Before the new year starts, I thought it would be fun to look back on some of the most viewed and most “liked” posts on this blog. I may also throw in a couple of my personal favorites that may have not received that much attention their first time out. For some of these Year in Review stories, I may add other photos or additional notes that have similar subject matter but did not run in the particular post the first time out. I will also provide a link to the original version.

For those of you who missed these posts the first time out,  I hope you will enjoy  them.  For those long timers  I hope you will enjoy taking a second look. Over the next week or so I will also be running new posts as warranted so please keep an eye on the ISBAA dailies.

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has made this blog a success. Please see more text and photos below.

This post originally ran June 24, 2013.

After the storm cleared Sunday in Northern Virginia, it turned into a sunny, muggy day, perfect day to shoot flowers at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, Va.

Green Spring is a beautiful place tucked away behind an office park and a car dealership. Sounds like an unusual location for a garden?
You have to see it.

There are bigger parks in Northern Virginia but arguably not many that can beat Green Spring Gardens when it comes to variety of flowers and landscaping. Oh, and did I mention, there is no admission fee.

So on Sunday I went to the park for 90 minutes or so to catch up on the latest blooms. The photo above was one of my favorites.
I found the contrast between these flowers and the metal sculptures striking.

This scene is a perfect example of how Green Spring Gardens is different from a lot of other parks. A great deal of care has been taken to frame certain plants and gardens, using fence posts, sculptures and very imaginative landscaping techniques.

If you live in the D.C Area or are planning to visit us for work or play, be sure to make time to visit Green Spring Gardens. You will be happy you did.

Post Script : Here some other photos I posted later in the year taken at Green Spring Gardens.

All three of these photos were taken with a 60mm Macro and a strobe with diffuser on it.

To check out some other ISBAA posts with photos from Green Spring, please click here.

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