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The
Month of June is often the peak period for flowering abundance and colour.
Early Summer. After that interlude many plants have flowered already so the countryside by mid summer- July and August- is mostly green.
So I set off on my bike, suitably inspired, to capture said riches before they disappeared for another year... first to Victoria Park with its Fossil Grove and Quarry Trail...
Then by a winding route through woods from Dumbarton Road to the end of Westland Drive through Scotstoun and Jordanhill- a green, partly subterranean corridor and one fairly new to me, passing the old Scotsoun Showground- now the National Badminton Academy and Sports Complex...
Seen here...
via sinewy trails and snake slithering wonders...
past productive allotments...
Avoiding traffic and busy roads until the path ran out near the northern end of Westland Drive. From there up onto Crow Road then through the quiet grounds of Gartnavel Hospital and Bingham's Pond before Cleveden Drive and the Botanic Gardens. A route I've not cycled before but one I was delighted with as it avoided most of the busy built up streets above via deep hidden channels and quiet places, weaving a lush snaking path through the hectic West End. A necklace of earthly delights and a mystery tour for me. Maybe at one time this was an old discontinued railway line as it has that partly subterranean, back of houses, feel to it.
Jordanhill College on it's rising wooded slope, High School of Glasgow playing fields from Crow Road.
Anniesland Cross and Tower.
Glasgow's Botanic Gardens. The entrance gates.
Glasshouses and June splendour in abundance. A myriad of flowering rhododendrons.
Vegetable gardens. Bees on flowering chives... certain flowers attracting specific types of bees and insects I noticed here, while seemingly excluding others. The marvellous interdependent complexity of tiny flying creatures, flowers and plants most people are completely unaware of, except for a quick, surface observation in passing. Mid life adulthood normally set in highest gear by now for many, family driven, then hard to escape that learned habit of constant speed, movement, and distractions, with the planet a mere blur of self maintained perpetual activity zipping by.
Or...just be static instead for ten minutes as still watchfulness and micro eyed patience often brings it's own rewards and an inkling of understanding as to what's going on. Ironically, life starting out and life ending...balance each other out on the sea-saw sometimes..as these stages often share a visual connection of greater clarity, with the surroundings they exist in heightened and sharper nearer birth and death. Forced by inactivity or the fresh wonder of new sights placed directly in front of them to observe minute details in close up proximity. Sometimes no choice in the matter- static baby in push chair... geriatric in care home garden.
Smaller orange bottomed bees congregating here.... above...
Meanwhile, heavyweight bumble bees land next door, crawling like furry tanks over their own preferred nectar laden blooms, each colour coded banquet laid out to cater for a range of different discerning guests.
Astrantia, I think here. The wonderful complexity of flowers we are only just learning to fully understand and replicate with mathematical precision thanks to computers and 3D advanced learning imagery.. yet at a point in time.... when we threaten to destroy it all completely. Will A.I. cyber bees, (currently being developed) along with spy flies, ants and mechanical butterflies replace the real thing in time and continue pollination, tiny flying machines unaffected by pollution and pesticides?
Could we eventually replicate all the startling complexity of life given time... and if so.. are we living right now in a future simulation? After war has left us little to enjoy. Is this reality real? Given the current woeful state of UK politics it's a valid question...
Being something of a perfectionist photographer I wish I'd removed that red bin before taking this shot... I also wish chocolate bars had not been miniaturized in this brave new model of the universe we currently live in today. Will anything else precious and treasured shrink in size I wonder, looking down, as the months and years progress? Never mind climate change and Brexit- everyday commodities are rapidly disappearing in front of my eyes..Extinction is a possibility for sweets and treats as I hang on to one of the last normal sized Mars Bars in history, hoping it's not going to change overnight into a tiny bite sized cousin-which is the new normal bar now. Also 2 litre Irn Bru and Coke bottles losing a chunk of volume overnight to 1.5 litres, yet increasing in price. Just when you thought they couldn't steal anything else of value from the ordinary punter....
Bees on Geraniums. We are all made of stars.... apparently...carbon atoms... just smaller versions now.
and cavalcades of blooms...
with constellations arranged everywhere below our feet...
sinking into a poppy nebula in micro worlds of wonder...deeper and deeper layers the further in you travel...
A galaxy contained within a single bloom in close up detail... stars visible here....
countless millions of bees and other insects grafting hard on a single sunny Sunday afternoon in one large garden alone...
each individual tree an entire Noah's Ark of buzzing, whirring life...
in a world far beyond any reality...
in an Eden behind the stars...
where great sunsets arrive like buses... every evening...on time..
and it's all completely real and all above board....:o)
9 comments:
Lovely to be reminded of the fossil grove in Victoria Park, I had forgotten all about it. You have shown a veritable feast of bumble bees on all the beautiful flowers which is really encouraging.
Beautiful flowers and nice sunset too! Yes, it is wildflower season here in Oregon too.
You’ve certainly caught the best! It’s my impression that the parks aren’t as well stocked as they were. I know there was some hoohah a while back about losing beds in Victoria Park. A lot of the Botanic Gardens ones seem to be permanently empty where they used to change regularly with the seasons. It’s a shame.
More bought sunsets eh?
A quarry trail sounds like a great idea - I presume it's an old grown-over quarry? One of the reasons I don't object too heavily to quarries is that they're temporary and the ground almost always makes a good recovery. Also provides great climbing afterwards usually too :-)
My chive flowers are wick wi' bumble bees (Yorkshire expression I think) :-)
Hi Rosemary,
It still is a lovely park- something Glasgow has an abundance of as you know.
Hard to tell Anabel as I've not been around the parks much this year. I have read/heard of various reports by leading economists stating the past ten years of cutbacks and austerity was mainly driven by ideology rather than necessity but that's exactly what happened throughout the 1980s so no change there.
I put the sunset photos in for you Carol, especially the last one with the wee stargazer sitting atop a chimney- Dick Van Dyke style.
They only found the fossil grove( a group of petrified tree trunks) when they were cutting out the quarries in the Victorian era. A big find at the time the grove has a roof over it now inside a small building as weather protection and the other back quarries are open and filled with trees and shrubs- as in the two photos.
June is busting out all over! I loved these photos every single one. And I liked that red bin, glad you kept it there, such a contrast to the bright green grass. Reminds me of the old red phone boxes, I miss them. Hey, there is a mention of Glasgow in my post today, I thought of you when I typed "Glasgow". 😊
Some cracking images here Bob! The Rhodies seem to have been amazing....perhaps the rain through most of June has suited them?
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