Tag: flowers

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All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Daffodils in the Nutmeg State

Narcissus Greeting (Laurel Ridge Daffodils, Litchfield, Connecticut)
“Narcissus Greeting”
Laurel Ridge Daffodil Plantings, Litchfield, Connecticut

There is perhaps no surer a sign that proper springtime weather has arrived than the emergence of daffodils throughout Connecticut. From town parks to yard gardens, by late April it seems that you can scarcely take a short drive anywhere in the state without seeing clusters of these showy jewels swaying about. But in two spots especially -Meriden’s Hubbard Park and Litchfield’s Laurel Ridge- the immense plantings of daffodils are truly a springtime spectacle.

Hubbard Park can undoubtedly lay claim to the most expansive fields of daffodils, for some 600,000 push through the soil each year. And remarkably, it all started with an initial planting of just 1,000 bulbs in 1949. Over the years, more were planted regularly and established bulbs continued to multiply. By 1979, with Hubbard Park already well-known for its April flower display, the city of Meriden established the annual Daffodil Festival which attracts crowds every year from well beyond the city.

But in 1941, a handful of years before Hubbard Park got its first daffodils, bulbs were already being planted along Laurel Ridge in the Litchfield Hills some 20 miles to the northwest. And while the planting on Laurel Ridge probably can’t boast quite the same volume of daffodils as Hubbard Park (I can’t find an estimate anywhere), I can say from experience that there are more than enough to impress and some might find the quiet, bucolic setting of Laurel Ridge to be a welcome bonus.

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Categories
All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Simsbury Blossoming

Yankee Farmlands № 83 (Field of decorative flowers, Simsbury, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 83”
Field of decorative flowers, Simsbury, Connecticut
© 2016 J. G. Coleman

Exotic blossoms invite vivid color into a dusty farm field in Northern Connecticut where decorative flowers have reached maturity. Blue skies and a leaf-dense woodline embody the warmth and vitality of late summer in New England.

I’ve recently finished shooting for my Yankee Farmlands project, an endeavor which I thought would require roughly a year of work. Well, here we are now… nearly two and half years after I shot Yankee Farmlands № 1 at a hayfield in East Granby. It’s been a far longer, and far more rewarding, journey than I could’ve anticipated.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be rolling out all of the final installments of the project, picking things back up where I left off in late summer, transitioning through this past autumn and concluding with pieces I produced recently this winter. I sincerely hope that you enjoy the visual story I’ve sought to tell about Connecticut’s agricultural landscapes; it’s certainly been a pleasure to create the final chapters.

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Click here to visit my landing page for “Yankee Farmlands № 83” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

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Categories
All Things Connecticut New Print Releases The American Northeast

Giant Sunflowers of Griswold

Yankee Farmlands № 34 (Field of giant sunflowers in Connecticut’s “Quiet Corner”, Griswold, Connecticut)
“Yankee Farmlands № 34”
Field of giant sunflowers in Connecticut’s “Quiet Corner”, Griswold, Connecticut
© 2015 J. G. Coleman

Giant sunflowers crowd a verdant field in Connecticut’s Eastern Uplands as sprawling clouds drift across the summertime sky. The vista featured in “Yankee Farmlands No. 34” (above) is the latest installment in my project which celebrates the agricultural heritage of Southern New England through Connecticut’s scenic farmlands.

Among North America’s ancient food crops, the sunflower was widely cultivated by Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before Spanish explorers first laid eyes on the plant in the 1500s. Specimens were brought back home to Spain and, from there, spread throughout Europe.

Russia can be credited with breeding the gargantuan sunflowers with which we are familiar today. But while sunflowers had grown popular in Europe, they had fallen out of vogue as crops in North America. So even though sunflowers began their journey as food crops thousands of years ago in the Americas, the modern practice of farming them in the United States didn’t really take off until Russia shipped their huge sunflowers overseas in the late 1800s.

Purchase a Fine Art Print or Inquire About Licensing

Click here to visit my landing page for “Yankee Farmlands № 34” to buy a beautiful fine art print or inquire about licensing this image.

Want to See More?

Be sure to check out all of my work from the on-going Yankee Farmlands collection.