South Coast Botanic Garden, roughly five miles from my home, opened its new "Pollination Garden" on July 1st and I popped in to check it out earlier this week. It occupies the space that housed the former children's garden, slated to be replaced by the 3.5 acre Children and Family Garden currently under construction in 2024. The new garden was created to link the space to the nearby butterfly pavilion.
Opening a new garden in July struck me as a brave thing to do in our climate but SCBG is approaching the project in two phases. Phase One involved sowing a wide range of seeds to create a meadow-like space to attract and support pollinators. I waited almost four weeks to visit the new garden to give the seedlings a chance to develop.
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| View of the new space from the opposite side of the tram road. I arrived just after SCBG opened at 8am, which on a hot summer's day was the right choice for my visit. |
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| View from the entrance off the tram road |
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| View looking roughly west in the direction of SCBG's entrance, with pre-existing mature trees in the background |
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| One of the large beds just inside the entrance to the space. The feathery foliage of the Cosmos plants was the first thing I noticed. They're just starting to bloom. |
The swaths of bright pink color were provided by shade sails.
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| Two of these provided places to take a break and rest in the shade |
There's a large pond in the middle of the area.
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| There was a small pond in the former children's garden. This one looks larger than the original pond but I think the location is the same. The water is circulating with greater force, though. I didn't see the turtle that formerly resided there and couldn't help wondering where he/she went. |
The garden beds are full, although the flower power contained in them is still light. I expect the bloom count will be much higher in August and September.
I collected closeup photos of some of the plants I saw. A few appeared to be holdovers from peripheries of the former garden.
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| Top row: Amaranthus caudatus, Arctotis with Zinnias, and Cleome hassleriana Middle: Cosmos bipinnatus, Datura, and Helianthus annuus Bottom: Mirabilis jalapa, Rotheca myricoides, and Tanacetum parthenium |
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| My phone identified the mature tree on the left as Asimina triloba (aka American pawpaw). The trees on the right are new and, off the cuff, I couldn't identify them. |
Signs are scattered throughout the area.
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| I was impressed by the plant identifications on each of the signs, which included the plant's species name as well as the common name |
Phase Two of the project is scheduled to kick off in November when the annuals currently in place will be replaced by native and adapted plants suitable to our Mediterranean climate. The native plants will reportedly be sourced by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy with support from the Theodore Payne Foundation. SCBG's Director of Living Collections, Terry Huang, is channeling the approach used by Olivier and Clara Filippi in France. They specialize in "drought resilient" plants. I was introduced to Olivier Filippi many years ago via a video a fellow blogger who lived in Italy linked me too. I think it was probably the recording of a talk he did in Athens in 2013 (which can be found here). It made a big impression on me at the time. If you're interested, he has at least one other video from a presentation at a Beth Chatto Symposium in 2019, which you can find here. I have Filippi's first book (English translation), which I'm going to take another look at. He has two other books expanding on what he and his wife have learned about planting and maintaining a climate-appropriate garden under ever more challenging circumstances.
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| The book was originally published in French in 2008 |
I'm looking forward to seeing what the Phase One garden looks like in another four to six weeks, and I'm even more interested in seeing how the Phase Two garden develops.
Best wishes for a pleasant weekend.
All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
In the left photo of the "double" shade sails, which make for a lovely pop of color though not very effective in providing shade, there's a greenhouse-like structure. Did you get to look inside?
ReplyDeleteSigns in the garden and those scannable codes are great. So often I'm frustrated by not being able to name a plant in a botanical garden and scanning is very helpful.
I bookmarked Filippi's talks and intend to listen to them later. An important topic for our warming climate.
Chavli
The greenhouse-like structure is the butterfly pavilion, currently in use for the SOAR tropical butterfly exhibit but also used last October-November for a spider exhibit. I've visited the butterfly exhibits once or twice a year since they opened it for the first time in 2021 but I didn't make it to the spider exhibit. Maybe I'll attend this year if they repeat it ;)
DeleteI was pleased with the well-labeled display. I get very frustrated by SCBG's reliance on common names in their newsletters.
It looks like a beautiful place, and I really like the signs. Love the Cosmos! Mine are blooming now, too. They're awesome plants for cut flowers, aren't they? :)
ReplyDeleteI love Cosmos flowers, although the plants tend to mildew here, Beth. I bought Cosmos seeds last fall but didn't get them sowed in a timely manner this year due to our prolonged stretch of cool temperatures; however, I picked up a 6-pack of plugs and added them to my cutting garden. I may add more when I finally yank the remaining foxgloves in my cutting garden too. In an effort to avoid the mildew, I'm being extra careful about spacing them so they get good air circulation.
DeleteIt does look beautiful, especially for end of July. I like the hot pink, but wonder if they will fade. Phase 2 sounds intriguing. I'm off to watch the video.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be interesting to see how SCBG interprets Filippi's principles, tz.
DeleteThose plants are certainly filling in quickly and you are probably right about bloom times. I was disappointed in their water feature as the stones are all so similar sized it's rather boring. I'm unfamiliar with the Filippis and their books. A lot of dry sunny gardens here are prairies which I am guessing is quite different from what they are doing.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that the Phase One project was put together with speed and minimal effort to give garden visitors something to look at, Linda. A large part of the garden's 87 acres has been closed to visitors all this year due to the construction of the new children's garden and my guess is they didn't want to leave yet another large block closed off behind green fencing. I wouldn't be surprised if the layout changes with Phase Two.
DeleteEncouraging, for the SCBG. I'm with Ms. Brazill on the pond rocks, though it must be an attempt to keep kids running wild out of the pond. (Kids terrified about potentially being attacked by a butterfly? ;^) )
ReplyDeleteTowering sunflowers emerging as sentinels here and there from shorter masses of cosmos, etc will make a good contrast--is that what they did?
Interesting post, thank you. Have a lovely weekend!
Despite the fact that SCBG has hired "rangers" since the pandemic, I've been surprised at how many parents allow their kids to run amok, HB. I've seen kids climbing into the Fuller sculpture, which shouldn't happen, for their own sake as well as that of the sculpture.
DeleteI was somewhat perplexed by the planting plan in the Phase One garden, reportedly created by sowing a custom seed mix. The plants are jumbled together, probably to support the meadow effect they were seeking, but that means many are hidden behind the largest specimens. The sunflowers and the amaranths were most evident along the edges of the beds.
I love the Filippi books, each of the three has a different emphasis, and a completely novel way to look at how to create a garden. Most garden books are just a rehash of previous garden books, but this series is totally unique.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments on the Filippi books, Sue. I just have the one and wondered if the other two just covered the same things. I'll order them :)
DeleteI like seeing SCBG embracing Filippis principals and partnering with the Theodore Payne Foundation as well. Hopefully their efforts in this direction are sincere !
ReplyDeleteMe too, Kathy!
DeleteTwo important themes these days are pollinator gardens and drought resistance. I'm glad they are addressing both, valuable as teaching tool. Eliza
ReplyDeleteTeaching the public about the natural world to assist them in making decisions, both for themselves and their communities, should be the #1 objective of every public garden IMHO, Eliza ;)
DeleteOoh, thanks for the link. I need all the help I can get with resilient, climate adapted plants! I was worried initially when I saw all those thirsty plants in the pollinator garden. Glad they are moving on to drought tolerant ones.
ReplyDeleteThe botanic garden appears to be exempt from watering limitations...
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