Conejo Valley Botanic Garden, a look back

It's (finally) time to wrap up my posts on our 2021 trip to Southern California. Somehow I've saved my visit to the Conejo Valley Botanic Garden for last. This is a fabulous small botanic garden in the Thousand Oaks area—it's free, and an easy way to indulge your inner plant geek while not boring the rest of the family to tears.

This visit was an outing with my mother-in-law, the rest of the family was off doing other things so she and I took a walk.

The succulent plantings at the top of the hillside are what I wanted to see, so we marched up.

Something has been sampling those agaves! Rabbits? Nah to tall, deer? There have been a few serious fires in the area but that wouldn't effect just the lower leaves.

There aren't many labels in this garden so I'm not guessing at other plant ID—these however are easily recognizable as Agave attenuata.

A variegated Agave attenuata under chicken-wire protection. Hungry animals all around!

San Pedro cactus, Echinopsis pachanoi.

Pretty darn cool.

As are the furry cactus, especially when back-lit.

The desert garden has amasing views, especially at dusk.

More furry cactus, because they're so cute...

Bloomed out, but still beautiful, agave.

And golden barrels...

Another view shot...

Erythrina humeana, aka the dwarf coral tree.

Salvia involucrata, the roseleaf sage.

Evidently my little love affair with salvia started way before my 2022 trip to NYC.

This last entry from the Conejo Valley Botanic Garden is a botanical mystery! A small tree with orange berries and pendulous purple blooms...

Anyone know what this is?

If you find yourself in the Thousand Oaks, CA, area, with a little time to kill, I definitely recommend a visit to the Conejo Valley Botanic Garden.

All material © 2009-2023 by Loree L Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Taft Garden Fridays; the Australian and South African collections

When I first heard of the Taft Garden it was because of their extensive Australian plant collection, things like this Stenocarpus sinuatus, also known as the firewheel tree.

Jo O'Connell (owner of Australian Native Plants Nursery) was responsible for creating the Australian Garden here. Granted I don't have much to compare it to, but it's pretty outstanding.

The blooms on the tree above, a banksia.

Banksia seed pods are best!

In fact I guess I love all stages of banksia blooms.

Grevillea 'Robyn Gordon'

These are not round baby chicks, but what they are I do not know.

Banksia blechnifolia

I love how this one creeps along the ground.

Based on the foliage—and the fact that I briefly grew one of these—I want to call this one Banksia serrata, but that's just a guess.

Another few unknown banksia species...

More mystery seedpods.

Eucalyptus buttons?

Some of these leaves may have come home with me. Yes, I am serious—they went into my dried protea wreath.

An acacia in full glorious bloom.

Another grevillea, I didn't see a label but it might be Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' (?)

Maybe Banksia marginata (?), whatever it is I had a lot of fun photographing it...

If that tree was in my garden, I think I'd spend a lot of time sitting in it.

Hakea laurina

Over near the house at the back of the grounds the party is (literally) about to get started...

The party that bumped me from my reservation, not that I'm bitter. As I mentioned in the first part of my Taft Garden coverage there's now a website where you make reservations to visit, and pay—which I did. Then just a couple of days before we left for vacation I got a call telling me they'd booked the garden for an event and I would not be able to visit—could they reschedule me for another day? Not so easy when you're traveling hundreds of miles and have a packed schedule. I was feeling a little dismissed.

Thankfully we reached a compromise and I was able to visit earlier on the day I'd planned to be there.

Xanthorrhoea (sp?), aka grass tree.

Standing in a grove of these monsters is truly breathtaking.

A close-up of the bloom-spike.

And a kinda scary fellow lurking in the patch. 

I can't imagine coming upon this at dusk.

Leucadendron argenteum

These final few photos are of other leucadendron that I can't ID, but I adore just the same. I really do wish I was able to grow these South African protea.

If you're in the area—Ojai, about an hour and a half north of Los Angeles—I highly recommend visiting the Taft, make a reservation here.

All material © 2009-2022 by Loree L Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.