One of my favorite places to visit for photography is Cornell Botanic Gardens and Arboretum. There are so many varieties of beautiful flowers growing and blooming at all times of the year. From wildflower gardens to gardens outside the visitor center and then even flowering trees up in the arboretum. And there is so much more.

Sometimes I try to get there at different times of the year to photograph specific types of flowers. Other times I try to show up for a time that might maximize how many flowers I can see and photograph in one visit. I actually had not been n here in a while so it was a perfect opportunity to just show up and see what we could see.

My wife and I visited in mid June. I wasn’t sure what things would be in bloom this time of year.

We started at the visitor center, which I love because it has shade plants and a whole garden in the full sun with a wide variety of flowers of all shapes and sizes. There are tiny little flowers and tall stalk flowers. And there are large bushes like hydrangea.

We spent a long time at the visitor center area taking countless photos. Eventually we moved on to the upper arboretum area. There are a couple of beautiful ponds there to view. And there is also a large section of other flowering shrubs and bushes.

A large area is filled with lilies, hydrangea, and trees. There are paths to walk through in and among all the beautifully scenic plants and landscaping. Then we went and walked along the boardwalk over the pond.

So many beautiful water lilies growing in the pond. There are also lots of Red Winged Blackbirds nesting in the reeds along the banks of the ponds. Then if you look into the water you will likely see turtles swimming all around. They may even chase each other around through the water.

One of my favorite things about visiting the Cornell Botanic Gardens and Arboretum is that it is such a varied tapestry of landscapes and environments. It not only contains an assortment of plants, but an assortment of animals as well. Fron the previously mentioned turtles to an assortment of birds, some snakes, and even a fox I saw once.

I am usually planning to focus on photographing flowers so I don’t always have a lens suitable for photographing wildlife. But on this particular trip I did have my long lens with me. This allowed me to photograph the turtles in the pond. And we watched as a mother and father pair of Baltimore Orioles caught and brought food to the chick in their nest. You could hear them chirping and chattering and that allowed us to find the nest and watch the birds for a while.

We eventually decided we should give the Orioles their space. And we continued to walk down the path. I spotted a Great Blue Heron in the pond. And suddenly the Heron burst into flight. I was able to capture some nice photos of the birds flying through the air before it flew off into the distance.

If you are looking for one place to visit where you can see a wide variety of beautiful nature I highly recommend spending some time at the Cornell Botanic Gardens and Arboretum.

If you enjoyed this article you can click the link below to support the work I do here or subscribe to my email so you don’t miss out in anything I share.