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Saturday, April 1, 2017

No April Fools Day Prank OR Fake News: Dandelion has been retired!


On this April Fool's Day, I'm sorry to report that the announcement made by Crayola yesterday, regarding their retiring the crayon color known as dandelion; was not a pre-April Fool's Day prank!

And it was not fake news either!

The crayon known as dandelion (pictured above) will no longer be a part of any of their crayon collections. It is my understanding that some type of blue color will be replacing dandelion, which seems problematic to me given Vincent van Gogh's philosophy on the color yellow. He is known to have claimed, "There is no blue without yellow and orange," which is something I wrote about here on Blogger in 2011!

Yellow has been an important color in my urban garden, as evidenced by the members of the fauna community who visit my place; as well as by the flora which has grown here.

This includes one type of Helichrysum bracteatum (AKA Strawflowers) which were featured in one of my garden-themed moviesA Week in the Lives of my Helichrysum bracteatum (Strawflowers); which can be viewed within my Vimeo library. And a couple of images of this flower can be seen directly below.

STRAWFLOWERS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1
STRAWFLOWERS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1
STRAWFLOWERS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

The first and second pictures that are directly above are included in the digital versions (iBooks and ePub) of Cam's book, Words In Our Beak Volume One.


And they are also in the softcover version.


But I digress! Getting back to yellow flowers in my garden, I've grown yellow roses (also included in all versions of the book with a number of images including the one directly below).

YELLOW ROSES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

And one of my tulip varieties is yellow...

THIS TULIP VARIET IS FEATURED IN VOL 1

... while the others have yellow in them as seen in the following photographs.

THIS TULIP VARIET IS FEATURED IN VOL 1

THIS TULIP VARIET IS FEATURED IN VOL 1

THIS TULIP VARIET IS FEATURED IN VOL 1

THIS TULIP VARIET IS FEATURED IN VOL 1

THIS TULIP VARIET IS FEATURED IN VOL 1

A number of other images and information re each one of these tulip varieties is included in all the versions of Words In Our Beak Volume One. Moreover, the latter of the photos directly above is included in my fauna-flora-insect themed postcards...



... as is an insect (caterpillar) who has some yellow markings.

THIS CATERPILLAR IS FEATURED IN VOL 1

In any event, another flower type from my garden has a yellow stamen (and are in all versions of the book) is from my Paeonia suffruiticosa (AKA Tree Peony), as seen below.

PEONIES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1
PEONIES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1
PEONIES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1

I also grow another flower with a yellow stamen, crocuses, which can be seen below.



Moreover my Farfugium japonicum 'Cristata,' produced yellow flowers as seen in the next picture.


And my Fritillaria Michailovsky has touches of yellow on the petals.


The color yellow is also prominent in my Tropaelum majus (Nasturtium) as seen in the following photo.


Yellow is also a feature of the foliage of my kiwi vines and of my 'Tamukeyama' (Japanese Maple), as seen below (respectively).

KIWI VINES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1
KIWI VINES ARE FEATURED IN VOL 1
MY JAPANESE MAPLE IS FEATURED IN VOL 1
MY JAPANESE MAPLE IS FEATURED IN VOL 1

But yellow only a part of my garden in what I grow, two of the bird types who have visited here yellow! These include the American goldfinch...

THIS AMERICAN GOLDFINCH IS FEATURED IN VOL 3
THIS AMERICAN GOLDFINCH IS FEATURED IN VOL 3
THIS AMERICAN GOLDFINCH IS FEATURED IN VOL 3
... and the Baltimore oriole.

EMILY IS FEATURED IN VOL 3
EMILY IS FEATURED IN VOL 3
EMILY IS FEATURED IN VOL 3
EMILY IS FEATURED IN VOL 3
EMILY IS FEATURED IN VOL 3

Moreover, two other bird types who visit have yellow beaks! The beaks of European starlings are yellow during their mating season. The females' have a pink tip on their beak as seen in the pictures directly below.

STARLINGS HAVE A STORY  IN VOL 3
STARLINGS HAVE A STORY  IN VOL 3
STARLINGS HAVE A STORY  IN VOL 3
STARLINGS HAVE A STORY  IN VOL 3
STARLINGS HAVE A STORY  IN VOL 3
STARLINGS HAVE A STORY  IN VOL 3

And the males have a blue tip on their yellow beak.

STARLINGS HAVE A STORY  IN VOL 3
STARLINGS HAVE A STORY  IN VOL 3
STARLINGS HAVE A STORY  IN VOL 3
STARLINGS HAVE A STORY  IN VOL 3
STARLINGS HAVE A STORY  IN VOL 3

The other bird type with a yellow beak who visits my garden is the American robin, as seen below.

ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3
ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3
ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3
ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3
ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3
ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3
ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3
ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 3

I think I've made my point about the importance of yellow in my garden, but the influence of yellow doesn't stop there! With Easter occurring in mid April, the color yellow is sure to be represented as evidenced by the chicks and eggs seen below.





And what about Woodstock...


... where would he be without the color yellow?

Moreover what about the slicker one needs to wear during the April showers...


...the showers that help produce May's yellow flowers!

As I said at the onset of this post, Vincent van Gogh is known to have claimed, "There is no blue without yellow and orange," and, evidently he also said "How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the sun." 

I certainly am in agreement with him: Yellow is wonderful.

I'm sorry Crayola has dismissed the dandelion crayon by forcing it into retirement. There are "some," who thinks the company's decision is corny! I'm not naming names, as that "someone's" can be seen in the photo which is posted below, and says it all. (She is no April Fool!)



FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described here or on my website but arrangements might be able to be made under certain circumstances. My focus is on the Words In Our Beak book series, pictured below...

WORDS IN OUR BEAK BOOK SERIES

...whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal, whose photo is on the cover of each book. Words In Our Beak’s goal is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. Set in my rooftop urban garden in New York City. Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective. The books include hundreds of images of flora and fauna, links to movies, as well as to informative narratives that have been created by the autho
r.

Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books. Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White CollectionKaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

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