Duke Gardens on Easter Weekend

Saturday, we took Harper for her first visit to Duke Gardens over the Easter weekend.  We arrived a little after 8 to mostly beat the crowds and headed down to the rose gardens where lots of roses and other flowers were blooming around the fountain.

Since we didn't have Alex, we hiked through the Blomquist Native Plants Garden.

There were lots of beautiful plants that are native to the area, including many we see on our hikes.

Jack in the pulpit, flame azalea and trilliums are some of the flowers we often see in the woods.

Witch alder had cool white flowers.

There was even a Trillium Walk, with many species of beautiful trillium. 

After finishing up the garden, we hiked around the south lawn and to the terraces where the tulips were in peak bloom.

There were also lots of daffodils and irises flowering here as well.

It was getting later in the morning and starting to get really crowded so we took after this.