Category: Pt. Defiance Park

The worst part of Spring is that there are too many beautiful places to be all at once that I inevitably miss a great deal of its beauty. On an earlier walk without a camera, I noticed that the Iris had started to bloom, but I’ve been so busy birding that I wasn’t able to get back with a camera until Wednesday. I soon discovered that some of my favorite Iris are already gone, which isn’t to say that there weren’t still a few dazzling examples to be seen.

Experience has taught me that if the Iris are in decline the roses will be in full bloom. Although there were a few late-bloomers waiting for my heat and sunshine, there were so many roses blooming that it was difficult to decide which to photograph. Since a lot of the yellow roses were starting to fade to white, I decided to focus on them. When I think of roses, I tend to favor yellow roses,

though it’s impossible to ignore a striking yellow and red combination.

Of course roses aren’t the only flowers to be seen at the Point Defiance Garden. Two brilliant red Poppies

waved above the yellow and orange Marigolds that lined the outside edge of the Rose Garden.

I hope it hasn’t begun to seem that I am running a summer photo camp for grandkids on my blog, but I didn’t want to slight anyone by skipping our latest excursion where we took Lael and Mira down to the Point Defiance Rose Garden with cameras. The first three shots are by Mira, while the next three are by Lael.

I ended up choosing their shots I liked best to post, but it was interesting to see how their photos differed from shots I generally take at the Rose Garden.

I often take pictures of insects on flowers as Mira did in this shot,

but I usually back up further and capture the whole flower, not just a part of it.

This brilliant red-yellow flower is striking, one I, too, might feature,

but I would work hard to make sure that its beauty wasn’t blocked by leaves.

This shot by Mira is probably the closest to attaining the kind of look I try to capture when I photograph flowers.

Lael actually took several shots of our group during our excursion, but this shot of Mira is my favorite.

In a lot of her shots Lael included several flowers

instead of focusing on, and isolating, a single flower like I usually do.

My favorite Lael shot, though, was this one of an Echinacea (I think?)

she shot through the fence, perhaps because I would never have thought of shooting it this way.

Leslie insisted I needed to include a shot of Lael in this blog entry if I was going to include a shot of Mira so she sent me this shot she took on the outing.

Of course, I was focusing on presenting Lael’s work when I chose the shot of Mira, not Mira, per se. I have, however, been criticized rather regularly for not getting enough shots of people when I’m out on a family hike.

Though the Rhododendron Garden is definitely my favorite garden at Pt. Defiance Park, particularly this time of year, I find it nearly impossible to drive by the Rose Garden without checking out what is in bloom. As it turns out, not much, though there are a few early roses now.

I’m not really sure I like this red rose, but I was fascinated by the black edges.

If red roses are the most popular rose, at least in poetry, then pink roses can’t be far behind.

My particular favorites, though, tend to toward the orange tones.

The poor little iris garden isn’t even gated off and sits on the other side of the road, but the flowers can still hold their own this time of year whether they’re royal purple

or royal gold.

Pt. Defiance Park is my own little empire.

Finally, we’re beginning to get a little sunshine, even if it’s only between rain showers. Though I’ll admit I felt a little like these turtles trying to catch a few rays,

it’s comforting to know that fellow Tacoma residents love Pt. Defiance Park as much as we do.

The gardens were in full bloom; these Jonquils were so rambunctious that they had to be fenced in.

There were several tulip trees in bloom, but this was my favorite.

I was a little surprised to see that some real tulips were already completely open, almost at the end of their season,

though some cherry and plum blossoms were just beginning to bloom.

The wet weather and warm temperatures seem to have joined to make this a spectacular Spring. Leslie and I spent a long weekend enjoying at Pt. Defiance park, the beach, and Belfair enjoying Spring’s Beauty.

Unfortunately, the weather has also been great for the weeds and the lawn, so we had to spend much of Sunday working in the yard.