Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

Along the banks of the Anacostia River in the District of Columbia is the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. It's operated by the the National Park Service.  In mid-July, it's predictably hot and humid, so I arrived when the gates opened at 8:00 a.m.  As you can see at the right,  it does get crowded around 10:30 am, when I'm leaving for the day. 

The main attraction for me is the large number of water lotus in bloom.  The huge flower is matched by the disc-like seed pods that appears later.

Photographing the water lotus has its difficulties.  They grow in large, shallow water pools that are easy to admire, but much more difficult to photograph from dry land.

Luckily, on this visit there were no mosquitos at add to the challenge.  I find the new flower buds very appealing, if I can find an uncluttered setting with a bit of early morning light.

Another favorite setting is the combination of a new bud plus a fully open flower.

Mixed in with the lotus are pools with water lilies.

 

Water lilies are more challenging because they are not standing on a tall stalk at my eye level, and frankly, getting down to their level muddied my knees, and attracted bemused looks from non-photographers.  (I'm used to it.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was another unexpected flowering plant in the shallow water, identified by my friend Rosemarie Parker as spider lily.  It's appearance suggested tome "orchid", so I had to once again get down low to capture its beauty.

I was rather pleased with the resulting image.

An added bonus to my early bird arrival was capturing one of only three parking spaces under some shade trees.  

Paul Schmitt