Tulip

 Happy Victoria Day to my fellow Canadians. Today marks the end of the Tulip Festival in Ottawa and Gatineau, but just the start of my series on it. It has been a late year for the tulips, and for those in the area, it's still worthwhile to come out and check them out.

My first deliberate excursion was on the first Sunday of the festival, a bit over a week ago. Normally weekends during the festival are very crowded at Commissioners Park (and a nightmare for the photographer), but I left home at seven in the morning, and home is just a five minute walk away from the park, which rests around the north and east shores of Dow's Lake. It is the largest site of tulips for the festival, and this early in the morning, there were few people around. This first bed is at the west entrance to the park.

The tiny purple blooms we see are muscari, which are a common companion to the tulips.

This particular bed was dedicated by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands in 1967. She and her daughters took refuge in Canada during the Second World War when she was the crown princess. After her death, the bed was re-dedicated in her name.

Mixed

I have some odds and ends from the last few weeks today. I start with these shots taken at the end of March. I was proceeding to Major's Hill Park, and photographed down the length of the Ottawa Locks, where the Rideau Canal meets the Ottawa River. 

The ice was breaking on the river. Across the way, the Canadian Museum of History is on the far shore, and the Gatineau Hills loom in the background.

A statue of Colonel John By stands in Major's Hill Park. He is the British military officer who led the building of the Rideau Canal, and is deemed the founder of the city. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the city, and the start of the Canal.

One day I came across this car, which had a formidable fellow decaled into the rear glass.

Another night, I was at Lansdowne Park, and took these shots of the Aberdeen Pavilion.

In the second half of April, coming back from Portage Bridge, I photographed this pair of Canada geese.

Nearby, a view of the work in progress, the future main branch of the Ottawa Public Library, which will share some space with Library and Archives Canada.

I returned to Lansdowne one night. There's work going on at the east end of the stadium to build an event centre before shifting to the second stage- a rebuild of the north stands, which is in need of it. The lawn is closed off, and a crane is visible, lit up at night. 

Back to Major's Hill Park, late in the month. Tulips were starting to push up out of the flowerbeds around and behind Colonel By.

At the end of the month, I stopped by the War Museum and took this shot of the Ottawa River, just upshore from the Chaudiere Falls.

After leaving, I was passing by this pond, where two Canada geese were swimming.

Scilla are the first flowers of the spring, tiny blue flowers that bloom for a few days late in April and into early May. Central Park in the Glebe is a good spot for finding them.

Cascade

 At the end of April, I stopped at the Chaudiere Falls, where the Ottawa River drops through a ring dam into a long cascade of falls and rapids. At this time, all of the gates on the dam were open, and the falls were at full force. It made for quite a sight.

I took a panoramic shot. I must have paused it, as it has the look of two photos stitched together.

I took two videos on this visit, here and here.

Good timing with this one- a gull was flying by.

The falls were raging that day.

Gardens

 A bit of a coda to the series I have just finished off with. Each season I come back to the Canadian Museum of Nature to photograph the Landscapes of Canada Gardens. The plants, grasses, shrubs, and trees of four distinct ecosystems in the country grow here on the west side of the property. I came earlier this month for a spring visit. I start with Boreal Forest; this covers a vast swath of the country, and trees and various bushes from the region are found here.

This is a relatively recent addition to the Gardens.

I came by a larch tree and decided to experiment. Larch looks like an evergreen, in that the leaves look like needles, but in the fall, they turn a deep gold and drop the leaves. They are just growing back now.

Prairie Grassland is another ecosystem. The long grasses and plants of the Canadian west are replanted here. At this time of year, they are just starting to wake up.

An iceberg sculpture in steel crosses the path. This is the work of the late inventor and artist William Lishman.

Arctic Tundra is the third ecosystem. Among the rocks here, grasses and shrubs of the tundra grow well over the course of an Ottawa summer.

The last ecosystem is Mammoth Steppe. Plants that were around during the time of the mammoths and which still exist are planted here. Grasses have gotten a head start ahead of the chives.

Some of those plants are included behind the family of mammoths at the end of the path, though over here, they're just waking up.

A prelude to things to come- tulips line the way to the main entrance of the Museum. We'll be starting the Tulip Festival series shortly.