When I visited South Coast Botanic Garden earlier this month to tour the SOAR butterfly exhibit, I had time to kill before my timed entry slot opened. Work on the new Children's Garden, expected to continue into 2024, is still disrupting my usual routes through the garden so my wandering was a little aimless and focused on the front areas.
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These unidentified Iris were flowering alongside the koi pond in the Japanese Garden
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Across the tram road from the main Desert Garden area, I saw this red bottlebrush and my jaw dropped. In the inland valley of Southern California where I grew up, red bottlebrush were everywhere and I came to hate them but these were nothing like those.
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This red-flowered bottlebrush, probably Callistemon viminalis, found in another area of the garden, is more like those I knew in childhood
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Commentating on an Instagram post, David Feix, a Berkeley-based landscaper, guessed that this is Callistemon citrinus. It's a beautiful thing and, if I had room for it, I'd definitely plant it in my garden.
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| In the Desert Garden, I spotted these saw leaf agaves (Agave xylonacantha) in bloom |
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| I came across these succulents, an Aloe striata x maculata (left) and noID Dyckia (right), elsewhere in the garden |
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| No labels were to be found to identify this interesting succulent and neither my cell phone plant ID function nor my online search helped clear up the mystery |
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| It may not be apparent in my photo but this was the tiniest squirrel I've ever seen |
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| An Echium wildpretii (aka tower of jewels) |
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| I've personally named this area, which runs between SCBG's ampitheater and the Rose Garden, "Echium Lane" for the huge Echium candicans growing there |
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| The Garden for the Senses hasn't been the same since its pre-pandemic days but there were some nice touches of color |
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Panoramic view of the Rose Garden
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Top row: Roses 'Cherry Parfait', 'Oh My', and 'Rock & Roll'
Middle row: 'Lady Emma Hamilton', noID yellow, and noID bi-color
Bottom row: 'Gemini', noID coral, and 'Love Song' |
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| 3 Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy' trees line up in the background to the Rose Garden |
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| A section of what is still labeled as the Volunteer Garden on SCBG's map |
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| Chinese fringe trees (Chioanthus retusus) in full bloom border the garden's lower meadow opposite the Volunteer Garden |
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| Another flower-filled bed bordering the meadow area (which was closed when I was there) |
By the time I'd collected these photos, I discovered I needed to hustle to report to the SOAR exhibit. If you missed the post that chronicled that visit, you can find it here.
All
material © 2012-2023
by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
