Thursday, May 11, 2023

Before The Blooms

 The Canadian Tulip Festival is underway here in Ottawa and Gatineau, and today I begin a series on it. I took these shots in late April, before the tulips were showing, taken in Major's Hill Park. A statue of Colonel John By, the British military engineer who led the building of the Rideau Canal and is deemed the founder of Ottawa, stands up here, with tulips around the base of the statue and extending behind.


It appears that they've added some tulips in nearby beds this year. This view features Gatineau in the distance, on the far shore of the Ottawa River.


And this view looks towards the American embassy.


At the far end of the flowerbed that extends away from Colonel By, we look westward, with Parliament Hill in the background.


A handful of tulips were actually showing. I'm inclined to think that given the bareness of the rest of the flowerbed that these were left behind last year and not dug up, and have been coming up early.


At the north end of the park are large flowerbeds, with the tulips not yet showing when I took these. The National Gallery is in the background here.


While Notre Dame is seen in the background here. When next I show you this park, it'll be quite different.

42 comments:

  1. There is beauty on the way! Finally the "good half" of the year starts.

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  2. ...many of our tulips are past bloom😢.

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  3. Oh my, seeing them in green is beautiful as well. Wonderful pictures

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  4. The transformation will be good to see.

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  5. I knew your tulip series must be coming soon, so I am happy to see it has begun. :-)

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  6. Interesting textures when there are no flowers yet in the beds.

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  7. Once they bloom it will be sensational!

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  8. You are getting ready to take lots of tulips photos

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  9. Funny how you manage to get notable things in your tulip photos like Colonel Bye's statue.

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  10. The tulips here have now mostly finished blooming. I'm enjoying the color splendor of wild flowers in the great outdoors at the moment.

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  11. Wonderful prelude of Spring photos ~

    Wishing you good health, laughter and love in your days,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  12. Nice image of Notre Dame in the background.

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  13. I see a promise of lots of color to come.

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  14. Lo lógico es que florezcan las plantas. Me gusta esa bella estatua.

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  15. I always look forward to your tulip photos, and how nice it is to see them in the early stages.

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  16. The tulip fields look so promising, and I know they will soon be spectacular from your blog header photo!

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  17. How exciting...love your tulip season.

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  18. They should be beautiful in the near future. :)

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  19. I have been waiting for the tulip posts!

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  20. I always enjoy your tulip season.

    All the best Jan

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