Dallas Blooms: Early, Mid, Late

"Flowers...are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty overvalues all the utilities of the world." - Ralph Waldo Emerson Mr. Emerson would have enjoyed the Dallas Blooms festival at the Dallas Arboretum. It is an outstanding display of hundreds of thousands of bulbs, azaleas and cool weather annuals with stunning color and massive displays on this 66-acre botanical garden in the heartland of Dallas, TX. This is the beauty spot of Dallas with wide appeal to folks of all ages.

During the next five weeks enjoy visiting the Dallas Arboretum located on Garland Road adjacent White Rock Lake as often as you like because each week the intense floral display will change before your eyes. Tulips, narcissus, hyacinths and daffodils will transition into bloom. A different combination will be in bloom each week because bulbs are bred to bloom at different stages of spring weather: early, mid and late. Just like choreography, the efforts of Senior Gardeners Mr. Dave Forehand and Mr. Jimmy Turner burst forth in brilliant displays of color that extend over six weeks as the transition of early to mid and then late blooms occur from the varieties they have carefully chosen.

The bulbs are interspersed and complemented by vast arrays of pansies and violas which thrive in our Dallas spring weather with sunny days, light winds and cool nights. Stop and note the color combinations which are created. See the delightful container combinations on display. See spring at its finest moments.

 

Shrubs and trees are abloom also. In early spring witness the blazing color from yellow forsythia and coral-colored flowering quince. Then watch the transition to blooms from azaleas in masses only the Dallas Arboretum could assemble, again with a sequence from early, mid and late blooming bushes. Taller blooming trees including red buds, cherry trees, pear trees, crab apple trees, and the ever-popular dogwoods in shades of white and pink accompany these fine specimens.

I have attended this event loyally like a pilgrim for over thirty years and am always stunned by the beauty of the intense blooms in masses that span across the botanical garden horizon. The designs have become more sophisticated and complex as Forehand and Turner mix colors and specimens to dazzle your eyes.

If the kids tire of all these luscious blooms, there's a special treat for them. The Arboretum has seven Fairy Tale Castles designed and built by local architecture and construction firms just for active princes and princesses.

Don't miss the new tulips assigned custom names by their Holland breeders including the Laura Bush tulip and the Dallas Blooms tulip named after this world-class event. Indeed Emerson hit the nail on the head when he examined the rays of beauty we know as blooming flowers. See one of the best displays this country has to offer in our own backyard at Dallas Blooms.