Revisiting Wheaton Park and Brookside Gardens

Earlier this month, I decided to walk around Brookside Gardens with a guest from out of town and had a different experience than I anticipated. When we got there the parking at Brookside Gardens was limited by construction and full. There was no parking next door at the Brookside Nature Center either. I remembered a path through the forest from Wheaton Regional Park’s play ground to Brookside Gardens…and found parking near the playground.

I had not been to Wheaton Park for almost 20 years (we went to this park frequently when my daughter was the age to enjoy it) and it had changed dramatically in those years. Gone were the wooden structures that supported slides and swings and climbing walls. All the supporting structures now are brightly painted metal. There is more color in the slides (yellow tubes) and synthetic mulch (blues and greens). The hill has been terraced to reduce the erosion since the heavy use thins the grass. I liked that the park had been renovated….and that it was still a popular place.

There are still animal sculptures just the right size for children. I managed to get this picture when the elephant did not have a rider.

The path was just as I remembered through the woods - asphalt and wide enough for maintenance vehicles. And then we were at Brookside Gardens. The hibiscus will have to be brought in soon but the flowers were enjoying the last of the warm days. Seed pods were showy on some plants. The lily pads did not have flowers but there were buds; would they have time to bloom? The mums were just beginning to open.

Centennial Lake in August 2014 (part 2)

I posted about the lake and wildlife in part 1 of this post. The focus today is plants. At the very end there was a wasp on a flower of Queen Anne’s Lace. I found myself more intrigued by the bundle of blossoms before they opened and wondered how many of them would complete the process to seed before frost.

The Joe Pye Weed was past its best looks. In previous years I’ve managed to catch the large flower heads when they were at their most attractive to butterflies - but it hasn’t happened this year. It seems like none of the butterfly species are as plentiful this year.

The water lilies are not plentiful at Centennial Lake and they too are showing the wear of the summer. Some of the lily pads are already beginning deteriorate and there are few flowers.

This thistle may mature before the first frost but what about the bud beside it?

Some plants have already made seeds. The image below is of an amaranth and was captured with the 10x loupe.

All of the plants I photographed were in areas of the park that are not mowed frequently. They are mowed occasionally to keep them as meadows rather than young forests.

Zooming - July 2014

We are in the full swing of summer - lotus and water lilies - summer wild flowers and fireworks. Those are major themes for the zoom collages this month. 

The first collage is of lotus at the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens.

The water lilies are also from Kenilworth.

The squiggles from botched firework pictures actually turned out to be worth a collage too.

Last, but not least, a zooming collage from my walk around the Howard County Conservancy Honor Garden.

Water Lilies at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

I’ve posed previously about the lotuses, dragonflies, and a Great Blue Heron at the Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens. Today’s post is focused on water lilies.

There are far fewer varieties that when the gardens were a commercial concern in the early decades of the 1900s, but the ones that remain are still beautiful. The storm had caused some damage to the lily pads but not as much as the lotuses experienced; there is an advantage for not being as far out of the water.

I found myself trying to capture images of dragonflies and bees on the flowers…..and trying to capture all the different colors. I picked the best images I captured for the slideshow below.

And I can’t resist included this golden dragonfly. It seemed different than any of the others.

Dragonflies at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

The lotuses are blooming profusely at the Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens in Washington DC; I’ll post about them later this week. The dragonflies are the focus for today. There were so many of them when we were walking around the ponds yesterday that I managed to capture quite a few images. They like to perch on dried seed pods,

Folded lotus leaves and

The tips of lotus buds.

The sun reflects off their wings giving them a metallic gleam.

Sometimes their color is jewel like: powder blue, deep green, black veined gossamer.

Sometimes their thorax looks muscle bound

And sometimes it looks it has sub-segments.

This one has droopy wings.

This last picture is my favorite - the color of the uncurling lotus and the dragonfly perching for a few seconds before flying out again over the water.