On The Pathway

I returned to Commissioners Park twice in the last week. The first occasion was on Monday, Victoria Day, the last day of the festival. As you can imagine, it was quite busy. I started from the usual spot, at the north west portion of the park near the Dow's Lake Pavilion.

A gardening company on site happened to have some of these garden statues out and about, including one placed by a bed of tulips. I'll pick up here tomorrow.

Parliamentary

On Victoria Day this past Monday I was busy taking tulip photographs at a variety of sites. One of them was Parliament Hill, where the beds at the north end of the front lawn have tulips.

This shot looking up at Centre Block shows that there's some scaffolding up around the base of the Peace Tower, part of the work being done on the building.

A view to the west takes in the West Block, where the House of Commons is meeting for the next few years while work is happening.

The beds have a mix of reds, yellows, and some of the Canada 150 tulips. The last of them seems to be late in blooming this year, though there were some of them visible.

Each year I always make a point of getting a ground up view of tulips and the Peace Tower.

From the east end of the lawn, this takes in more of the West Block.

Coming out of Parliament, I photographed this view of planters filled with tulips before one of the gates.

This other perspective shows the East Block in the background, as well as the statue honouring Henry Harper, done in the Galahad style. Harper was a journalist, civil servant, and friend of William Lyon Mackenzie King; in 1901 he gave his life trying to save a woman who had fallen through the ice on the Ottawa River.

Mixed Colour

Tulip beds are planted with a mix of colours, as well as accompanying plants such as muscari.

Beds of tulips at the south end of Commissioners Park form the conclusion of this site's colours.

On this occasion, the path for me continued beneath the Bronson Avenue Bridge, where tulip sculptures were placed.

East of the bridge, alongside the parkway that follows the route of the Rideau Canal, this tulip bed can be found. Tomorrow I'll be at another site.

Photo Ops

Picking up where we left off yesterday, I came to the series of beds of tulips that are apart from the main path. These ones are the first to show colours in spring.

The main path, with beds of tulips alongside it, can be seen in the background of this shot.

I returned to the main path. On this visit, some of the tulip beds were showing, others had yet to bloom. I can tell you that from a visit made here on Monday, there were some bulbs yet to show, such as the Canada 150 bulb.

Tulips

A reminder to members of City Daily Photo- the theme for June 1st is Pink. Obviously here tulips will factor into my mix, as my series will be continuing into June. And to those readers in the Ottawa area, Doors Open Ottawa happens on June 1st and 2nd. I'll take in those events that I can.

Carrying on with this journey through Commissioners Park, I have more of the tulips.

And today I have the last of the panels. While Yousuf Karsh was renowned as a portrait photographer in Ottawa, his brother Malak became renowned as a landscape photographer. And he's deemed the father of the Tulip Festival, proposing the concept to the Ottawa Board of Trade in 1951. The festival has gone on ever since.