Friday, May 4, 2018

April Visit to The Huntington

My husband and I made a relatively brief visit to The Huntington Gardens in San Marino last Friday.  Our purpose (or rather my purpose) was to check out the Spring Plant Sale.  Unfortunately, we got out of the house later than planned and then encountered traffic headaches on the main freeway artery into the Pasadena area so, when we arrived it was nearly 11:30am and the parking lot was completely full.  Rather than give up, we parked outside the grounds and hiked back to the garden.

Although the sale area was well-stocked, many of the plants were the same varieties offered during the Fall Plant Sale and, mindful of how far away our car was parked, I chose not to try my husband's patience by glomming onto any large specimens.  I bought 4 summer-blooming South African bulbs (1 Moraea flaccida and 3 Dipcadi viride) and a small pot of Dorycnium hirsutum (aka hairy Canary clover).  I already have a lot of the latter and it self-seeds freely but I had a spot I wanted to fill and the price was good.

While in search of a spot to have lunch, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap a few photos of the rose garden, currently in full bloom.

Roses everywhere

Whichever direction you turned

All in glorious bloom


My favorite roses among those I surveyed during my brief visit were these:

'Day Breaker', a floribunda, couldn't have looked more perfect

I didn't get the name of this one.  Could it be 'Brass Band'?

I didn't get the name of this one either but isn't it's form exquisite?


There were LOTS of others worthy of mention, of which these are but a few:

I only grabbed a few names for the rest of the blooms I photographed.  Counterclockwise starting with the yellow flower on the lower left, these are: 'Phyllis Diller', 'Easy Does It', 'Vogue Anniversary', 'Strike It Rich', 'Hanky Panky', and 'Outta the Blue'.  I can't offer names for the red-flowered rose at the top right or the the soft peach rose on the top left.


After lunch, I took some shots of the California Garden near The Huntington's front entrance before we got on our way, hoping to avoid Friday's rush-hour traffic through the downtown Los Angeles corridor.

That mass of red flowers in the middle of the photo is Anigozanthos (aka kangaroo paws)

The silver structure in the distance is the Orbit Pavillion, which allows visitors to listen to the movement of NASA's earth science satellites.  I'd understood that it was to be moving on to other venues late last year but it seems to have found a longer-term home at The Huntington.

There was a lot of Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas) in bloom here, along with yarrow (Achillea 'Moonshine'), foxgloves (Digitalis) and a plant I couldn't identify (possibly a form of Teucrium)

Don't the Yucca rostrata look fabulous mirroring the silver color of the Orbit Pavillion?


When we got home, I checked on my own roses.  I've a relatively small number of them and none of them can be said to be blooming in earnest at this point.

As usual, my 'Joseph's Coat' climbing rose has been the strongest bloomer but I didn't catch the full glory of its first flush (partly because my husband chooses to park his truck in front of it)

The David Austin rose 'Golden Celebration', moved from the pot that was its first home and planted outside my new lath house, has produced its first bloom in that location.  Even growing in a pot, it got very tall last year so I'm hoping for a good performance over the course of the season. 

The 'Pink Meidiland' roses at the front of the house, 6 shrubs in all, have just produced a scattering of flowers thus far


That's it for this week.  When this post appears, I should be in Austin, Texas touring gardens as part of the annual Garden Bloggers' Fling.  The weather forecast calls for rain but hopefully I'll be able to share some decent photos upon my return; however, my response to any comments you may post here will be delayed.  My husband is staying behind and has promised to take care of our cat but his assistance doesn't extend to managing my blog.  Best wishes for a pleasant weekend!


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

30 comments:

  1. Kris, that rose garden is heaven! absolutely stunning with so many beautiful varieties I'd hyperventilate in that garden ¿were there roses for sale? Have a wonderful weekend in Texas!

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    1. I thought of you the moment I saw the rose garden, MDN! I didn't see any rose bushes for sale at the Huntington but then roses are most commonly sold here in late winter.

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  2. Wow, a visit to the Huntington that includes pictures of their roses is a rarity, I think. Normally everyone seems to focus on the desert garden. Their rose garden is spectacular. That first one is very pretty, I love bicolor flowers. Your own roses have produced some nice flowers too. Sorry about the Fling rain, I've been looking at Instagram this morning and many are posting short videos of the thunderstorm at the wildflower center. Bummer.

