Cypress Gardens in the rain

 Last Sunday I went on one of my yearly pilgrimages to area gardens in Spring bloom.   I don’t get to Cypress Gardens near Moncks Corner, SC, very often, as it’s a 50 mile round trip from Charleston, but in March or April I try my best to go.   It’s an historic and beautiful cypress swamp and lake with tranquil paths that wind alongside the lake where visitors can also row wooden boats in and among the cypress trees and lily pads.  

I have been going there for many years, and this year I just missed the main bloom of the azaleas, but was delighted by a surprising turn of events on my trip out there on March 25.   There was supposed to be only a 30 percent chance of rain, but when I got there the sky was heavily overcast.  As I started on the path around the lake, the rain began.  Not to be deterred, I opened my large umbrella and managed to take many pictures of the water, flowers and gardens with the overcast light perfect for photography and the rain splashing on the water adding a very nice mood and element to my pictures and the whole experience.    I can’t emphasize how perfect the light was for color saturation, as you can see in the selection of pictures I have posted and linked to below.

It was late in the afternoon and most people had left, so I basically had this entire nature preserve to myself.   It was just me and the rain gently falling on the water.   It was cool and moist.   I had that calm and peaceful feeling one gets when Nature’s healing balm soothes the city-weary soul longing for escape.

Here are some pictures from that visit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/camas/sets/72157629673746749/