Greenbelt on a Foggy Winter Morning

December 2

On Sunday morning, I woke up early to take sunrise photos. I was greeted with a dense fog. I set out with my camera anyway.

Playground at where Ridge Road meets Crescent Road

National Public Lands Day Project

September 29

National Public Lands Day is held every year on a Saturday in late September, and thousands of volunteers participate in many projects across the country to restore and improve publicly owned lands and facilities. For many years, Greenbelt Park has hosted projects for Public Lands Day, and since last year, the City of Greenbelt has also participated with its own project. This year, the city’s project is adding native plantings at Stream Valley Park.

Table for National Public Lands Day by Crescent Road, across the street from St. Hugh Catholic Church

Crepe Myrtle in Old Greenbelt

August 1

Crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia) is one of the most beautiful ornamental trees in the Washington area. Cherry and southern magnolia trees are certainly more famous but their flowers last only a short while. Crepe myrtle flowers, on the other hand, can appear as early as May and stay in bloom all summer long. Now they are blooming everywhere in the city, and on Wednesday evening I walked around in the city center and took these photos.

A crepe myrtle with red flowers at the 14 Court of Ridge Road. The name comes from the crepe-like texture of the flowers.

John Henry Jones’s Garden Plot

June 3

On June 3, during Greenbelt Day Weekend, two Japanese visitors came to Greenbelt. They were from Senri in Osaka Prefecture, a Japanese New Town which is turning 50 this year. The visitors wanted to learn from Greenbelt’s 75th anniversary celebration, and they were interested in seeing Greenbelt’s community gardens as the concept is becoming popular in Japan. John Henry Jones, long-time president of the Greenbelt Garden Club, gave them a tour of his community garden plot, and I tagged along and took these photos.

The community gardens have three sections. This one is directly opposite Greenbelt Homes, Inc.’s administrative building. Here John Henry Jones (right) points out the garden plots to Mr. Suzuki, an associate professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering at Osaka University.

Daffodils

March 10

Spring is here and daffodils are blooming everywhere. I have wanted to photograph them for a few days but it has been windy. On Saturday morning, the wind finally died down and I set out with my camera in Old Greenbelt.

Southway entrance, near the BP gas station

Daffodil is the common English name of the genus Narcissus. In Greek mythology, a youth named Narcissus was so enamored with his own reflection in a pool of water that he fell into the water trying to embrace it and drowned.

First Snow in Old Greenbelt

January 21

This winter of 2011-2 has been snowless so far, except for a fairly light October snowfall which surprised the D.C. region. On Friday night, the first real winter snow storm finally arrived, and on Saturday, I took these pictures around Old Greenbelt and at the Lake.