Creation Museum: Gardens

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Surrounding the lake was a scenic garden featuring plants from all parts of the world. Equally impressive was the large variety of bridges. The one in this picture is a simple wooden arch bridge with low, arched railings.

 Arched Bridge

In contrast, the bridge pictured below uses the more common straight design. However, its interesting use of light posts as part of the railing makes it unusual.

Lighted Bridge

Purple People Bridge: Flowers 2

Around the U.S.

A number of the planters also contained red plants. The broad-leafed red vegetation below added some interest to the planter it occupied.

Red & Spiky

And finally, I ran across these pink-leafed plants. They seemed to be thriving, despite their unusual color.

Pink Plants

Purple People Bridge: Flowers

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As I mentioned earlier, one side of the Purple People Bridge was lined with planters containing a variety of colorful flowers, many of them purple.

These colorful bluish-purple flowers made a nice contrast in front of the geometrical patterns of the bridge behind them.

Purple Flowers

This cluster of pink blooms seemed a little lost in the sea of green vegetation and unusual purple flowers surrounding it. I could hardly tell which plant each flower belonged to.

Pink & Purple

Topiary Park: Orange and Red

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Next to the petunias was a bed of bright orange marigolds. These flowers didn't seem to be suffering from the heat quite as much.

Marigolds

 

This next interesting clump of plants, about five feet tall, had unusual red-and-green-striped leaves with small red flowers at the top.

Stripes

Topiary Park: More Flowers

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The small pond near the middle of the park was a home for several shrub "boats," a small flock of ducks, and a much larger number of lily pads. This bright pink flower was one of the few blooming on the pond.

Water Lily

These petunias didn't look their best, as they seemed to be suffering from a lack of water. However, I thought the sunlight made an interesting pattern of shadows on the slightly wilted flowers.

Petunias

Topiary Park: Black-Eyed Susans

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Besides giant shrubs, the Topiary Park contains a wide variety of colorful flowers, most of which were in bloom at the time I visited. One particular patch of Black-Eyed Susans on a background of small red-leafed plants caught my eye.

Black-Eyed Susan

 

A recent lack of rain left some of the flowers slightly wilted, but most of them looked fresh. I found these near the small pond.

Green and Yellow

Floral Clock

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After seeing all the spectacular views of Niagara Falls, I headed north along the Niagara River. Along the way, I stopped to see this giant floral clock. The hands actually turn around, and the letters around the outside spell out "N-I-A-G-A-R-A - P-A-R-K-S."

Floral Clock

 

Near the clock I found this triangular flowerbed. Its combination of pink, red, and greenish white made for an interesting picture.

Flower Bed

Canadian Side

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The Canadian side of Niagara Falls offers different, and sometimes better, views of the falls, especially Horseshoe Falls. Although less than three times as wide as the American Falls, Horseshoe Falls carries nine times as much water, about 720,000 gallons per second. The greenish tint is a result of the salts and finely ground rock dissolved in the water.

This picture shows the Horseshoe Falls with the Maid of the Mist. An enormous cloud of mist seems to be perpetually rising from the base of the falls, thinning out as the wind carries it away.

Horseshoe Falls

Here's a closer view of the brink of Horseshoe Falls. The falls drop about 173 feet to the water below.

Brink of the Falls

Unlike the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls, pictured below, cascade over a series of large boulders at their base. Although these falls are hard to see at times through the mist, I managed to capture this shot when the air was clear.

American Falls

This last photograph shows a bed of pink flowers along a walkway near the falls. I believe they are geraniums.

Pink Geraniums

Green Beans and Sunflowers

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I recently found this shot of a green been patch among my garden pictures. It's hard to find something more vibrantly green than young bean plants in the early summer.

Green Bean Plants

 

These tiny yellow flowers belong to another garden plant: a sunflower. The middle part of a sunflower's "flower" is actually composed of hundreds of tiny flowers, each of which produces a sunflower seed once it is pollinated.

Sunflower Flowers

Clear Creek Metro Park

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Clear Creek Metro Park is one of the most secluded parks in the Columbus Metro Parks system. With 12 miles of trails stretching over more than 5,000 acres, Clear Creek is also among the largest of the Metro parks.

I recently visited the park and hiked several miles along the rugged trails, most of which wind through dense forests and around steep cliffs and deep ravines. This photo shows one view of the forest with the bright sunshine slightly visible in the background.

Forest

 

Clear Creek Metro Park also has its share of wildflowers. I spotted these purple flowers along one of the trails near the park's namesake waterway, Clear Creek.

Wildflowers

Primrose Rose

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Primrose Rose
 

The waxy look on this last rose is a little unusual. Most of these roses were dried up because of the heat, but I found this one in almost perfect condition.

Peach Rose

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Peach Rose
 

This peach-colored rose was another specimen at the Columbus Park of Roses. The yellowish center sets off the darker stamens in the center.

Light Pink Rose

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Light Pink Rose

Here's another pink rose.

Multicolored Rose

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Multicolored Rose

Here's another beautiful rose. It had an interesting pattern of white, yellow, and pink mixed together.

Dark Pink Rose

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Dark Pink Rose

Many of the roses at the park were a little wilted because of the lack of rain, but I found this pink one that wasn't suffering too much.

Striped Rose

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Striped Rose

The striking pattern on this flower showed up beautifully in the bright sunshine.

Yellow Rose

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Yellow Rose

A few weeks ago I visited the Park of Roses in Columbus. It was an amazing place, with more rose varieties than I could count in huge beds of colorful flowers. The park also included a water fountain and observation tower. This yellow flower was one of the more unusual varieties I found.

Yellow Flowers

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Yellow Flowers

I found these interesting yellow-green plants near the blue flowers I posted earlier. They grew intermingled with dark-leaved plants and a few prickly weeds.

Pink Rose

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Pink Rose

This was another specimen from the rose garden. It seemed to be begging for a picture.

Blue Flowers

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Blue Flowers

I found these tiny flowers growing next to a grape arbor.