The first Arbor Day was held in Nebraska 140 years ago; by some accounts nearly a million trees were planted that day. Arbor Day is now celebrated in many countries, although the date it’s observed on varies widely from region to region, and depends a lot on the local climate and best times for planting. In the United States April also brings us Earth Day, which is a much younger holiday; apparently it began in 1969 or 1970. But regardless of whether Arbor Day (or Earth Day) falls in April where you live, I hope you’ll enjoy the fresh and hopeful young trees in our new Saplings theme… maybe it will inspire you to plant one!
I wonder if any of the saplings planted back in the spring of 1872 during that very first Arbor Day are still alive today? If so, they must be truly venerable by now… maybe something like the magnificent trees in our new Forests theme, which explores the quiet depths of diverse beautiful woodlands, from the undergrowth to the treetops.
In case you have an older version of Windows, or prefer to just use a single desktop image instead of a theme, we’ve published some of these images as standalone wallpapers:
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Every day we receive more submissions of art and photography to our open call, and this week I am happy to introduce five themes featuring some of the best of these. The first two – Garden Seasons and Light and Dark – are by photographer Nick Boyer.
I like the indefinably vintage and slightly moody atmosphere of his photography.
We have a new digital art theme, too: Recursions showcases the intriguing fractal-based images of Ricky Kendall.
We also just launched two brand-new dynamic themes, which we’ll update every week with new images via an RSS feed. Both of these new themes will feature the works of photographers participating in the open call, and are conceived as companions to the Flora Dynamic (photographs of plants), Terra Dynamic (landscape photography), and Insects Dynamic themes we published a few months ago.
Aqua Dynamic will be an exploration of the protean element of water, from raindrops on windowpanes to ocean waves, waterfalls, and churning whitewater rivers. We may even include some images of water in vapor form, as clouds.
As you can probably predict from the name, the Fauna Dynamic theme will feature photographs of animals – including both wildlife and pets – and ranging from small (tiny snails) to large (giant whales).
We also have two brand-new Bing themes this week – Best of Bing: China 2…
…and Best of Bing: Australia 3.
Changing gears from photography to illustrative art, we have the new Microsoft Hardware Limited Edition Artists Series theme, which includes designs created by nine global artists for the Limited Edition Artist Series of wireless mice.
I hope this new crop of themes and wallpapers will help bring a little of the fresh atmosphere of spring indoors to your Windows desktop. And as usual, more is in the works, so keep coming back to the Windows Personalization Gallery to check out the new Windows 7 themes and wallpapers.