South Coast Botanic Garden has been boosting its Bloom! exhibit for some time. It officially opens April 1st but preparations to immerse visitors in spring flowers have been going on for some time. Mother Nature doesn't march to anyone's schedule but her own and relatively good rainfall, combined with warming temperatures, readied the garden for the enjoyment of visitors well in advance of the exhibit's opening. I decided to avoid the crowds and took advantage of a sunny day earlier this week to check it out, even though the garden staff doesn't yet have everything in order. As the Bloom! map wasn't available, I had to search out the bloom displays on my own. As an added complication, filming was underway on the day of my visit, which meant there were restrictions on where I could go.
So, with the proviso that this "sneak peak" isn't intended as a substitute for a visit, here we go!
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| SCBG plans to offer visitors numerous photo opportunities. I expect that the courtyard at the garden's entrance is one of these. The ceiling was decorated with an elaborate display of (artificial) flowers. |
According to SCBG's Bloom! Guide, the main displays are confined to the front forty acres of the garden. As construction of the new children's garden is ongoing and filming restricted certain paths through the garden while I was there, I covered a little less than that.
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| Wisteria covering the arbor adjoining the Japanese Garden is an annual display |
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| The formal beds at the front of the garden are full of annuals and assorted bulb blooms surrounded by boxwood (top row). The wire supports are intended to show off vines, including sweet peas, but those plants haven't taken off yet. Beyond these beds are others that include perennials like the purple-flowered Salvia and the pink-flowered Pelargonium capitatum (bottom row). |
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| The Pollination Garden was replanted in November with California natives and other climate-adapted plants. Most of the natives are still getting established but spots of color have been added here and there, like Brachyscome, Calendula, Cosmos, Dianthus chinensis, and Nemesia. |
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| The Tropical Greenhouse showed off colorful bromeliads and Phalaenopsis |
I knew that the Amphitheater Meadow Garden was designed as a central feature of the springtime exhibit so I made a point of seeking it out.
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| The photo on the left was taken from the edge of a wall in the Rose Garden overlooking the Amphitheater Meadow. The outlook was previously lined with yellow Euryops chrysanthemoides shrubs but they've been removed, presumably to avoid blocking the view. The middle photo is a wide shot of the meadow's primary bed. The photo on the right is a snapshot showing the mix of bulb flowers and seeded annuals. SCBG reported that 21,000 bulbs were planted in connection with the Bloom! exhibit. |
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| Closeups of some of the key elements, top row: Anemone coronaria in various colors Middle: noID varieties of Narcissi Bottom: Scilla peruviana and Layia platyglossa (aka tidy tips) |
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| A second bed planted exclusively with Narcissi |
I never leave SCBG without at least strolling through the Desert Garden. There were still some Aloes in bloom.
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| The top photo is a wide shot of the main section of the Desert Garden. Clockwise from the middle left are Aloe cameronii (I think), a noID Aloe, A. reitzii, and A. striata. |
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| Clockwise from the top: bed planted with Rosa 'Tahitian Sunset', a closeup of that rose, Rosa 'Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Canna, and a noID Aloe. Yes, there are succulents in the Rose Garden. |
A lot of trees are currently blooming. I captured only a few of them.
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| Top row: hybrid Handroanthus (I wasn't able to get any closer to it) and Cercis canadensis (guess) Middle: Erythrina x sykesii (1st 2 photos) and the peach-colored flowers of E. caffra Bottom: noID Prunus with closeups of flowers from 2 different trees |
I've lumped the photos of other flowers I found during my stroll into two collages rather than trying to identify them by their locations.
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| Top: Aeonium arboreum with Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi, closeup of Kalanchoe, and Clivia Middle: noID Callistemon, Echium candicans, and Lavatera (guess) with Osteospermum Bottom: Rhaphiolepis swallowing a pink Cuphea, Strelitzia reginae, and Zantedeschia aethiopica |
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| Top: noID Begonia and Grevillea (maybe 'Misty Pink') Middle: 2 shots of Geranium 'Rozanne' Bottom: Sisyrinchium bellum and Paeonia x 'Little Darlin' (Itoh peony) |
If you have a chance to visit SCBG this spring, I suggest grabbing a map when you check in. To avoid situations such as I discovered during my impromptu visit, I also suggest checking SCBG's list of area closures.
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| Roadblocks due to film equipment and a parking lot full of trucks |
Whatever the weather or your plans for the holiday weekend, best wishes! We're expecting rain all weekend but that's a good thing (unless it floods).
