Thursday, March 5, 2015

San Diego Botanic Garden, Part 1

This is the scene that greets you as you arrive at the San Diego Botanic Garden...

My visit occurred on December 20th, 2014. I was concerned the garden would be covered in strings of Christmas lights. Thankfully that was not the case, the ones wrapping this tree trunk and another, deeper in the garden, were the only ones I saw.

There was art, but it was not distracting, of course it would take a lot to outshine those aloes!

This was one of my favorite plants in the garden...

Of course it's only hardy to 20-25F.

So crazy-cool!

The San Diego Botanic Garden, formerly known as Quail Botanical Gardens, is located about 30 minutes north of San Diego in Encinitas, CA. The gardens began as the private estate of Ruth Baird Larabee who, in 1957, donated her house and the surrounding grounds to the County of San Diego. The Quail Botanical Gardens Foundation was established in 1961 and the name of the garden was changed to San Diego Botanic Garden in 2009.

Adenanthos sericeus (Coastal Woollybush)

Sadly I didn't catch the name of this one. Not everything had a label/sign that I could find, and at times I even found myself rather confused as to which part of the garden I was in. Paths criss-crossed and I didn't want to miss anything so that resulted in my going in circles. If you want to see a map of the garden there's one here.

When planning this vacation I was thrilled to discover both the SDBG and Balboa Park (coming up in future posts) featured an Australian Garden. Sort of. In Balboa Park the Australian Garden was extremely difficult to find. It was shown on the map I looked at online, but not on the paper map they gave us at the visitors center. Everyone we asked just looked at us like we were crazy, an Australian Garden? No, not here. When we finally found it I felt the same way (an Australian Garden? No, not here). So I was hoping for something better at the SDBG...

Did I find it? Looking through these photos two months later it looks like I did.

But at the time I was underwhelmed. It was the same feeling I had when visiting the Australian Garden at the Huntington. The plants were great, but the garden itself was sparse, as though it was still under construction. Southern California is so lucky to be able to grow these marvelous plants, it's a pity their public gardens don't make them seem more desirable.

Melaleuca styphelioides (Prickly-leaved Paperbark)

Bocconia frutescens?

Another part of the world with simply fabulous plants.

One of those crazy cussonia.

Now I've worked my way into the Hamilton Children's Garden. Originally I was going to avoid this area, the garden is huge and in the interest of seeing it all this was the part that had to go. That would have been a mistake.

Callistemon viminalis, Weeping Bottlebrush.

A kalanchoe without id...(* thanks to a comment from Kris I now know this to be Kalanchoe marmorata)

But beautiful buds!

This section of the garden was so well done...

And this the tree-house! Oh my how much I loved this. The only unfortunate part? There were kids.

This thing was crawling with them!

Oh well, I guess it is "their" garden...

Back out in the main part of the garden, the California Gardenscapes to be exact. Giant Coreopsis...

Calliandra californica, Baja Fairy Duster

The shrub is Eriogonum giganteum.

Banksia spinulosa var. cunninghamii

Also known as Hairpin Banksia...

No idea what this is, but it's amazing...

The speckled aloe in the middle is A. microstigma.

And this concludes Part 1 of the San Diego Botanic Garden, come back tomorrow for Part 2...

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

47 comments:

  1. Without your pictures of the children's garden, I never would have thought to add garden art to the Bromeliad tree that I'm putting together. Those rusty vultures/condors are the coolest thing. That looked like a really fun place. Did you want to climb all over the treehouse too, just like the kids?

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    1. I did want to, but there was a particularly crazy group there at the same time and I thought it better to just steer clear of them.

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  2. I really should do more wintertime travel. San Diego never disappoints, does it? I have a strong attraction for succulents that form trunks. Must start growing some this year (in pots of course).

    BTW, there's no greater compliment you can give to a garden IMO than "I kept getting lost". :)

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    1. Wintertime travel is the best, as long as it's to warmer climates!

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  3. That acacia looks like Christmas cactus! Another stunning botanical garden full of stunning plants!

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    1. You think so? Maybe because I saw it in person but I think they're quite different.

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  4. It looks lovely in spite of the drought. San Diego was an easy climate to garden in as long as you stick to plants that can take very low rainfall. I am so glad you posted this! I haven't been to the botanical garden there. I am a native San Diegan and my Mom still lives there. I will put this on my TDL for next visit.

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    1. I know a couple rain storms don't mean the end of a drought, but there had just been quite the downfall a earlier in the week. I was kind of sweating the weather for our trip hoping it wouldn't get rained out. As it turned out it was perfect, and the rains before hand managed to brighten everything up for us!

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  5. I love this garden. Your efforts in posting all these pictures is much appreciated! I'll be back tomorrow for sure ... :-)

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    1. Glad you enjoyed the post Ragna, have you been there in person?

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  6. Very nice - and full of your favorite prickly and unusual plants! Thanks for sharing photos of green stuff at the end of winter when I'm so ready for more green again!

