I woke Thursday morning to news of Southern California's first significant wildfire of 2022. It had broken out overnight in Laguna Beach, fifty-plus miles to the south of us, after a stretch of unseasonably warm, dry and windy weather that's affected a large part of the region. This isn't something we'd generally expect in the middle of our so-called rainy season. Rather than fuss about in my own garden, I decided to visit my local botanic garden to see how it was faring.
My last visit was in early December, when the Aloes were just beginning to bloom. I hoped to see more before their winter bloom season was over.
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| The succulent beds at the entrance were well-manicured |
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| Osteospermums offered lots of color in the Palm Circle area just inside the garden |
I arrived later than I'd planned and it was already getting uncomfortably warm so I immediately headed in the direction of the Desert Garden.
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| While many of the photos I took look sun-bleached to me, the stark light seems to fit the Desert Garden's profile |
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| The sea squills (Drimia maritima) appear to appreciate the shade in this area |
The most spectacular Aloe I saw in bloom on this visit was this one:
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| This is Aloe castanea, aka the cat's tail aloe |
Many of the Aloes in the extension of the Desert Garden planted with a focus on that genus were already past their peak. There were some exceptions.
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| Labels were in short supply and I'm no expert at identifying these plants. Those in the top row, left are Aloe vanbalenii and hybrids of that species. The one in the second row, left is 'Spiney'. I can't put names to the rest. I love the one shown in the second row, right, but although it was planted in spots throughout the area, I never found a label to identify it. |
Leaving the Desert Garden without the color fix I'd sought, I wandered on, taking note of the flowering shrubs and trees.
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| NoID Acacia outside what used to be the tropical greenhouse, now closed |
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| Acacia longifolia, aka golden wattle |
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| Small cherry tree (Prunus), planted next to one of the garden's huge Mexican sunflower trees (Tithonia diversifolia) |
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| Other flowering cherry trees are planted in the garden's Sakura Meadow but there weren't many in full flower. I had to wonder about the impact of our untimely heatwave. |
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| It's somewhat hard to spot the flowers on the massive Loropetalum from a distance but they're there |
Because it was so warm, I sought shade in the Banyan Grove.
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| Even the shade of the Moreton bay fig trees (Ficus macrophylla) wasn't as cool and damp as I'd expected |
On my way back toward the exit, I noticed what may currently be the most spectacular flowering tree in the garden.
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| I believe this is a hybrid Handroanthus chrysotrichus x impetiginosus (aka trumpet tree, formerly classified as Tabebuia). The flowers start out yellow and gradually turn pink as shown in a March 2021 post. |
Before I got back in my car to head home, I stopped to photograph one of the pink trumpet trees blooming in the parking lot.
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| Handroanthis impetiginosus |
Our temperature peaked in the low-80sF (27C) yesterday. We're expecting the warm temperatures to stick around through the weekend before returning to more normal levels early next week. There's still no rain in the forecast. I hope your weather this weekend is more to your liking than mine is!
All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Beautiful tree blooms, Kris, a welcome sign of spring for me. I'm sorry to read of the high temps and wildfire. One feels so helpless when the weather turns for the worse, esp. so out of season. Hang in there.
ReplyDeleteOur rainy season is so short to begin with and watching it shrink even further borders on tragedy. It was foolish on my part to place high hopes for a significant improvement over the 2021 water year.
DeleteI love these posts about trips to botanical gardens in warm climates--especially now as we're very tired of winter here and anxious for spring.
ReplyDeleteRight now, it feels like we're fast-forwarding right through spring into summer, Beth!
DeleteBottom row left of Aloe six-pac looks like 'Erik the Red'.
ReplyDeleteNice to get out of the house a bit, isn't it? But it was hot-hot-hot.
Thanks for the Aloe ID, HB. I kept telling myself that 80-83F wasn't all that hot but it sure felt like it! Like the plants, we haven't had an opportunity to acclimate to that kind of sudden temperature shift. Some plants in my garden have responded by bursting into bloom but others, like the poor Anemone coronaria, look pitiful.
DeleteLoving the cherry tree blossom. Unfortunately, our local town council made a mistake when starting to overhaul one of the car parks and cut down the row of beautiful cherry trees, despite the plans stating they should stay. The locals aren't happy to say the least!
ReplyDeleteHow sad to lose a mature row of cherry trees, Nikki. I hope that whomever screwed up replaces all of them!
Delete80° in mid February is scary. Seattle had gorgeous weather in the last few days, with temperatures reaching mid 50's. I enjoy it, but also worried it's too unlike a proper winter.
ReplyDeleteIt's odd for me to see Loropetalum used as a hedge. I've only ever seen it as a small garden plant, or I'm my case, a dwarf I just planted in a pot last year: it looks rather crispy right now.
In the " well-manicured bed" in the first photo you capture some fun reddish blooms... what are they? In the second photo, I'm astounded by the dark Aeoniums in bloom on top of those tall stalks. They seem in danger of toppling... and will die off when done blooming... :-(
Supposedly, our temperatures are going to plummet (into the 60s) on Monday but we shall see...
DeleteThe plant you referenced is a Kalanchoe, K. marnieriana would be my guess but I didn't take a close look at the foliage. Some Aeonium arboreum do get very tall - there's one outside my office window that's 4 feet tall topped with a rosette the size of my head. The dark varieties in particular tend to do that without producing pups along the central stem as my less fancy, mostly green varieties generally do.
So sorry to read that the wildfire season has started so early in the year Kris 😢 Thank you for the tour of the South Coast Botanic Garden. The star for me was the cat's tail aloe.
ReplyDeleteLuckily, that particular fire didn't destroy any homes (although a second one, the result of arson, sadly did). I'm still toying with the idea of planting one of those cat's tail aloes in my own garden - it'd be a no-brainer if it didn't get so big.
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