it is hard to take a photograph inside the Palm house – my lens fogged up in the heat and humidity. Anyway it was a very quick visit as I had my 10 year old son in tow who was unlikely to be too interested in horticulture.
When visiting Botanic gardens he is much more interested in a dinosaur skeleton in the nearby Ulster museum or the Egyptian mummy or the lasers and mirrors on the 5th floor. But the Palm house makes a much easier subject to photograph than the museum.
and a close up
this morning was very wet – but an opportunity to visit the dark hedges to take a few photographs in between the showers. The rain has 2 advantages – keeping away the tourists and creating puddles for reflection. Even so we still had to dodge about half a dozen people with their cameras and a number of cars. Apparently the dark hedges have become the most photographed natural feature in Northern Ireland – perhaps partly because it appeared in game of thrones. They are all beech trees, were planted in the 18th century as a grand entrance to a country house and are haunted (best visited at dusk to check out that feature)
A few shots of our half term weekend – a walk along the coastal path at Dunserverick.
Thanks to Sam (my father in law) for all his gardening over the years…..I know he planted this Camellia right next to our front door because he planted everything. It looks great after a wet winter morning.
I took these shots a few weeks ago on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning. Lagan Island is the home of the “city”council as well as a conference and arts centre, right on the banks of the River Lagan, and just downstream from the Union bridge.
From this shot on the bridge you can see Castle gardens in the distance where a few of my recent posts have been based.
at this point of the river the water is calm before it reaches a weir just above the conference centre building, making it a great place on a morning like this to catch the reflection.
The conference centre has the river on one side and a restored canal on the other. The lock is still there to see and was known as Hanna’s lock. It would have been a busy water way in the 19th century but closed in the mid 20th century.
mypictureblog 