Readers of my blog will know that the St. Albert Botanical Park is a favorite location of mine for photographing flowers. The park, maintained by a corps of volunteers, is a beautiful hidden gem in St. Albert. And, fortunately for me, it is only a few minutes’ drive from my home.
I haven’t been over there this Spring as often as I would like but have managed to visit a couple of times in the past two weeks or so. The flowers are blooming beautifully right now, although it seems like anytime you visit, something will be blooming.
The rose garden is in full bloom with a wide variety of types of roses. In the galleries below, please click on the images to see a full sized version of the photo.
The Cottage Garden contains some very colorful beds. In the nearby Heritage Garden I came across a simple yet very attractive display involving a rusted old milk can and a round wooden planter. Nearby were some beautiful peonies in full bloom.
On one visit I came across a bed of lilies I had never noticed before, although apparently it has been there for years. Martagon Lilies are tall plants, many up to about 5′ in height with pendulous flowers. They are gorgeous. I don’t know how I could have missed them in the past, but I guess that’s one reason for frequent return visits to the park.
Here’s a couple more random flowers from my wanderings.
On my last visit, the Dahlia beds were really starting to pop. Roses and dahlias are probably my favorite flowers.
A lot of my images are taken with my Lensbaby Velvet 56 lens, which creates a nice soft focus and glow as you move away from the center of the image. I love the look that it gives. I decided to try it on a larger scene and I think it creates a beautiful, almost painterly, effect.
We are currently getting a bit of respite from the heat we have had for the past couple of weeks with some nice cool, rainy weather. Once this passes it will be time to visit the gardens again to see what blooms the rain brought!
Wind At Your Back 
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