Boy with Duck statue, purple blooms in the background. I went around that way to see what the blooms were then got distracted by Pile O’Reptiles: Turtle and Alligators and forgot to photograph them up close.
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, SC
February 25, 2025
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens is dotted with statues, most of them some version of painted white which over time can get grimy looking. The area around Boy with Duck was recently cleared and the statue was turned to face the path rather than the pond.
I have seen some of the statues get cleaned of the clinging moss, lichen and who knows what debris. I would like to see him stay with this patina; I think it gives him a bit more character.
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, SC
January 19, 2025
Click to see how the statue looked in June of 2020 when it was facing the pond.
This decorative garden statue is tucked in between a group of cypress at the edge of a pond at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. Overgrown vegetation was recently cleared and hydrangeas planted.
This is the view from the other side of the pond.
The grounds around Magnolia Plantation and Gardens are dotted with decorative statues. Look close and you will see an alligator tail and a turtle to the right of this lady, sharing the view of the pond.
At first glance the fallen palm frond at the edge of the pond looked like a giant eye looking back at me. Even so it’s a peaceful scene.
Long shadows reached from behind me, like arms stretching out across the pond. This end of the pond is covered in duck weed and mosquito fern, making it look more like a grass carpet than water.
8/22/2018, 6:20 pm, sunset about 8pm.
In less than an hour the sky went from mostly cloudy, to dotted clouds, to full sun on a recent morning. The wind that was moving the clouds was only aloft, with only a slight breeze at ground level.
The big pond at Donnelley Wildlife Management Area reflected it all. Bare trees and the Spanish Moss give a silvery sheen in the early morning light.
A few Great Blue Herons were prowling around the perimeter and some ducks splashed in the distance, too far for a photo.
In the silent gaps between airplanes and dogs barking in the distance the noises of the ducks carried through the stillness. It was almost solitude.
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, 1/12/2017.
Click any photo for a larger view.
