Zooming - April 2015

There were so many zoomed images to choose from this month…and it is only the 16th! I couldn’t resist a clip from one of the Zentangles to include with the brilliant spring color of maple flowers (my back yard) and skunk cabbage (Brookside Gardens) early in the month.

Brookside Gardens is full of photography opportunities in April. Some is old growth like evergreen ferns and dried flowers from last summer. Other things are the harbingers of spring - bulbs and witch hazel blooming. There are more birds around too.

The rest of the images are from our loop trip from Maryland down to North Carolina to visit wild life refuges. I’ll be posting more images in the next few weeks. The images below are from the barrier islands - lots of beaches…pines...shore birds…turtles.

And then we crossed the sound to the wetlands. The colorful tile (rightmost clip below) is from the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge visitor’s center. We saw otters, spiders, mushrooms, fiddleheads, maple samaras, vultures (turkey and black), and an alligator! There was a formal gardens too (camellias, daffodils, statuary)!

Brookside Gardens Walk About

I’ve already posted about the birds and the bulbs I photographed in my walk around Brookside Gardens the first weekend of April. Today I’m showcasing my favorite images that didn’t fit in those previous categories.

On the boardwalk between Brookside Gardens and Brookside Nature Center I noticed a recently cut stump. The rings were interesting because the tree cross section was not round. Tree cookies from this tree would be very different from the ones we typically use for field trips with elementary schools. The rings in this stump would show up wonderfully with a little sanding.

A little further along the boardwalk - and the reason I had gone to the boardwalk to begin with - were the skunk cabbages. They are past the purple and green bloom stage and are all around the bald cypress with its knees. Both tree and cabbage like wet soil.

As I walked back toward the gardens I noticed a dried blossom from last summer catching the light and marveled that it had survived the ravages of winter so well.

There were several early magnolias beginning to bloom. At this stage - the fuzzy coverings are almost as interesting as the flowers!

The pink saucer magnolia buds frequently seem to be damaged by cold weather…but these battered buds have an abstract appeal.

I tried a background experience with the Lenten roses against a rock wall.

The witch hazel is still colorful but past prime.

There were three nests in the stand of river birch - two for birds and one a squirrel. I wondered if they birds’ nests were being built or from last year. Both of them seemed to have colorful (man-made) fibers woven into their structure.

These pine cones were probably blown from the nearby pines with the recent breezes since they don’t appear trampled.

Brookside Gardens in April - a great place for a photographic walk about. 

Brookside Gardens Early Spring - March 2015

Last weekend was a pretty cold to be walking around Brookside Gardens but I did notice some harbingers of spring.

The witch hazel is the first tree to show colors in the spring. Brookside has yellow and red specimens. The color comes in the form of festive streamers around the red center of the flower.

There were a few skunk cabbage blooms. The area was thick with the plants last spring so I knew where to look off the boardwalk between Brookside Gardens and Brookside Nature Center. Next time I go - early next week probably - I’ll probably see a lot more of these plants. This is the first year I’ve thought to look for them early enough to see them emerge from the ground.

Of course there are buds and new cones everywhere…the two below were so large I didn’t need the loupe!