Friday, March 6, 2015

San Diego Botanic Garden, Part 2

You're back! Yesterday was Part 1 of my visit to the San Diego Botanic Garden, today we continue with a cantua, in the phlox family.

If you're trying to follow along on the map we're now climbing up a little hill to the South American Desert Garden.

If I was reading the right label then the "tree" these bromeliads are living in is a Pereskia aculeata cv 'Godseffiana' which is in the cactus family. Seems like I might have got the wrong label since it also goes by the name Lemon Vine, this is not a vine.

Cool though...

Heading down into the rain forest section...

So cool!

I want.

Erythrina mexicana

I've wandered to and fro and ended up in the New World Desert Garden, I was in a daze for the next 15 or so minutes just having had an odd experience in the gift shop.

They had a nice (although small) selection of plants for sale and I found a potted gallon-sized Yucca elata for under $10. If you find one up here in my part of the world they're in 5-gallon pots and expensive. My attempts to rescue plants from my in-laws in New Mexico have failed so I thought I'd give this one a try, easy enough to get home right? Wrong. Turns out I almost couldn't even buy it.

The volunteer (I'm assuming) running the cash register couldn't. Seriously. When it came time to run my card she got all confused and somehow jammed the register, it wouldn't do anything. She tried to call for help and nobody came. After fidgeting for what felt like forever she looked at me and said "I don't know what to do"...I had $5 and some coins on me so I said, will you take this? Thank god she did. I think the SDBG was shorted a couple of bucks but there was no way I was leaving her my credit card number (I was having visions of the charge accidentally getting a zero added to it) and I wasn't leaving without the plant! Moving on...

The sign talks about agaves in general, not identifying this particular beauty which looks to be a variegated A. titanota (maybe)?

Now I've traveled on to the Old World Desert Garden.

Aloe peglerae

And the Bamboo Garden...

This is as far into the Bamboo Garden as I ventured. There was still much to see and my time was running out.

Heading up to the Mexican Garden...

I am a sucker for tiled fountains. If I had a stucco house with a courtyard I would have one.

I wondered if I would find these folks.

I've seen them on another blog but can't remember which one, maybe Piece of Eden? As I wandered the garden I was trying to remember if it was here that they lived.

They kind of fascinate and repulse me at the same time. Their shape and proportions are so human, their poses completely realistic. But their faces are like death masks.


I don't think I would want to be walking by one just after dark, alone... (*for more information on these figures scroll down to the comments and read one left by Margaret, a docent at the garden...good stuff! Thanks Margaret)

Our visit is almost over. I cut through the African Garden on my way back to the parking lot.

What a visit...

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

29 comments:

  1. Yesterday was good, today wow! Stunning displays!

    I see what you mean about the figures, good but eerie at the same time...

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    1. And now I've learned I missed an entire section of the garden devoted to succulents...

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  2. Those succulent people are so cool, but yeah, the faces are so static and deathlike, they cause a bit of cognitive dissonance, given how lively the poses are. I've seen the lady with the apron before, but I don't remember seeing the others. I didn't realize there were so many.

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    1. Good to know it's not just me who felt that way. Read below, Margaret's comment, for a little more info on them.

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  3. Re: the vininess of Pereskia aculeata var. godseffiana: yes, they do eventually get woody, especially if you cut them back (and if they're indoors, anyway, you will want to cut them back), but the initial growth is very viney. I have a plant in a 4-inch pot that has produced a single stem about (I'm guessing) 12-15 feet long in a relatively short period of time (about 8 months?), with needle-sharp pairs of thorns at every leaf node, which is forever trying to find another plant to grab onto and climb. In a pinch, or while being moved to the tub to get watered, they're willing to settle for upholstery, curtain rods, my shorts, ceiling fans, my face, slow-moving animals, etc.

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    1. You are a wealth of information, thank you. So it might be the right label after all?

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  4. What a tease! (bamboo...)

    The succulent-skinned figures are quite nice, but I agree that the faces are a bit unsettling.

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    1. Gerhard will surely make up for my lack of perseverance, should he be able to steal away from the family and make a visit.

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  5. So many yummy plants, so little time! It's almost masochistic to wander through a garden full of plants that we can only dream of growing. Of course, you like growing plants that can cause pain. Fifty shades of Danger? I can just imagine the conversations between some of those figures. "Oh darling, your body is so...succulent." "Mariachi music; it grows on you!"

