Lunchtimes in Green Springs Garden Park

Green Springs Garden Park, the site of an 18th century plantation in Fairfax County, Virginia, features gardens designed by the American landscape artist Beatrix Farrand. Complete with a manor house dating to 1760, the park is an oasis of natural beauty tucked away behind a Ford dealership and a Salvation Army store. A five-minute drive from my office, I go there once a week or so at lunch time and walk the grounds, photographing the diverse flora and insects and soaking up the sun and fresh air. It is at Green Springs more than any other place that I feel the changes of the seasons and the passing of time. What a relief to be away from a computer screen and out in nature, if even for a brief few minutes.

These images were all made during my 45-minute lunch breaks; as I have watched the flowers bloom and fade, the busy bees bustle about in their never-ending quest for pollen, and the leaves turning from bright vibrant green to red, then brown, and finally falling to Earth to be covered by the tender laces of the year's first snow.