Ottawa has had a Tulip Festival for many years. It recognizes the connection between Holland and Canada going back to WWII when Canadian troops liberated Holland. Each year Holland sends tulip bulbs to Canada.
Dows Lake is the central location for the floral displays, although other areas in the city feature tulips as well.
The festival is held for 11 days starting with the second weekend of May. Mother Nature does not always co-operate, so early and late blooming tulips are planted along with "normal" tulips. This year has been cool, but a good number of the early bloomers were in full colour. We visited a few days before the official opening to avoid the crowds, it was a cloudy cool day so the blooms did not open.
The mid-bloomers were getting ready
Lots of early bloomers were in full blossom
A gentle breeze activated the blooms
Some of the tulips have multiple blooms on the stem
A few samples of individual blossoms
It's not unusual to see an "orphan" bloom in amongst a flower bed. They usually are easy to spot
Daffodils are often in early beds. They usually start to finish just as the tulips start to bloom. This year there was a bed of hyacinths
Beds of fully blossoming flowers always tempt me to try"Intentional Camera Movement".i.e. moving the camera while the shutter is exposing the photo. Sometimes I get lucky, other times....
The weeping willow across Dows Lake stood out especially with filtered sunlight on them
