Yesterday, I paid a visit to South Coast Botanic Garden, approximately 6 miles from my home. My principal purpose was to look in on this year's tropical butterfly exhibit. I'll provide a run-down of that later this week. This post focuses on the garden's new topiary exhibit, which opened on May 1st and will remain in place through July 31st. Arriving about an hour before my time-scheduled entry to the butterfly exhibit, I set off to discover as many of the animal topiaries as I could.
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This sign in the palm circle near the garden's entrance announced the topiary exhibit
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A selfie station was set up nearby. These things seem to have become commonplace at public events now.
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Based on the description of the exhibit I'd scanned prior to my arrival, I knew there were some 100 topiaries, 70 of which were flamingos. I also knew that the flamingos were situated on the Amphitheater lawn so I headed in that direction.
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The flamingos, viewed from a scenic overlook in the rose garden
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Each flamingo is planted with 72-108 wax begonias. This particular collection is on loan to SCBG from the Franklin Park Conservatory in Ohio and will be returned to that organization at the end of the exhibit's run.
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Another view, alongside a sign with basic facts about this group. The exhibit took its name from the term used to describe a group of flamingos, a flamboyance.
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According to the sign, an American flamingo weighs 4-8 pounds, while each topiary weighs 66 pounds
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This flamingo had a name tag, which perplexed me until I later learned that visitors may name a flamingo by making a $5000 donation to the garden
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I hadn't a clue where to find the other topiaries or even what kind of animals were featured. If I'd read the description of the exhibit more closely beforehand I would have at least had the latter information. But a little mystery increases the challenge! I was beginning to think I wasn't going to find any of the remaining topiaries and was headed back in the direction of the butterfly pavilion when I stumbled on another group, and then a couple more.
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This pod of dolphins was planted with succulents
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I soon discovered that, other than the flamingos, all the other topiaries were planted with succulents
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I came upon the pack of dogs next.
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Visitors can also make a $5000 donation to name a dog
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Unlike the other groups, the dogs had more individual characters
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With 10 minutes to spare before I was due to check in at the butterfly pavilion, I walked over to the promenade and discovered the fluffle of rabbits.
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There were 2 groups of rabbits, one on either side of the promenade
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Each rabbit is planted with 320-384 succulents
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As the sign below described, the average wild rabbit weighs 2-3 pounds but each of these topiary rabbits weigh 42 pounds
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In the SOAR (butterfly) exhibit, I discovered another topiary.
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This frog was all on its own as far as I could tell
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I had an appointment to make, so I didn't have time for any additional searches after I left the SOAR exhibit but, as I was walking toward the exit, I realized that I'd completely missed the troop of monkeys on the back side of the palm circle planter.
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In a hurry, I didn't frame my shot well, and lost the top of one monkey's head in the group photo on the left
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Upon reading the description of the topiary exhibit in full later at home, I understand that there's just one group I missed, the swarm of butterflies. I'll be back for the spring plant sale the garden has scheduled for May 14-15 so perhaps I'll find that then.
After reading the descriptions that accompanied the garden's topiaries, I've new respect for the effort involved in creating them. I've only tried my hand at it once and the process exhausted my patience. Maybe I should have given it more time.
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A friend gave me a topiary frame of a cat years ago and stuck a couple succulents in it, leaving it to me to do the rest. I didn't get around to that until February 2021 and this is where I left off.
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All
material © 2012-2022
by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Seeing 'topiary' in the title to your post I was a bit dubious as I am NOT (of the British kind) a topiary fan. However, this exhibit is incredible. The nicest pink lawn flamingos ever as well as the best use for wax begonias. Lots of fun and so very well done. Thanks for putting a smile on my face this morning.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it, Elaine. I'm actually not a fan of topiary either and, when I heard that the garden was preparing such an exhibit, I wondered what form it would take as the typical sheared shrub varieties seemed ill-suited to our hot, dry climate. The flamingos drew me to investigate with their massed display. I was less impressed by the rest, although I liked the dogs with their distinct personalities.
DeleteI would be rather upset to visit thinking I'd see topiary but instead frames filled with moss and succulents à la the Rose Parade.
ReplyDeleteI looked into the "history" of topiary when I read your comment, Loree, as I agree that SCBG's display doesn't fit what many people think of when discussing that art form. It appears that the approach using a metal frame stuffed with moss and decorated with plants is the "American portable style," originally introduced at Disneyland in the early 1960s. I wasn't really surprised to find that the majority at SCBG were planted with succulents as I doubt anything less resistant to our hot, dry conditions could survive the 3 months the display is planned to remain in place. I gave up my own "cat topiary" within 6 months as it was too much of a pain in the neck to maintain.
