Highlights of my botanic garden visit

Last week I visited South Coast Botanic Garden, about 6 miles from my home.  My intent was to see the disco rollerskating set-up before that event closed but of course I also checked out other parts of the garden.  Some areas frankly left me depressed; however, there was beauty to be found and I wanted to share the highlights.  (My prior post on The DiscOasis can be found here.)

The Japanese Garden is small but well-maintained

The Living Wall has undergone some replanting

Even in late summer, there were  flowers to be found.

Flowering plants found elsewhere in the garden:
Top row - Amaryllis belladonna and Physostegia virginiana (aka obedient plant)
Middle row - a variety of Lagerstroemia (crape myrtle trees)
Bottom row: a mass of Bauhinia galpinii (aka red orchid bush)

My visits are often restricted to the garden's front area but, on this occasion, I covered a good portion of its 87 acres, including one of my favorite areas, the Banyan Grove.

This is literally the coolest part of the garden - it's ten degrees or more cooler that other areas of the garden during our hot summer months

The trees are Ficus macrophylla (aka Moreton Bay figs or Australian Banyan)

The aerial roots stretch to the ground, eventually taking root to help support the tree's top-heavy canopy

When I was involved in giving school tours, we called this Ficus petiolaris the "ghost tree" due it its naturally pale bark color

We also used to refer to this as a "strangler fig" as the fig tree sprouted from a seed dropped into the trunk of a large palm.  The fig is usually cut back hard each year but this year it looks as though it might actually succeed in strangling that palm.

As I moved into the "back forty" of the garden, I focused on the trees.

Ceiba speciosa (aka silk floss tree)

I'm not sure what kind of conifer this is but it's in the process of being strangled by what I think are honeysuckle vines

Two Podocarpus  macrophylla (aka yew pines) surround a Taxodium distichum (aka bald cypress) fronted by a weed-free blanket of fresh wood mulch

A tree-shaded tunnel

Most of the sculptures included in the Hide & Seek - Art Meets Nature exhibit loaned to the garden by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art are located in the back part of the garden.  I photographed all but the original sculpture in the front area, which is owned by the garden.

This is Fuller by Doris Sung, commissioned specifically for SCBG.  It's surrounded by Centaurea 'Silver Feather'.  Last time I visited kids were crawling inside the sculpture.  Luckily, this time it was unmolested.

This is Firestone, one of the pieces on loan from LACMA.  It was created by Peter Voulkos in 1965.  The plants surrounding it in the Sakura Meadow are Agave vilmoriniana (aka octopus agave).

This sculpture, called One on One by Richard Artschwager, actually was almost entirely hidden behind a hedge of cypress trees in Phoebe's Meadow

This colorful sculpture is called Trace.  It was created in 1981 by Nancy Graves.

The Duchess of Alba by Reuben Nakian was created in 1960.  It sits in the She-oak Meadow surrounded by a bed of begonias.

This kinetic wind sculpture, Four Lines Oblique Gyratory-Square, forms different shapes.  It was created by George Rickey in 1973.

Teha, by Mark di Suvero, sits in the Memorial Meadow surrounded on three sides by dark Aeonium arboreum

I crossed the garden's upper meadow on my way to the the exit and noticed that, even if school tours are on an indefinite hold, the garden was being used by some for educational purposes.

I'll end with photos of the renovated Palm Circle near the garden's entrance.

Formerly filled with flowering plants, this area was replanted with palms, agaves, and other drought-tolerant plants earlier this year.  It's filling in nicely.

Best wishes for the holiday weekend.  My thoughts are with those of you in the US dealing with one or another climate-related disaster.

All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party