Spring Garden

Once a season I document the Landscapes of Canada Gardens at the Canadian Museum of Nature. Situated on the west side of the property, it features plants, grasses, shrubs, flowers, and trees from four distinct ecosystems in the country. A few days back I came by early one morning and documented. I started in the Boreal Forest area, where a number of trees and bushes and other plants can be found.

The path starts to transition to Prairie Grassland, where grasses are just starting to wake up in the spring. The path is a crescent that goes through the gardens, and up to a year or two ago portions of this area were roped off to discourage people from passing through the Grasslands portion. This hasn't stopped the purely lazy local walker who seems obliged to cut a path right through instead of taking the paved pathway. Blame the self-entitled locals- I do, having had watched one of them walk their dog right through an area that's supposed to be left alone while I was here. It's something I've tried to avoid photographing in the last year when I've done this series, but you can see the worn path on this shot.

Across from the paved path are a multitude of rocks, large and small, with shrubs and grasses growing among them. These plants constitute those of the next ecosystem, Arctic Tundra, and they've adapted well to the Ottawa climate.

Looming over the path itself is a work of art, a steel iceberg by the Canadian inventor and artist Bill Lishman.

Here it's seen from the sidewalk to the west.

The path carries on towards the Museum itself, with the last ecosystem to the left of the path.

Mammoth Steppe features plants and other vegetation that existed at the time of the mammoths.

A family of three mammoths in statue form, that pre-date the Gardens, stands alongside the path.

One last shot of the Museum, with the Queens Lantern. A model of the Moon hangs inside.