Thirty bulbs

 
There have been three batches of paperwhite bulbs this winter—I rather greedily took whatever I could find during various visits to the weekly plant market, for a total of thirty bulbs. Only this past weekend has there been the perfect combination of blossoms, sun & time to create some "story strips" with various components. I had some fun dissecting the seedpods with my X-Acto knife, both lengthwise & crosswise (seen in the detail of the right-hand "page" of the story strips below), as well as the flowers, the buds that never did open, etc.

  

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I also thought I'd share some shots of the second "blooming" which, unlike the first one I shared on the blog, aligned itself with a period of sunshine. (I found the roots from the already-bloomed bulbs to be equally fascinating...)

 

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Other than the fragrance of a few last blooms, this is what remains...

...lots of long stems starting to flop over under their own weight (I was inspired to take this photo because of the way the stems mimicked the pens angling out of the jar)...

...& a random bulb whose initial sprouts never took off despite considerable coaxing (but which I have found to be quite lovely just sitting in the patinaed copper tray)...

 

 

Observing the paperwhites has certainly been a happy winter diversion during the past two months. On the note of such pleasures, I wanted to mention a book I have been rereading & thoroughly enjoying: The Passionate Observer. My dear friend Andrea gave me this book ten years ago, and it is among my favorites in terms of the high-quality production & content. The text is a collection of writings by nineteenth-century French entomologist Jean Henri Fabre, and is illustrated with watercolors by Marlene McLoughlin (who knows how to visually bring out the beauty of an insect as well as Monsieur Fabre does through his affectionate & attentive observations of the creatures).

 

 

Wishing you equally fulfilling & inspiring pastimes in your spare moments too...