Zilker Gardens in Spring from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

The gardens are indeed a thing of real beauty and I couldn’t resist in taking more pictures of the flowers already in bloom and of course, to share them with you.

Zilker Gardenfest 2015

I attended the Zilker Botanical Gardenfest last Saturday, May 28, partly as a volunteer to help man the Austin Pond Societies table but mainly to take pictures and report on the event. The start time for the general public was set for 10:00 am and I got there around 8:30 or so  planning on getting an early walk around to beat the throng of expected people. The weather was warm and sunny and it turned out to be a beautiful day.

Inside of the Garden Center Auditorium was the “This Land is Your Land” Flower Show so I made that my first port of call before the crowds arrived. I pretty much had the place to myself as I wandered around admiring the wonderful displays and taking as many pictures as I could. The artistry of some of these pieces is truly amazing. The timing had to be perfect for the flowers to be on show.

Zilker Gardens Flower Show 2015 from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

I left the beauty of the Flower Show behind and started to walk through the Gardenfest. There were more than 100 booths and tents set up mainly in the normal parking areas under the trees which was called the Vendors Circle and extending all the way down the hill to the Rose Garden. As I strolled around, there were a great number of different wares on view including a lot of hand-made items. I was talking to one vendor and she was telling me that some of these storekeepers, including herself, spend their summers driving from show to show to sell what they have spent the winter months making.

Some of the items included clothes, art, glassware, ornaments, jewelry, things for pets, kitchen ware, wooden furniture, fans, cactus, pottery, spices and much, much more. There were booths that offered new windows or special house insulation or even rain gutters and yet another had a demonstration of a Hydroponic system for growing plants and vegetables. There were so many different things offered that it is impossible to name but just a few.

At 11:30, I took my place at the Austin Pond Society booth along with another member, Delaine Brady who I was meeting for the first time. Delaine was more than eager to talk to the many people who approached our table and I was more than content to sit back and only put in a word here and there when it was required. I didn’t need to say much as Delaine had it pretty much under control. We did not actually register any new members but gave out a lot of advice on how interested people could register and we handed out a lot of information. We got to meet some interesting people many of whom had ponds.

When our hour and a half was up for which incidentally, I was grateful for the time to sit and rest as it is very tiring walking up and down the hill inside Zilker Gardens. I went back and did one more circuit this time joining many throngs of people. I wandered around the booths slowly making my way back down the hill on the Escarpment Trail. I passed the Food Court where just about every type of fast food was available until I arrived at the Rose Garden where a stage was set up. On the way, I found myself in the Faerie Grotto and had taken a couple of pictures not realizing where I was before I decided to get out of there before the Leprechaun’s and Goblins got me and turned me into a frog or something like. Probably in my case, it would be a toad.

I had heard singing as I was making my way down the hill and the music sounded very interesting. I had never heard the artist before so I sat and listened for a while and of course, had the camera taking a video of the artist and his music. Unfortunately, he is very much in the shadow and is not too visible but his music is great. The wind played hell with the acoustics as it blew across the mic. I introduced myself to his sound man, Carlos Conseca and found out that the artist’s name is Jonray Higginbottom an extremely talented singer and musician. He played and sang on at least three different instruments, electric piano, mandolin and guitar. The link to Jonray’s website is http://www.jonraymusic.com
The link to Carlos Conseca’s website is http://www.facebook.com/cansecomusic

Jonray from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

In all. I took well over 200 pictures of just the booths and the people. The photography was a challenge with the different shades of light and shadows and the huge spread of white canvas everywhere I looked. I had to make many adjustments to even get close to a decent shot on many occasions. But then again, that is the fun of photography. I opted to put over a 100 of these pictures in a gallery for viewers to see. Clicking on the picture will get an enlarged view.