Alaska Botanical Garden
Alaska's Garden Treasure

Alaska Botanical Garden, late August, and the prime flower show is over. But there are still lots of blooms and attractions to keep you occupied.

The usual Anchorage growing season starts mid May and it's over mid September... about 120 days. Annual precipitation is about 15 inches. And that midnight sun requires a lot of getting used to... for me, that is. The Alaska plantlife thrives on it. June 20 or 21 is summer solstice - the longest day of the year.

... Nineteen hours and 20 minutes of wonderful sunshine! Think of what you could do with all that daylight! And the sun never really goes down, it just rebounds off the horizon and signals another day.

When I was there in August, it was particulary warm - 80 degrees F every day... the USA still uses the Farenheit scale. The average daytime temperature for June, July and August is lower, more like 72 degrees - 20 degrees C. A refreshing summer climate... perfect for all that adventurous activity.

	Talk about a heart thumping experience! This is the exact spot where I came nose to nose with Ms. Moose. Not a planned encounter but a great story to tell all my friends. I recovered enough to snap a blurry photo of her sauntering away!
	I walked from Campbell Airstrip Road and I knew I was alone in the wilderness here at the entrance. The public school across the gravel road was closed for summer vacation. It was so very quiet and the garden almost belonged to me today.

Close encounter of the moose kind!

I was on my way out of the garden after hardly seeing a soul all day and figured I was quite alone in the world. Still not ready to leave such a peaceful plot of wilderness. I put down my camera backpack on the side of the gravel road and took out my camera.

Other than a few isolated chirpings from a songbird, the world was eerily quiet. I'd only met up with two or three people in the garden late morning. I hadn't met up with any of the large wildlife who call the Alaska Botanical Garden home either. Only some bunnies and such.

I could hear a couple of youngsters walking and kicking the stones on the road. I picked up my backpack and pushed it off into the ditch incase a car came by.

I was quite lost in my viewfinder. The footsteps stopped and I turned around expecting to meet up with a couple of kids wanting their photo taken.

... And slammed my face into a moose's nose! I must have broken the world high jump record! Perhaps Ms. Moose had a boring day and was wondering about the stranger in her home. She was quite calm and fortunately she checked me out, turned around and walked slowly away. I wondered what she thought of me.

Took awhile for my heart to slow down... no one back home was going to believe this. Quick, grab a picture!

I didn't realize how badly she scared me until I saw the photo I snapped just before she disappeared into the bush. There was so much camera shake you could hardly tell it was a moose!

	When you take a photo of horizontal or perpendicular lines, make sure they're straight! It's irritating when you look at a photo that's slightly off! Use your tripod or the grid in your viewfinder. Still not right? Use your photo editor to straighten it.
	The fence curves across the top of the photo. So I used the fence posts instead. They're straight up and down and I checked in my photo editor to make sure. Photoshop has an measuring tool to confirm whether a line is actually straight - or not!
	Here again I used the fence posts to make sure my photo was straight. There's perspective at work here! The path starts very wide on the lower right. Then the lines meet up almost in the middle of the photo. Can you magine yourself walking along the path?
	The herb garden is the most formal of the gardens... designed by a Herb Study Group to grow herbs for food and medicines. Modern drugs are derived from Nature's original remedies and recently there's been renewed interest in homeopathic medicine!

The Alaska Botanical Garden put a great deal of work into their rock garden... as well as a whole lot of rock, gravel and sand!

You can thank the Alaska Rock Garden Society for this little jewel. They not only built it, but they maintain it, and who better to do that? Alpine plants from Alaska co-habit with some of their buddies from the Himalayas, China, Norway and a few other countries. A true multicultural environment!

	The lower perennial garden is to the right of the main trail, across from the rock garden. You'll find various hardy perennials - hardy of course! Even in August there's lots of color! Notice the S-curve in the path? It falls on a thirds line, it's not centered.
	Nice splashes of purple, pink and yellow in this section. The wooden trellis is a nice touch in the photo. It provides perpendicular and diagonal lines and a repeating pattern. It's good to have a garden structure in your shot to add some interest.
	Late summer purples and golds. Here, you'll come across delphineums, peonies and everyone's favorite... the roses. The garden is bordered by very tall trees but it's in a clearing... the day is very long with the sun high in the summer sky.
	The path is a great composition tool to lead the viewer's eyes through the photo. You can tell that this is a place where two paths cross. There are 4 benches in this perennial garden. Just relax for awhile... take in the sights and scents and plan your photos.

	The upper perennial garden is a demonstration garden. Want to know what to do with recycled materials? Think of new and interesting ways to edge your garden! This section of the garden uses concrete test cores to build a small retainer wall.
	I tried various angles in this area of the garden. The perpendicular lines and curves of the path give flow to the photo... more interesting than straight lines. Concrete test cores provide a repeating pattern and the path creates an s-curve.
	This edging is made of thick slices of tree trunks. Makes an attractive retainer and keeps the soil in place. The circular shape of the garden makes a good composition for a photo. And still some colorful late bloomers in the garden!

Don't fall down a foxhole while you're exploring the Alaska Botanical Garden! During WWII, this garden area was used as a training facility. And you can use your imagination and see the tanks and jeeps rolling down the trails. Actually, those vehicles are responsible for laying down the paths in the garden.

South-central Alaska played a very large role in WWII and the Cold War. This garden certainly has stories to tell but it's not, by any means, the only place in Alaska with such stories. Driving through Alaska, you'll find all kinds of bunkers and other reminders of a time many would like to forget.

I really like how the Alaska Botanical Garden meshes with the environment. The gardens are set into wildflower strewn hiking trails, and a boreal and birch forest. And the dog mushing trail. Open yourself up to feel the natural rhythm of the forest when you hike along the paths.

A 1.1 mile trail sets off from the far end of the Alaska Botanical Garden. This Lowenfels Family Nature Trail winds through several distinct plant communities. Admire them, take some photos and keep walking till you get to the Campbell River. You might just be lucky enough to view some salmon, but for sure you'll get a nice view of the Chugach Mountains.

When you're walking through the garden, you'll find yourself in sunny areas as well as under deep shade of tall forest trees. Depending on the time of year, you could get some wonderful pictures of wildflowers. But you'll also find ferns, mushrooms and cranberries... all of which make great subjects for photos.

In deep shade, you'll need to think about your exposure. Figure out what ISO, f-stop and shutter speed you need for the picture you want to create.

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