Here Today

… and gone tomorrow, or close to it.

Every spring, the blooms of New Haven’s flashiest trees come and go in the span of about a week apiece. Staggered across two or three weeks total, they coincide with the city’s precious few moments of “true spring,” when the weather’s mostly warm and dry.

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There are so many blooms in New Haven right now that a wholly permissive approach would’ve made this photo essay too easy. So the rule today is this: every image must include both a flowering plant and a man-made object that’s unique within the series. Examples of the latter include the Grove Street Cemetery’s heavy wrought-iron fence, pictured first; a street lamp rising into the canopy near the corner of Elm Street and University Place, pictured second; and even the Q Bridge, further on. For the sake of extra variety, the featured blooms don’t have to be on trees. That’s how one of the Winchester community garden’s tulip beds snuck in, as did a field of dandelions in Criscuolo Park.

Over the next day or two, make time to examine the city’s fleeting flower-scape in person. No need to follow the exact trail of petals left by this essay. Just hang around outside. Open yourself up. Look alive.

It’s what the flowers would do.

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Image Guide:

1. Saucer Magnolia. At the Grove Street Cemetery, along Grove Street.
2. White Cherry Blossom variety. Near the corner of Elm Street and University Place.
3. Pink Cherry Blossom variety. At the corner of Elm Street and University Place.
4. Dandelions. In Criscuolo Park, near the meeting of the Mill and Quinnipiac Rivers.
5. Tulips. At the New Haven Land Trust’s Winchester Garden, on the corner of Webster Street and Winchester Avenue.
6. Star Magnolia. At 130 Edgehill Road.
7. Weeping Cherry Blossom, I believe. At the Prospect Gardens apartment/condo complex in Science Hill.

Written and photographed by Dan Mims.

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Dan has worked for a couple of major media companies, but he likes Daily Nutmeg best. As DN’s editor, he writes, photographs, edits and otherwise shepherds ideas into fully realized feature stories.

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