Thursday 27 March 2014

The Colour Collaborative: March: Bud


This month I'm delighted to be a guest blogger for the Colour Collaborative. The theme is 'Bud'.


Sometimes it's nice to work to a brief. I actually went out over several days with the camera and this is reflected in the photos. The weather's been so changeable: grey and gloomy, sunny and warm, wet and windy. But I got lots of pictures and after editing and playing with them I became aware I was drawn to those with my favourite garden colours.


Although spring is the only time of year I really like yellow flowers - crocus, daffodils, broom - I still prefer the subtle whites and dusky pinks of hellebores and magnolia. I particularly like these colours when they go alongside acid greens. So even though the Euphorbia in the garden didn't exactly fit into the 'Bud' theme I still took the time to admire it.


I'd love a magnolia or two in our 'for ever' garden. White streaked with dusky pink.


Rhodedendrons aren't particularly my thing but they do remind me of Manderley in Rebecca. And the lime green buds and veins of the leaves are zingy and lovely.


Interesting how, when you look a bit more closely, the buds of many trees and plants start off in shades of pink. From the most delicate-looking to the more robust.


Lilac pink, coral...



I had to fit in one photo of Euphorbia unfurling. It's almost bud-like, and the colour is - to me at least - perfection.

I hope you're enjoying the colours of spring, and spotting your favourite combinations.



Don't forget to visit the other Colour Collaborative blogs for more of this month's posts, just click on the links below.




What is The Colour Collaborative?

All creative bloggers make stuff, gather stuff, shape stuff, and share stuff. Mostly they work on their own, but what happens when a group of them work together? Is a creative collaboration greater than the sum of its parts? We think so and we hope you will too. We'll each be offering our own monthly take on a colour related theme, and hoping that in combination our ideas will encourage us, and perhaps you, to think about colour in new ways.






24 comments:

  1. A really lovely post Sarah, and your photos are beautiful. I'm not particularly keen on the vibrant yellows etc. of some spring flowers either. Like you I prefer subtle pinks and whites, and I love acid green. I've put a tiny magnolia in my front garden, but I'd like a big white one as well one day, they're so striking, and I love the foliage all summer long as well as the dramatic flowers.

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    1. Hello! I love white magnolia too - especially the Stellata one. Typical I managed to get a photo of a Stellata bud bursting after I'd done this post! Although I like native plants, flowers and trees there are some from far-flung places which are firm favourites - peonies and dahlias spring to mind :)

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  2. beautiful buds! Ours are qite away off from budding, still many feet of snow, yours were a joy to see!

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    1. Oh, I wish we'd had some snow this year... Glad you liked the post though!

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  3. You captured these buds beautifully Sarah. Thank you for bringing Spring into my house. Cx

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    1. Thank you for commenting! I hope you're enjoying the season - still plenty more to look forward to...
      S x

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  4. Lovely post and it's lovely to have you join us this month! I found that pink featured highly too when I went out with the camera and a magnolia bud is certainly hard to top.

    S x

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    1. Beautiful, aren't they? The trees remind me of candelabras. As for the Colour Collaborative, I enjoyed it very much. It's nice to be given an idea and asked to translate it. I'm looking forward clicking on the links and seeing what you all did!
      Sarah x

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  5. Really beautiful Photos Sarah, I must say that I adore all the colours that nature offers us in the Spring time and all the buds mean the promise of hope to me xox Thanks for sharing x

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    1. Hi, Penny! I spotted even more spring favourites on the journey home from Scotland: cowslips. They were growing by the side of the road somewhere in Northumberland...
      Hope you have a nice weekend planned.
      S x

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  6. Hello Sarah
    I have really enjoyed reading your post, and your photos are beautiful. I love the way they look like paintings. This has been such a lovely Colour Collaborative. I am particularly loving all the vibrant spring greens at the moment, and wrote my last post about them Drop by if you get a chance,
    Kate x
    justpootling.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. Hi Kate - Thanks for visiting and your comment. I'm glad you enjoyed the post and indeed the whole Colour Collaborative this month. I will indeed call by. This weekend will be all about playing catch-up after a lovely break in Scotland...
      Sarah :)

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  7. These are beautiful examples of buds. I agree, I think I like yellow flowers mainly in spring, though I do like yellow roses all the time. I love magnolias too. I just saw one of my neighbors' magnolia trees in bloom the other day and it was beautiful. I love the way they bloom before they have any leaves, so the tree has a strange look, stark but covered in huge flowers spaced widely apart.

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    1. Hi Jennifer! I agree with you - there's something very lovely about flowers on bare stems. I always think it gives trees and shrubs an Oriental look (and I suspect magnolias come from the Far East).
      I saw some magnolias once in a park in Paris - that makes me sound very cosmopolitan! - and the flowers were absolutely huge. Sadly it was before I had a digital camera and the photos turned out blurred but I still remember them years later...

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  8. These are beautiful images Sarah, thank you so much for taking part.

    I totally see what you mean about the Euphorbia, but I think the third pic, of the magnolia, is my favourite, just as magnolias are among my favourites in the spring garden.

    Interesting, your observation about pink ... we certainly all have pink heavy posts today :)

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    1. Hi Annie!

      I loved taking part in the CC - so nice to collaborate with other bloggers... We returned from our little holiday this evening and I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else has come up with.

      And now I'm going to have a look at all those pink photos!

      Sarah :)

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  9. The magnolia is so beautiful Sarah. I'd love one in my 'forever' garden too!
    x

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    1. Aren't they gorgeous? I think those and hellebores are my favourite spring blooms... the cottage next door to us in Scotland had some incredible hellebores in dark, bruised shades of purple and I felt envious just looking at them!
      S x

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  10. So many pretty buds, a little promise of the beautiful blooms to come ... I've loved your CC post ... Bee xx

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    1. Thanks, Bee! I enjoyed putting it together x

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  11. Love your take on this month's CC theme - those pictures are stunning. Have to admit I'm more a fan of the seasons at the other end of the year but I can appreciate the promise of what's to come contained in all those spring buds.

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    1. Hello! I'm with you on the seasons thing - autumn and winter are my favourites too. Maybe the lack of snow in these parts this year meant I was on the lookout for some definite signs of the season... and I must admit, a mild afternoon with the kitchen door open is really selling spring to me at the moment :)

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  12. Lovely! I think magnolia's are one of my favourite blooms at this time of year - we planted one a few years ago, the purple and pink pointy-petaled variety. I always wish we'd gone for the ice cream pinks and whites that you mentioned. I like your photo effects, too. x

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    1. Hi, Gillian! Thanks for your comment. Hopefully you'll find room in the garden for more magnolias!
      As for the photo effects, this post gave me the chance to play around and I enjoyed doing that!
      S x

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