Gardens

 It is my tradition each season to photograph the Landscapes of Canada Gardens as it changes through the year. I came up on Hallowe'en during the afternoon for that purpose. The Gardens are on the west side of the property at the Canadian Museum of Nature. Plants, trees, grasses, and shrubs from four distinct ecosystems are gathered here. The first is Boreal Forest, which covers a vast swath of Canada.

Among the trees of that forest is the larch, or tamarack. They look like an evergreen, but their needle-like leaves turn golden in the late fall and drop. 

Signage along the path includes information on the ecosystems.

Prairie Grassland is the next ecosystem. Most of the grasses had already been cropped for the winter, but this was still here. It grows well in an Ottawa environment, a mix of grasses and flowers.

This large sculpture crosses the path. This iceberg in steel is by the late Canadian artist and inventor Bill Lishman. 

This is taken from the sidewalk on the west. Among the rocks between here and the path are the plants and shrubs of the third ecosystem, Arctic Tundra. These plants grow very well in an Ottawa summer, but have already gone dormant, waiting on the winter.

Families can have their names inscribed over at the northwest and southwest corners, sometimes in memory of a loved one. The museum is particularly popular with families with children.

The last ecosystem is Mammoth Steppe, with plants such as the chive having already gone dormant for the autumn. These plants and grasses are survivors of the ice age, having had been around in the time of the mammoths, and still present today.

A family of three mammoths in statue form line the path as it leads to the museum, with the vegetation of their environment behind them.

They seem best photographed this time of year, when the trees beyond them are at their peak.

One last shot. The Queens Lantern, as it is called, contains a model of the Moon. I'll have to pay a return visit sometime. Perhaps on a day with less kids around.