All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Artificial flowers! That surprises me. The garden is full of blooms, looks like a wonderful day - Happy Spring!
ReplyDeleteYes, I was disappointed when I saw the artificial flowers in the courtyard but they've done that kind of thing before in staging their special photo ops setups. I know they plan to erect giant letters spelling "BLOOM" and I expect those will be constructed with fake flowers too - real ones are probably just too hard to maintain for that kind of feature. However, I do hope that they'll add giant containers with real flowers or something like that to the courtyard before the exhibit goes live next week.
DeleteThat is certainly a lot of activity at SCBG - although I've never been, it looks like they are pouring a lot of energy and money into updating their plantings. It almost feels like they are putting in new installations mainly as an effort to prevent boredom and to attract more people to the garden who will only come to see the next new thing. However, I prefer the look of their older, more established areas much better. The Desert Garden is beautiful. I was noticing the other day that some artificial flowers are beginning to look more real, but still not a fan.
ReplyDeleteThey've definitely emphasized event extravaganzas over the last several years, Jerry. In the "old days" the events included things like plant sales. There were regular spring and fall plant sales emphasizing plants grown by the onsite volunteer-led propagation unit. But the propagation unit (like the docent group I volunteered with) was pulled during the pandemic and not reinstated, which makes me sad - there are plants in my garden that I picked up during those sales that I never see elsewhere. They also used to support a range of locally-based plant societies by giving them space to hold their sales but that also seems to have stopped - even the C&SS is holding their annual event elsewhere now. I keep hoping that, when the current construction effort is completed, plant sales and the like may be woven back into SCBG's schedule.
DeleteOh, that is very sad. I would think that plant propagation, plant sales, and such would directly support the mission of a botanical garden. Looks like they have plenty of space to reintegrate some of that now.
DeleteSCBG is of 87 acres in size AND the area formerly used by volunteers for propagation purposes is still there. It's used for little as temporary storage as best I can tell. I can't even begin to count the times people have told me "I got that plants ar SCBG when they used to have plant sales." The last sale they had some 2 years ago was stocked primarily by vendors and donations. They did some of that in the old days too but the cornerstone of the spring and fall plant sales were plants propagated by volunteers. Perhaps you can tell how irritated this makes me ;)
DeleteKirstenbosch is also tilted to concerts and events. Lease for the commercial nursery expired at the end of March ... we wait.
DeleteThat surprised me in that Kirstenbosch is a national botanic garden with a world-wide reputation but then I looked it up and learned that it's 15 times the size of SCBG so I guess it can afford to lease out space for special events. I hope they continue to support a plant nursery on site, though.
DeleteI'd probably take my photo op at the Japanese garden, under the Wisteria covered arbor which, I assume, was heavenly scented.
ReplyDeleteI was gobsmacked by the ginormous Callistemon: I don't think I've ever seen such a massive specimen (maybe in one of your previous posts?). Wow.
Chavli
My guess is that Callistemon has been there since the garden was first planted, which means 60+ years, Chavli. The Wisteria in the Japanese Garden was actually my favorite shot too.
DeleteIt's interesting to see how the powers-that-be are trying to "market" the "property" that is this public BG.
ReplyDeleteSad that the real virtue of a BG--connecting increasingly urban LAC to the natural world--is lost when the flowers are artificial contructs designed to get the BG on Instagram.
Sadly, we do seem to live in a world that's all about "likes." They do specifically encourage Instagram posts linked to their site. I understand the need to cultivate sources of revenue but I do wish they'd also acknowledge naturalists and gung-ho gardeners with events cued to those interests as well.
DeleteVery colourful! Happy Easter :)
ReplyDeleteBest wishes for a happy Easter to you too, Nikki!
DeleteSo much floriferousness, almost too much! But it's what visitors want to see, and they have to cater to that.
ReplyDeleteI wish they'd skipped the fake flowers but, yes, I suspect they're reading the market correctly and that opportunities for selfie photographs is key these days.
DeleteThis is about the time of year I visited the SCBG with you (can you believe its been five years already?). The place is looking in good shape, I guess a couple of good water years has helped. 21,000 bulbs is A LOT! Eliza
ReplyDeleteWell, SCBG is 87 acres in size so it can absorb a lot of flower bulbs, although many, especially the Narcissi, were planted in expansive groups.
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