Pink, Pink, Pink. I’m Taking a Stand — I Like It

Detail of "Pretty in Pink" by Valerie Lee and Robin Lee, J. Miller Flowers, Oakland. Photo by Barbara Newhall — Detail of “Pretty in Pink” by Valerie Lee and Robin Lee, J. Miller Flowers, Oakland. *Photo by Barbara Newhall*

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Valerie Lee and Robin Lee let themselves go soft on pink this spring. The occasion was the annual Tulip Exhibition at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, and their design, “Pretty in Pink,” was just that — an unabashedly sweet concoction that stood in contrast to some nearby edgier, darker takes on the tulip.

Susan Bell of Alameda, for instance, paired sweet-smelling lilacs with not-so-sweet, nearly black tulip blossoms. And Agnes Kang of the Piedmont Garden Club dared an arrangement that spilled louche, orange-spangled flowers from an out-sized martini glass.

Fearlessly Pink

The fearlessly sentimental Lees stuck to their guns and to their color choice. They presented the world with a bouquet of tulips in varying shades of pink, which were set off by tones of — equally demure — green.

I’m going to take a stand here. I like pink. I’m all for putting more pink (and maybe a little less edge) out into the world. And so . . . voila!

More tulips at “A Cemetery Comes to Life — With Tulips.” You might also enjoy, “A Case of the Human Condition: Feminine, Feminist Pink.” More about my new book at WrestlingWithGodBook.com.