transplants

between the new sweater release, traveling, and erica’s update, i’ve hardly had a chance to work on a blog post. but finally yesterday i sorted through the hundreds of photos i’ve taken this weekend and made a few groups to show you over the next couple of days.

beckie and i landed on wednesday evening in san diego and after a quick dinner at saffron, headed back to the tyler ranch to get comfortable and have a nice chat with kim and the boys. we’ve had a great visit here at kim’s home as well as out and about.

on thursday, we got up early and headed out to the san diego botanic garden—none of us had ever been and we wanted to check that out.

turns out we had just missed a lengthy sculpture show that ended in mid april, but a few pieces remained in place, waiting to be picked up. this queenly muse was one of them; she greeted us near the entrance, along the path to the herb gardens.

this path was also lined with tall cork trees that threw deep shade all along its length

a nearby sign explained.

this botanic garden is a lot different than the ones you might see in the midwest or on the east coast, which are often lush and thickly planted with flowers. here, those english garden variety plants stay much smaller in the dry climate, which bleaches out the surrounding mulch and earth, giving these spaces a dusty, slightly unkempt look.

where native plants, trees, and grasses are allowed to thrive however, things are different—these sturdy, drought-tolerant plantings are effortlessly green with interesting twists shaped by the weather.

in the mexican garden, someone used the succulents to very cleverly craft topiary of dancers and musicians

their skirts swirling with floral shapes.

the property has so many varieties of palms that it’s impossible to remember which is which, but some stand out more than others to a non-native.

on the way to the rainforest area, we passed a number that caught our eyes. i like this corner spot where no two trees are quite the same . . .

strong roots are needed by all the trees to suck in every last drop of water that might be available. but this tree is also home to a staghorn fern, which perches on each available notch.

it was harder to get good angles on the very large trees and plants in the rainforest area, but as we left it, i saw this pretty spotted plant—it looks as if it’s been spattered with bleach or dappled by sunlight.

next we traveled through an open area where all manner of native desert grasses and scrub were planted over a series of gullies and hills.

you can walk out over them along a gangway to a lookout tower, which provides a three-story viewing advantage over the park and its surrounding neighborhood.

the park has gardens devoted to specific areas of the globe, including africa, south america, australia, and new zealand. this is a shot from the road along the aussie garden, that i took for megan-leslie—look megan, we’ve been to your stomping grounds.

the aussie/NZ gardens were actually pretty well fleshed out, with thriving examples of a wide variety of plants. the san diego growing climate must be very similar because they also share a number of the same native plants.

this tree is a gardenia that produces a lemon-sized fruit or seed pod (they were dried to a rock hard state by the time we saw them)

the road took us next to the children’s garden, our last stop. if there’s one time of the year that’s prime for flowers in san diego, it’s right now—colorful jacaranda, poppies, nasturtiums, and ice plant are blooming everywhere and the botanic garden has it’s share of them, too.

they also have some beautiful iris blooming now.

and these funny fried egg flowers, which were surrounded by bees the day we were there

the children’s garden’s garden was our final destination. an alphabet walkway lead us through the center

with a plant for each letter. the pathways here are dotted with whimsical sculptures

mostly built from recycled junk.

kids (and adults) will love figuring out what the various body parts used to be. and don’t forget to keep an eye on what’s overhead . . .

they are perched among and atop the play structures situated in the garden, where kids can enjoy plants from every visual advantage.

next we doubled back to find a spot for a little photo shoot with one of my secret projects. we picked a couple or three places to take pictures and got some lovely results.

then it was time for lunch, so we decided to head to encinitas

where we ate peruvian food at q’ero, a favorite that we hadn’t been to in a few years.

after a yummy lunch, we wandered around town for a bit, stopping in at a craft gallery to see what was new. kim found a great tray that she couldn’t resist and i bought a beautiful cashmere scarf printed with botanical impressions.

it was a wonderful first day and we had the whole weekend to go—more on our travels tomorrow. we’ve been knitting too—i finished one secret project on the plane and started on another, which i’ve also finished since. and a third one is just about to come off the needles—i’ll definitely finish that today.

we’re on our way home later this afternoon, but i’m scheduling another post for you to read while i’m in transit and settling back in at the office.