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    1. Oh but where there's a will there is a way!

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  6. Oh my Loree - you will be so sad to hear that you missed the Under Sea Succulent Garden - you would love it! I am a Docent at SDBG working with the Topiaries and the Under Sea Garden. The clay masks on the topiaries were made by a local artist. The faces of the Waitress and Waiter are the faces of Don & Dorothy Walker, founders of the San Diego Horticultural Society; the dancing couple are Lorreto and Maria who were key players when these topiaries were made under the guidance of Pat Hammer; the three Mariachis are workers at one of our favorite nurseries. They are all gardeners. In 2003 they were at the Philadelphia garden Show were dressed in ivys; since then they have been converted to water wise succulents.

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    1. Oh no! I see it now on the map, the Under Sea Succulent Garden, when I go looking for it. Darn. Well I'll just have to make sure Gerhard (below) sees it when he visits and takes lots of photos for me.

      I love that the faces are of people with ties to the garden, thank you for sharing that info!

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  7. I must visit, I must visit, I must visit. I definitely want to see the bamboo garden as well. SDBG has a lot of tropical clumping bamboos.

    Good for you for not giving up the Yucca elata! They really are beautiful.

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    1. Yes, yes you must. And when you are done checking out the bamboo garden go to the Under Sea Succulent Garden, I completely missed it! (see Margaret's comment above).

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    2. Thanks for letting me know! I'll make an effort to see as much as possible instead of getting bogged down in one area, like I often do.

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  8. I DO need to get down that way this year. I'm very impressed by the artistry involved in the creation of the succulent figures - and the maintenance requirements! I have a succulent cat (given to me by a friend years ago) and I can't even keep him looking up to speed.

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    1. It would be a lovely day trip for you!

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  9. Wow, this garden is incredible! Oh well...now I have a new place to visit in my wish list...you can see the whole world in there (well...not the colder places). Beautiful pictures, beautiful plants! I´m glad you took that Yucca elata, can't wait to see it in your garden.

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    1. Oh you just made me laugh. Imagine if in warm climates they built refrigeration spaces rather than warm greenhouses, so they could grow cold climate plants. Oh who am I kidding, I'm sure there's something like that already done.

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  10. Happy you enjoyed your visit. There is lots to see--on a quiet weekday with few people and fewer kids around one can get quite lost in the casual beauty of it.

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    1. Being the weekend before Christmas it was pretty quiet. There was a couple wandering ahead of me, a few families in the children's garden, and one other customer in the gift shop who experienced a similar transaction result as mine. It was a good day.

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  11. I am loving Erythrina mexicana. I want. I wish.

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  12. I love this garden. When stationed in San Diego in the Navy during the early 1970's, then later visiting my uncle and aunt who lived there. I would make a point of visiting this garden. I haven't been there since 1991. I still have a plant in my collection that I started from seed that I collected from this garden in the early 1980's. My Uncle and Aunt would say that they would walk ten feet behind me and pretending they didn't know me because of all the seed collecting I did while touring the garden. They didn't want to share a jail cell with me! But they loved me because whenever I visited them, they would take me here because they knew of my love of plants.
    I'll have to make a trip down to see it again. Thanks for the show.
    John (Aberdeen)

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    1. Love the story, thank you for sharing. I'm glad I could help to bring back the memories (and that you didn't get caught seed collecting/stealing).

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  13. Love it! Some of those plants look similar to what I'm seeing here in Florida. The bamboo forest is really nifty. And I totally agree about the tiled fountain (yay!) and the "death mask" human-shaped planters (hmmm). Otherwise, it looks like a definite "must" on the botanical garden bucket list. Thanks for the tour!

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  14. As I was reading and looking at those figures, I thought, yes they're a bit creepy, you wouldn't want to be walking through at night and catch one in the corner of your eye - then I read the next line and you said just what I was thinking. It's cool that they're cast from real faces that are related to the garden. The suspected A. titanota hooked me right in with those silver, curled teeth. I don't have anything yet that has teeth like that, and I want.

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  15. Almost too much to take in on a single visit. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have several days to explore in a leisurely fashion? Do you suppose our newly acquired Tillandsias will eventually bloom like that? The backlighting on the Cantua is fabulous. It almost looks like something we could grow here(?)

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  16. Freaky faces, but clever idea...time to check out your first post I also missed...

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