I spent most of the month of March in Anchorage working for the Iditarod Sled Dog Race enduring their record snowfall and cold temperatures, so when I arrived home I was looking forward to some nice Spring-like weather. I guess you can say it is Spring-like compared to Anchorage, but here in Washington, that means a lot of rain. After a couple weeks of rain almost every day, I decided it was time for a trip to the Seymour Conservatory in Tacoma for a taste of Spring even though it was wet and cool outside.
The first thing I noticed when I stepped inside the glass hot-house was the beautiful smell of flowers. The warm, humid air was a welcome change from the cool-wet outside weather. Since it was cloudy outside, the lighting inside was perfect. I’ve been there on sunny days in the past and the sun makes it difficult to deal with harsh shadows, so if you go, try to pick an overcast day. Each month the conservatory brings in new flowers to fit a theme for the month. This month there are fragrant Easter lilies, Asiatic lilies and callas delight your senses in a display with hydrangeas, azaleas and primula obconica. See the Tacoma Metro Parks website for a listing of what to expect each month.
For these photos I used my Nikon D7000 with my 60mm f/2.8 macro lens mounted on a tripod.