City Daily Photo Theme Day: Garden

The first day of each month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo. For August, that theme is Garden. See how others are interpreting this theme right here.

I am in the midst of a series from the Canadian Museum of Nature, one of several national museums in the national capital area. The shots today were actually the first I took on a visit in early July, but held back for the theme. At the west end of the property is the Landscapes of Canada Gardens, which presents plants, grasses, shrubs, trees, and flowers from four distinct ecosystems in the country. I photograph the Gardens each season, and so now it is time for a summer view. I approached from the southwest corner, where Boreal Forest awaits.

Low lying shrubs here caught my eye this time out.

Prairie Grasslands is the next area, with the grasses and flowers of the western region growing like mad during an Ottawa summer.

They were starting to obstruct the view of the Museum itself.

A sculpture crosses the trail- an iceberg rendered in steel, by the late artist and inventor Bill Lishman.

A look to the left among the rocks finds plants and flowers of the third ecosystem- Arctic Tundra. These caught my eye too. Likewise, these plants grow very well in an Ottawa summer.

A look back at the Museum and across the Prairie Grasslands.

From the west side of the property, another view of the iceberg and Arctic Tundra vegetation.

I carried on along the path.

This view again of the grasslands- some of which were getting as tall as me.

The last ecosystem circles around a set of sculptures- Mammoth Steppe. A family of three mammoths has plants and flowers growing around it that were growing in the time these animals existed, in the wake of the last ice age. The glass tower in the background features a scale model of the Moon.