DeleteThose are quite fun, especially the flamingos.
ReplyDeleteI liked the flamingos a lot too, Susie. They're a great draw to a space in the garden that gets relatively little attention once the cherry trees bordering the area are no longer in bloom.
DeleteHow wonderful! I love that a group of flamingos is called a flamboyance. I didn’t know that, and the the flamingos in the exhibition do indeed look rather flamboyant. The little dog on the left looks quite hangdog, I think!
ReplyDeleteI don't know who came up with the names for groups of animals but flamboyance is better than many of them! I thought the dogs in the pack looked a little sorry too but then homeless dogs always look sad to me.
DeleteThat was me, above. I didn’t realise I’d be anonymous when I published.
ReplyDeleteGoogle/Blogger changed the setting for embedded comments, which has unfortunately pushed some commentators into the anonymous category, Jane. I tried different settings but those affected my own ability to respond to comments :(
DeleteOh how cute! And what a labor of love, or someone who has too much time on their hands. Looks like a delightful day exploring all the animal creations.
ReplyDeleteThe flamingos were loaned to the garden by the Franklin Park Conservatory in Ohio, Cindy, and will be returned to that organization when the exhibit closes. My impression is that the other succulent-studded topiaries were created locally as they belong to SCBG but, whether SCBG staff were involved or they hired the project out, I don't know. Given SCBG's staffing level, I'd guess it was the latter.
DeleteWell, I'm not sure what I think about this. I've seen many succulent topiaries I like-though as previous commenters pointed out 'topiary' might not be the best definition. But as always I feel supportive of anything that will increase visitation and hopefully paid membership at botanical gardens.
ReplyDeleteWell, Wikipedia lists both the clipped shrub creations and the "American portable" versions ostensibly originated by Disneyland as "topiaries". The San Diego Botanical Garden has (had?) a wonderful collection of Mariachi-inspired topiaries and I noticed that the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival created mannequins garbed in plants.
DeleteThe mariachis were there at SDBG the last time I visited-maybe 2019 ? I had them in mind when I was reading your post.
DeleteWell, flamingos are always fun....and at least real plants, not plastic ones --hb
ReplyDeleteThe selfie-station succulents weren't real but all the other plants were. I really liked the flamingos - and I didn't expect to. My husband is far less impressed but then he doesn't like any kind of topiary.
DeleteI was just in the Franklin Park Conservatory last December! It's a marvelous place, but there was no trace of Flamingos when I was there. Perhaps they were already in sunny California? I bet your topiary cat will fill in in due time. These things take time...
ReplyDeleteI expect the flamingos were in storage - or traveling elsewhere - in December, Anna. I can't imagine that the wax begonias would hold up to Ohio's winter weather. The cat topiary has been "retired" - it just didn't hold up without regular watering.
DeleteIt would be a fun activity, like a treasure hunt, for moms and kids. Not actual topiary, though the flamingos were lovely, as was the pod of dolphins. I certainly would have the patience for it, but can appreciate those who do.
ReplyDeleteit appears as thought I'm destined to remaining anonymous, no matter what I do :-( (chavliness123)
DeleteSCBG is big on "hunts" of all kinds, which definitely appeal to kids and parents. They had an extensive Lego exhibit years ago, which was wonderful. Anything that pulls in visitors is valuable to the garden.
DeleteI'm sorry about the "anonymous" designation, chavilness. The change was implemented by Google/Blogger (without prior notice I might add). I was unable to affect it by changing the reCAPTCHA setting on my end. I tried changing the comment format but found I then didn't have the ability to reply to comments so, unless Blogger fixes it, I think we're stuck for the time being.
A flamboyance has to be about the best collective noun I've heard of for a group of animals. Although a glaring of cats is pretty good too! Those bunnies are well done and fit in well with their succulent surroundings. I wonder what happens to all the succulents once the frames are (presumably) dismantled? - Horticat
ReplyDeleteAs the garden owns the figures studded with succulents (although not the flamingos), I imagine they may be moved to other areas within SCBG while they remain presentable. Even with regular water, the succulents will deteriorate, though. My guess is SCBG won't save or reuse the succulents that are still in decent shape but I could be wrong. I know that Sherman Gardens in Orange County often offers the plants they pull to volunteers but I don't have the impression that's something SCBG has done in the past.
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