A Dragonfly Atop a Lotus Bud

Don't you just love it when you end up at exactly the right place at the right time to see something new and wonderful?

I woke up thinking about the lotus buds I had spotted last week when I was visiting the Arboretum with a friend. I suspected that at least one bud had bloomed and I was hoping to catch some photos of it open. More hot temperatures were expected later in the day, but I decided a morning visit to the gardens would be just the ticket. So I hopped in my car and went to the Arboretum!

The lily pond is really splendid this time of year. It is covered in water lilies that are just gorgeous, and they bloom in several colors. Several taller lotus plants stand in the center of the pond. One lotus had already bloomed; that green shower-head looking thing in the photo above is the seed pod that remains afterward.

There are several more lotus buds coming on the lily pond, and a male twelve-spotted skimmer, Libellula pulchella, was taking turns sitting on different buds, overseeing *his* lily pond.

I got some cool shots of it, and suddenly there were two ladies standing near me, admiring the plants and the dragonfly. We chatted it up and realized we knew some of the same people at Penn State, where all three of us had worked before retiring.

They were afraid they were getting in my shots, but I said Oh no, not to worry; I'd already taken about two dozen shots of the dragonfly sitting on the lotus, and they should go ahead and do whatever they liked.

I mentioned the new pollinator and bird gardens that have been under construction for the past two years, and the one lady said she had seen a news story stating that it had already opened! So I strolled on over to check it out.

And indeed, I was there just as they started removing the fences and opening the gates, allowing visitors for the first time into the new fancy gardens! I ran into Shari Edelson, the Arboretum's Director of Operations, and I told her it was beautiful! "Welcome! You're one of the very first visitors!" she said.

So it was that during the very first morning that the new gardens were open to the public, I was among the first ones to see it all! How marvelous is that!?? I sort of lucked into it with my desire to check on those lotus buds. So you can say it was a lotus that lured me here at just the right time!

There is much to see and do and photograph in the new gardens, and over time, I will show you more of it. For now, I am including just one photo in the extras, of a new water feature in the gardens. The construction of the new gardens involved planting 143,000 new plants, with planting mostly done by volunteers. For more information, please see this news story.

In the background right, you may see the poplar grove, which has always been one of my favorite parts. I have always enjoyed photographing the poplars reflected on the lily pond. And now there will be NEW ways to capture poplar reflections, yay!

My soundtrack song has to be this song that I listened to on both my drive in and my drive home, for my CD of the morning was REO Speedwagon's Good Trouble. (That oughta take you back to the summer of 1982!) The song is this one: Sweet Time.