all colors to pink. I would not willingly welcome a pink flowering plant to my garden solely for its pinkness. Yes, we do have bergenia in our garden. But I did not plant it--and it looks just horrid next to the forsythia--not to mention the dandelions!

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So how do I survive spring you ask. It's not easy being me during spring. Let me show you. Come with me on a walk around our neighborhood this afternoon and you'll see just what I have to endure. This is not going to be a bucolic stroll in the country or even the suburbs. Ours is going to be an urban adventure. You're going to see concrete and cars and electrical poles and houses that sit very close together. This is the world of the weed whackin' wenches' urban potager and flower gardens. Let's pound the pavement people!

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This is the first thing I see as I head out down our street. Isn't the shape and form of the trees just beautiful, despite their pinkness?

P1010002Even among the hyacinths some pink ones sneak in.  If you close your eyes and just enjoy the fragrance, you can more easily ignore the fact that they're pink.

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GBBD Mar08 (17) This goes on for blocks and blocks and blocks! it's enough to drive a person right out of a grouchy, ill-tempered state of being.

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Here and there, a splash of white or red or a cascading wall of evergreen clematis will break up the pink monotony.

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But soon enough it's back to pink...

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...this tree produces huge quantities of plums.

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The scent of daphne odorosa keeps us energized as we work our way up the very steep hill that is the home stretch on our walk.

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Is there anything more perfect than this beautiful white magnolia bud? What? It's tinged with pink you say? A pink tinge doesn't really count as pink, does it? And this rhodie is more lavender than pink, so it doesn't count either. 

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Why am I standing under this tree and sighing? Well its branches reach out and over the sidewalk and they embrace the passer-by in a world of pink cotton candy and sweet fragrance. Oh no, please, don't tell the Committee in charge of Cranky Curmudgeonly Conduct, or the 4 Cs for short!

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Look! It's CHARTREUSE! How's that to shock our eyeballs out of their rose-tinted trance? This is euphorbia wulfenii. 

 

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By now we've covered about 2 miles and we're back home. In front of our house the ornamental cherry  trees are taking their sweet time--sweet indeed! They can't possibly be considered pink, can they?

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14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Won't lose me. I'm not really a "pink person" myself. I'm more or a "red girl." Pink seems feminine, and that I'm not. Much to my husband's chagrin, and my hairdresser. Give me red any day of the week. Pink seems a bit...soft. And I'm a strong, out-spoken kind of gal who curses a lot!
Brenda

Petunia's Gardener said...

Hey, what a fun and colorful walk! At this point in the year, I'll take all flowers. I do think the city is just a little ahead of us in the outer/maybe a little higher elev. areas.

Aunt Debbi/kurts mom said...

This over kill of pinkness will pass. Just take a deep breath and wait for the rest of the show. My garden would make you run shreaking back to your yard. Nice pictures.

Anonymous said...

Hi W3! Thanks for the comment... makes me feel welcome to my new home at Blotanical! I could tell you were close by when I saw all of the Bergenia! It looks like you are near Seattle somewhere...Portland is a drift in pink and white, too...just focus on the fact that those blooms mean we are minutes, err, days, err, weeks away from summer! Give me a shout out via email so I can chat your ear off about my cousin from Everett without boring everyone...

Anonymous said...

Holy cow - that's a LOT of pink! I'm not a big fan of pink myself (so then why am I planning a pink border this year?), though I usually don't mind it in others' gardens in moderation. Thanks for sharing that lovely bit of chartreuse at the end!

Shady Gardener said...

Ha! Thanks for the fun tour! :-) Actually, I'd stand for anything right now... but I must admit.. a LOT of pink trees in a row.

Love that contrasting chartreuse!

Take us for another walk soon.

Curmudgeon said...

Hi Brenda! Oh so glad that you're a red person--and the cursing is alright by us too. Hey, that cloche didn't get built without a bit of cursing!

Hi Petunia's Gardener! Yes, we do seem to be a bit ahead here in the city--it's all that asphalt and concrete! But you had some mighty fine looking salad in one of your posts. We have little sprouts--we're hoping they're not weeds!

Hi Aunt Debbi! So did them cabbages get whacked yet?

Welcome Jean Ann! Yes, we're in Seattle. I've got some friends down in Yamhill, OR but haven't ventured over the state line yet. Hey I just learned what bergenia is!

Hello Nan! Thanks so much for stopping by. Yes it is a whole lot of pink. Kind of amazing for such an urban place--I think. I agree, pink in someone else's garden in moderation is great. Isn't that euphorbia something? Lots of that stuff around here.

Katarina said...

Lovely, lovely pictures - I like pink flowers and I would have loved to live in your neighbourhood!

Happy Easter! /Katarina

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

ROTFL that was a fun post but guess what, I love pink. So thanks for showing all that gorgeous pink blossom extravanganza and be happy that at least one person enjoyed it.

Happy Easter wenches!

Yolanda, who cannot stand orange! ;-)

Annie in Austin said...

Hello WWWenches,

Your post had me laughing...and you won't lose this reader! I've gone into rants at having pink-tinged air in my neighborhood when the crepe myrtles open - impacting every scene.

Although blues, yellows and purples are given precedence inside the garden gate, last year I decided to surrender to the pink in front, and made a pink border connected to a large pink crepe. This has come in handy as a place to relocate plants that were labeled some other color but decided to bloom pink. I can enjoy pink up here.

Oh, I like that evergreen clematis! The pale pink plum flowers are pretty rather than strident and they'll be plums some day - you can't eat crepe myrtles.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Viooltje said...

Blimey, I never thought of pink colour in such a distinguished way. Your post makes me laugh whenever I glimpse at my Okame cherry now. Being pissed off with the weather n'all, at least one thing makes me giggle now. Generally I don't like pink at all, especially with clothes and stuff, but when it comes to flowers, any colour is good colour, as long as there's blooms galore.

Curmudgeon said...

Hi Shady! Glad you enjoyed the walk. There are some avid gareners here--even if sometimes a bit loopy in what they plant. Plenty more walks to follow for sure!

Katarina, thanks for stopping by. The pink seems to never end when you get on certain streets. It's pretty amazing.

Hi Yolanda who can't stand orange! We don't have too much orange in our garden either--that would REALLY clash with the pink bergenia! We have added more reds to try to attract humming birds. Last year they ignored the red and went for the blue black sage.

Hi Annie! Yes, the clematis is intoxicating. You find it draped over fences and garage roofs. I'm not sure I've met a crape myrtle.

Definitely no pink clothes for me either, Viooltje. Enjoy your Okame cherry!

Tira said...

What a fabulous profusion of blooms, makes me want to jump into a flurry of silky blooms.
Personally, I like my colors hot hot hot!

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