Wednesday 22 August 2012

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

Today we went to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, a quiet and unique escape just 30 minutes outside of downtown DC. As anyone who follows my blog knows, I do love gardens of all kinds and this was no exception. 

The gardens are part of the National Park Service and situated in the tidal flats of the Anacostia River. In addition to the ponds of many lilies and aquatic plants, there are birds, beavers, dear, egrets, herons, dragonflies and damselflies - to name a few.

I was pushing the the stroller, so Allie took at least half of these pictures.  She used my camera, but she has the same one so familiar with the settings.  And she has an artistic eye. You can recognize which ones are hers because they are the best ones! Thank you, Allie.

We were there just after 9 am, though we understand that 7 am is the time to witness many birds and the lilies opening their flowers for the day in the blooming months (June to October for most species)

Difficult to capture the beauty of ponds, ponds, and more ponds of lilies.






I like the light filtered through the back of this lily leaf, still sparkling with the morning dew.



Lots of ducks in the tidal pools and river.

You can maybe see the Great Blue Heron out there in the water.  For some reason I did not bring my big telephoto lens. How silly is that?

'Tis the season for Monarch butterflies. 

Most curiously shaped lily pads - a frog jumped off just before this was taken.



We thought this reminded us of a Monet painting.  Though I think he did it better. 



If you look closely, you will see the bee in the centre of the flower. 



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