Obligatory Tulip Photo

It's finally spring and, in Albany, that means a lot of tulips.  While the Tulip Festival is still a few weeks away, lots of early varieties are coming up in Washington Park.  Of course, a lot of people are out taking plenty of photos in what's definitely a local rite of spring.

They're Coming

The first of this year's tulips are beginning to bloom after a long, snowy winter and what seems like a very slow spring.

Tulips 2014

The Tulip Festival was last weekend, but there's still quite a few lovely tulips to be seen in Washington Park this weekend.  Despite a rough winter and a rather late start to spring, the flowers look quite pretty.

Calgary Tulips

The tulips in Washington Park are a bit past their prime now and they'll be dug up for the bulbs in a day or so.  But here's a last look at one of my favorites from this season, a frothy white variety called Calgary.

Tulip Mania

The annual Tulip Festival will be held in Washington Park this year and the flowers are in full bloom for it.  The tulips are some of the prettiest I've seen and absolutely worth checking out (though tomorrow's weather might not be as great as today's and yesterday's).  This beautiful bloom reminds me of fresh lemonade.

A Wolf In A Painted Garden

It's been many, many years since wolves roamed what's now downtown Albany, but a painted wolf lurks amid tulips in a little courtyard in E-comm Square (just off Broadway south of Division Street). 

A Very Large Tulip

A popular symbol of Albany, this giant tulip greets motorists as they exit 787 near Broadway and Clinton Avenues. In the background are glimpses of the Corning Tower and the Old Dutch Church.

They're Everywhere

This time of the year, you can't miss them. The tulips. They're all over the place - in parks, in gardens, in little flower beds along street medians. And, of course, they're the namesake of Albany's big spring event, the annual Tulip Festival which is always held in Washington Park on Mother's Day weekend.

Tulips are a symbol of Albany's colonial Dutch Heritage. Tulip bulbs - which had sparked a massive speculation in The Netherlands in the 1630s - were first brought to Albany by Dutch settlers.

Explored in 1609 by Henry Hudson and chartered as a city in 1686, early Albany was a Dutch trading post known at various times as Beverwyck and Fort Orange. Even after the New Netherland colony fell under English rule, many Dutch traditions persisted into the 19th-century. Even now, remnants of Dutch culture can be found here in place names and architectural styles.

I like tulips, but I've never planted them myself. Perhaps because they've always been so abundant everywhere I look that I never felt the need to. This year, that might change.

These flowers, in various stages of bloom, were photographed in the East Capitol Park this afternoon.