Bamboozled by South Coast Botanic Garden

South Coast Botanic Garden is running a second exhibit alongside its annual SOAR tropical butterfly exhibit.  It's called "Bamboozled" because it features large bird sculptures created using bamboo.  When my friend and I were done with the butterfly exhibit, we walked the eight-seven acres of the garden in search of these sculptures, following a map and a series of bamboo wind chimes.

There are eight bamboo sculptures but we only found seven of them as we lost our map, were getting sweaty, and wanted to get lunch.

According to the Oxford dictionary, "bamboozled" means "to fool or cheat (someone)" but various signs were posted to give the exhibit another meaning

The hummingbird near the front entrance to the garden was perhaps the smallest of the bamboo sculptures

The cactus wren was situated in the Desert Garden.  A visitor on the far right in this shot offers perspective on its size.

The parakeet occupied a shady area along the tram path.  Coincidentally, my friend and I noticed a flock of wild (escaped pet) parakeets elsewhere in the garden chattering that morning.

The ravens counted as 2 sculptures

The owl provided a bench underneath for visitors.  My friend darted into the sculpture to check it out.

The peahen offered a short walk-through tunnel.  The sculpture we missed apparently features a scrub jay, a very common bird here.  I'm sure I'll have a chance to check it out sometime before the exhibit ends on September 30th.

While I'm impressed by the effort that went into the bamboo sculptures, the exhibit won't go on a list of my favorite displays.  SCBG has hosted numerous temporary exhibits over the years, several of which come to mind:

• Legos, 2016 (photos here)
• Flamboyance (topiary), 2022 (photos here)
• Washed Ashore (plastic junk sculptures), 2023 (photos here)
• Dambo Trolls (wooden sculptures), late 2023 (photos here)

I took a hodge-podge of photos as we walked through the garden.  Here are the best of them:

Some years ago, SCBG planted the front of this administration building with succulents but I think this may be the first time I got a decent photo of it under cloudy skies

There are often agaves in bloom at this time of year but these looked particularly stately.  The Agave ovatifolia 'Vanzie' varieties (left) appear to me to bloom more quickly than 'Frosty Blue'.  I'm unsure of the ID for the pair of agaves on the right.

Alluaudia procera (aka Madagascar ocotillo) in bloom

Arthropodium cirratum (aka Renga lilies), which I can't remember ever seeing at SCBG.  This is one of my favorite plants for dry shade, rarely found for sale anywhere in my experience.  Once again I have to wish SCBG would reestablish its volunteer propagation unit and annual plant sales.

This is Calodendrum capense (aka cape chestnut), a magnificent native of South Africa

My cell phone app says this is Echinopsis spachiana and I'm taking its word on that ID

The Jacaranda trees suddenly sprung into bloom all over our peninsula at the end of May.  I've been tempted to pull over to take photos on several occasions but SCBG saved me the need to do that.

I've never seen sweet peas used as a ground cover before as has been done in SCBG's Pollination Garden but I may try these Lathyrus odoratus 'Cupani' in just that way next year if I can find the seeds.  Hoover Boo of Piece of Eden mentioned that she's had this variety self-seed, which is a good sign it might work for me too.

The Living Wall was looking particularly good.  Rosettes of Aeonium 'Sunburst' functioned like flowers paired with the Ficus elastica.

There was a display of various oriental poppies (Papaver).  The one on the upper left was covered in bees when we walked by.

The ground squirrels were quite active and not at all afraid of human visitors.  Neither was the turtle basking at the edge of the Pollination Garden's pond.

Not to dismiss the roses in the Rose Garden but I was most impressed by the blue groundcovers, a swath of Geranium on the left and Nepeta on the right

This is the wrap for my posts this week.  I've done some work in the garden but nothing much worth sharing at this point.  More worthy of notice, we had a thunderstorm on Wednesday!  Although tropical systems occasionally move into our area during summer, this one struck me by surprise.  There was lots of rumbling thunder, one flash of lightning accompanied almost simultaneously by a very big bang, and a little rain.  Counting a trace of moisture again early Thursday morning, we accumulated all of 0.08/inch of rain.  Our "water year" total to date, counted from October 1, 2024, now stands at (a still sad) 6.89 inches.

Best wishes for a pleasant weekend, hopefully free of any new proclamations out of the White House.

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party