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Swan
Lake Iris Gardens began in 1927 as a private fishing lake for
wealthy businessman Hamilton Carr Bland, who also began landscaping
his garden with Japanese Iris flowers. It is currently the only public
park in the United States to have all eight species of swans; including
Royal White Mutes, Black Necks, Coscorobas, Whoopers, Black Australians,
Whistlers, Bewicks, and Trumpeters.
On this date, Karen Duquette was able to photograph 3 of these 8
species. There were not as many swans here in 2020 as there were in
2019 - check out the Flashback below. The photos from these two years
are quite different from each other. |
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Below: Swan Lake
Iris Garden is actually located on both sides of a busy street, so it
has a bridge for visitors to walk across. |
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Below: A metal
sculpture and a water fountain. |
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Below: The
Swans |
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Below: Royal
White Mute Swans |
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Below:
Signs about the Black Neck Swans. The two RV Gypsies did see them here,
but they were off in the distance behind a fence and could not be photographed.
That is okay because the two RV Gypsies have seen black swans elsewhere. |
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Below: Black
Australians |
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Below: Coscorobas
Swans |
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Below: Whistling
Swans |
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Below:
The two RV Gypsies saw these 3 swans several times in different areas.
They must always stay together. |
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Below: Lee
Duquette sat in The Chocolate chair, |
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Recovery is a
monumental work by renowned sculptor Grainger McKoy, and it has taken
flight at Swan Lake Iris Gardens. The sculpture stands almost 18 feet
high from ground level. The actual wing is 14-feet in height and weighs
about 1,500 pounds. The sculpture is visible from nearly every point
of the south side of the gardens. Following an entire year's work, it
was unveiled to the public on May 1, 2010.
Note: Quotes about the Recovery Sculpture is from the brochure obtained
at the gardens in 2019. |
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The stainless
steel sculpture represents the wing of a pintail duck in flight.
This is when it is least productive and most vulnerable, yet has
the grace and beauty that exists nowhere else. The wing was inspired
by an earlier sculpture, Pintails, and represents a step beyond
the 6-ft Recovery Stroke that Mr. McKoy created in 2006. The Swan
Lake Sculpture is more than twice the size of the one it was based
upon. |
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Below: View from
the bridge crossing over the street and exiting the bridge. The flowers
and scenery were much better in 2019, so Karen Duquette did not take
pictures on this side of the bridge. To see the three pages of the 2019
pictures, choose the link below. There is a link at the bottom of the
third 2019 page to bring you back here. |
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FLASHBACK - 
AFTER you have seen the 2019 Swan Lake photos via the link just above,
Continue on in the order of occurrence in 2020 - 