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    1. Friday's rainstorm put a major damper (pun intended) on the first day of the fling. It was a DELUGE and every the most stubborn of us were forced into retreat at the wildflower center. I spent the whole day in soaked clothing.

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  3. The rose garden looks beautiful which has also reminded me of Portland.

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    1. Portland may be the City of Roses but Pasadena does host the annual rose parade!

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  4. A plethora of beautiful roses! If they didn't have those cursed thorns, I'd plant more of them. ;) Enjoy the garden fling!

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    1. If they didn't need so much water, I'd plant more roses too!

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  5. I didn't know Kangaroo Paws got so tall. They are treated as annuals here if you can find them. Think your roses are as beautiful as the ones pictured in the big garden. I hope you are having fun (I knot you will) at the Fling despite the rain.

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    1. My own Kangaroo Paws get about 4 feet tall but they're not nearly as robust as those growing at The Huntington. I need to find out what they feed them there.

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  6. I particularly like the California garden with that shot looking down the water feature and recognised the kangaroo paws immediately. Funnily enough, mine have been spectacularly unsuccessful!

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    1. Kangaroo Paws are another plant that seems to need more water than you'd expect, Jane. My own, just now putting up their first flower spikes this year, haven't been particularly impressive either.

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  7. It’s been way too long since I’ve visited the Huntington, I haven’t even seen the new entry garden. Hopefully the next time that I do I’ll also be visiting your garden 😉

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    1. I hope so too, Loree! The "new" entry garden at The Huntington isn't all that new anymore.

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  8. I still have a post pending from when Denise an I met there in March.No roses blooming at all then ! Back in the day when I lived in Socal seeing the roses was always my primary goal visiting the Huntington. It would not be so anymore , still I would love to see it again .

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    1. I can't claim the rose garden is my favorite section of The Huntington either but it's particularly impressive at this time of year. My usual focus is on the Desert, Japanese and Chinese Gardens.

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  9. Thanks for sharing your visit, always interesting. I may have said before but I find it highly amusing that what you call Lavandula stoechas is 'Spanish Lavender', in the UK is called French Lavender and I understand that in France it's called English Lavender - thank goodness for Latin names.

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    1. Ha! When I was going through docent training at the local botanic garden, one of the trainers referred to Lavandula stoechas as "French Lavender" and a Frenchwoman participating in the training muttered an aside to me along the lines of "there's no such thing." The botanic garden prefers the use of common names but I'm having difficulties with sticking to those precisely because they're so confusing to real plant enthusiasts.

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  10. Lovely to see all the roses, that's a treat for next month here. Enjoy the fling.

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    1. Our roses due best before the heat sets in and that seems to be happening earlier and earlier with each passing year.

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  11. Oh lucky you to have gone to the Fling....I will get there one day soon. All the pictures and reports were wonderful. And I must see this stunning garden one day as well as yours. Perhaps you will have the Fling in the LA/Orange Co area one day.

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    1. Next year's Fling will be in Denver, Donna - mark your calendar for June! The topic of an LA Fling comes up periodically but LA's spread and our horrible freeway traffic is a persistent concern.

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  12. We had a Strike It Rich rose in our garden by the pool in California. It became one of my favorites although its one downside is that the blooms were short-lived. Very much enjoyed your photography from your visit to the gardens. I have regrets about not participating in the gardeners fling. I live in the Austin area and it would have been great to meet everyone and to see places in Austin I haven't seen yet. Looking forward to your photos from Austin...the days following the deluge were about as lovely as Central Texas weather gets. :)

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    1. I'm sure you would have enjoyed the Austin Fling, slc! Next year in Denver maybe?

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    2. Love Denver, so a definite "maybe" on attending next year's fling. :)

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    3. I'm still a maybe myself. I've always wanted to see the Denver Botanic Garden though...

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  13. The Orbit Pavilion is wonderful as are all the fab displays at the Huntington. So many gorgeous roses! Is there anything that they don't do well here? Sorry to have missed meeting you and seeing so many others at the fling!

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    1. I'd have loved to have the opportunity to see you at the Fling, Peter. More than once I heard questions as to whether you were attending...

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  14. You are really diligent to visit unique gardens and exhibitions.
    Thank you for your kind comments.
    You would have been very welcome to my exhibition, if you visit Sweden sometime in the future, I would look forward to a visit from you.
    Mariana

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    1. I would love to get to Sweden someday, Mariana. My father's parents were born there.

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