Welcome to Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in Charleston South Carolina.  This was  an awesome place to visit so today's blog is all about nature. We loved the "swamp gardens" and spent most of our day here although we did take a quick tour of the gardens.  I have included several pictures with brief descriptions following the pictures.

This was the view entering the plantation.  Notice the huge trees with the hanging Spanish Moss.

I found the tree stumps  and differences in the marsh to be very interesting.   

Notice how different the colours are in the above alligator shots resulting from different places in the marsh, different lighting, the algae etc.  I love how the turtle is sunbathing on his friend's back. 

I included this image because this was the fellow who climbed up out of the water to the walkway in front of us before going back where he came from.  He did give us quite a start!  We had been warned to not let the girls go anywhere near the water.

As we were walking along the boardwalk, Ralph whispered to me that the stump was alive.  I was trying to figure out what he meant when I saw all of the lizards.  

I thought I should include one bird photo as this place was a birder's paradise.  Unfortunately I do not have a long enough lens to have gotten a better picture.    We  did meet a few photographers whose cameras and lenses made mine look like a toy.  I tried holding one guy's camera and knew that I would never be able to walk about the swamp carrying it , never mind the huge tripod he had to go with it!

 Here is a shot of a turtle for all of you turtle lovers.  

After we left the swamp garden, we wandered around the regular gardens.  I liked the pink flowers along the road.

I have included a couple of pictures taken along the river.  Notice how lush everything is.  

Finally,  I have included a somewhat artistic shot.  I like how the colours came out.