Seeing Spring Blooms At Tulip Top

Ahh, spring. Nature wakes up and shows its beautiful colors. Canberra has a couple of nice gardens that overflow with flowers in the spring and a great place to go see blooms is a relaxing place about half an hour from the city, Tulip Top.

The garden is in the middle of rolling hills, a colorful oasis among bored cattle.

And the tulip blooms are out, way out.

A little picnic under the cherry blossoms.

Water feature, more blooms. Flower gazing, a hobby for all ages.

Oof, enough with the beautiful flowers, time to head to the well-placed pop up wine bar!

Planting Flowers For May Day In Dushanbe

May Day (May 1), now Labor Day, is one of the biggest public holidays in Tajikistan and a key component of the celebration is beautiful beds of blooming flowers in every public space. The holiday is a holdover from Soviet times and the theme of recognizing workers, socialist solidarity, and a brutalist system meant to crush the everyman. OK, maybe that last part was more of a private celebration.

May Day is still celebrated in Tajikistan and they go all in on the flower part. Time to get planting.

"Let's go babushkas, these flowers don't plant themselves." The old women labor seems also to be a Soviet holdover.

Planting is for women, delivering is for the men. Multitasking. Plant a flower, make a Facetime call.

The end product is lovely. Spicing up the monument of Ismail Samani.

It's an impressive task, many boxes, many beds to fill. The planting areas are everywhere. More to do in Victory Park.

Another flower victory, around the Independence monument.

Faking The Flora In Hat Yai

You'd think that fresh flowers would be commonplace in a tropical city, such exotic options abound. Why bother? In Hat Yai, fake flora is all over the place, a testament to people that hate watering plants.

Hotel hall bouquet.

Planters.

Vertical "garden" at a restaurant entrance.

Half full view, the execution is well done and the details are nice.

Flora fantasy.