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    1. Hopefully things will start greening up for you again very soon!

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  7. Nice post and perfect timing. I'm visiting SD in May and will add this to my must-see list. Funny, I lived there for 6 years and never went! But I was young then.

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    1. You're still young! Hope you enjoy it.

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  8. Yum...and there's more! Blissful escapism!

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  9. BEAUTIFUL! I visited Balboa Park in September, but ran out of time to explore the Botanical Garden so these posts are MUCH appreciated!

    Great shots of the Clay Wattle (acacia). Stems-for-leaves is a cool look!

    Loving that hot red bottlebrush too! Bet the hummingbirds were crazy for it too.

    You would LOVE Portland specialty nursery - Cistus - for its Australian/S African/ S American specimens!

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    1. Yes I do love Cistus, quite a few of the plants in my garden are from there. And I bet you're right about the hummingbirds, they love the ones I've got growing in my garden.

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  10. The noID Kalanchoe may be Kalanchoe marmorata. The foliage looks similar to my (much smaller) specimen. Mine has yet to flower but the pics I've seen of it in flower on-line look similar.

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    1. Thanks for the ID Kris, that does look like the right one.

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  11. What a place! Love that clay wattle! Too bad it would be a house plant for us! So many great plants...have you won the lottery yet?

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    1. Only a house (or greenhouse) plant for part of the year...

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  12. Wow, unreal! A destination for me now, thank you Loree.

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    1. I hope you guys do make it down there, it's a wonderful part of the world to visit.

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  13. I should have put on a bib before starting to read this post. I'm still drooling!

    We'll spend four days in San Diego over spring break. Keeping my fingers crossed I'll get a chance to dash up to Encinatas.

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    1. I hope you do get to visit - or return later for a solo trip.

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  14. Amazing photos! I live just over an hour from there now and look forward to exploring! I had a field trip to Balboa Park on my list, but now I'm adding SDBG! So many great gardens, so little time! Looks like I'll have to carve out a long week-end!

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    1. What fun you'll have. We spent 2 days in Balboa Park, it was lovely.

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  15. So many cool plants that grow only in that climate. Very nice tour so we could enjoy them too. The succulent tree reminds me of when we lived in CA and I kept trying to figure out the ID on a tree in the front yard. It was a Jade Plant, I'd only ever seen little potted ones!

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    1. That's a great story Shirley, oh how differently plants grow in the right conditions.

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  16. Back when I lived in SD in the late 70's early 80's it was Quail and believe me it was pretty so-so back then as I recall-San Diego County as a long horticultural pedigree, but harmed by cheap-o imports in both cut flowers and 'tropical foliage' -i.e. houseplants. Loved this tour--and I must get back.

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    1. I do know that Bob Hyland (now living in Portland and owner of Contained Exuberance next door to Xera) was in charge there for awhile, perhaps he turned them around?

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  17. We will never stop discovering new amazing and weird plants!!! it is just incredible how many there are in this world...I'm overwhelmed. And of course, this looks as a beautiful garden.

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  18. They get by on a minscule budget, so what they've managed to do is impressive.

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    1. Thanks for letting me know, I was impressed no matter the budget but that makes it even better.

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  19. Thank you for this post about San Diego Botanic Garden. You have done a great job of capturing the many facets of the Garden, including Hamilton Children's Garden (even though there were kids lol), the rain-forest, and some of the countries represented. You have many beautiful pictures. We are producing a 2016 calendar of photos from SDBG; anyone who would like to submit photos you can find the info at the link here and also get a 2015 calendar which is now on sale. http://www.sdbgarden.org/calendar.htm

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    1. Those darn kids! Seriously though I enjoyed my visit and wish I would have had more time to see everything at least twice.

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  20. Loree would it be ok to post this link on SDBG's Facebook and twitter?

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    1. Oh yes, of course Jodie, thank you for asking!

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  21. Funny how you build a children's garden, and then children show up. Thanks for sharing photos from some place warm and out of my zone.

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    1. I know right? At least they had the good sense to segregate them off to one end. Does the Norfolk Botanical Garden have a children's section?

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    2. We do, and it has some fabulous plants in it.

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  22. A South African garden is an excellent idea - such an amazing variety of plants come from there. The SDBG definitely looks like a place worth visiting.

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  23. A great place. Love the unknown succulent tree.

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  24. Cool to see Acacia glaucoptera there! The aloes in flower are all beautiful too. Had to laugh about the kids. Sometimes when I'm out walking, I go by houses with kids, and am so grateful I don't have to endure that noise. I'll take the occasional barking dogs and singing neighbours anyday.

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  25. Next trip...I'll have to join the AZ desert rats this June in their San Diego ritual. Looks far more interesting and diverse than the eucalyptus ghetto I once pictured it as! First stop - Cal. gardenscapes and childrens garden - I'll just scare off the little buggers:-)

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