Tulip Fest!

This weekend the annual Tulip Festival took place here in Albany.

The yearly event kicks off with a group of costumed residents scrubbing the main street (State Street) in Dutch fashion; on Saturday afternoon the Tulip Queen is crowned, and all weekend there is a lively festival in the city's Washington Park, where a hundred thousand tulips bloom in a profusion of rainbow colors.

Some of the striped varieties are reminiscent of those in Dutch paintings of the seventeenth century, when "Tulip mania" held sway in the United Provinces.

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At this time of year, Minnie's garden in the Mohawk Valley is also in bloom:

Lilacs blooming in Minnie's garden

Bleeding hearts

 

 

 

 

 

White trillium

And last but not least: Blue Forget-me-nots:

Forget-me-nots