Garden in the Woods - Framingham, MA

A wonderful place to take pictures!  To quote their brochure: "In New England Wild Flower Society's renowned botanic garden, you'll discover an unrivaled collection of both rare and common native plants offering a changing tapestry of flowers and foliage through the spring, summer and fall seasons."
I wandered on the paths through wet and dry landscapes, beside ponds and meandering streams, shaded by trees of every kind marveling at the beauty all around me.

It was a slightly overcast day just after a night of gentle spring rain.  Perfect!  These lovely, airy things are Tiarella or Foamflower.  The website for Garden in the Woods offers a Bloom Board, which lists what is blooming in the garden at the present.

There is a native plant nursery on the premises as well as a garden shop.  Several classes are offered each season in horticulture, gardening, design trips, botany and conservation.

 The paths offer many places to just sit, relax and feast your eyes!

Trillium come in several colors and absolutely carpeted the ground!  Another violet-like ground cover is in the photograph below.  If you know the name of this one, let me know.  The droplets of rain on everything adds to the feeling of a wet spring and gives us an extra clue as to how big the flowers are.

This is an interrupted fern - one of the strangest plants I saw.  It is named for the blackened leafs that "interrupt" the green leaves right in the middle of the stem.  Green towards the bottom and again at the top.

And the best find of the day were these beautiful lady slippers!  I did not bring a tripod with me and in this low light situation I used the wider apertures available with my Canon 24-70mm macro lens.  That gave me a smaller depth of field with less in focus - a great way to photograph flowers.

The day I spent at Garden in the Woods was such a rich photographic experience.  I hope I can do a field trip with some of my students in the future!