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| Roses |
When we planned our trip to the botanical garden, daughter and I knew that I couldn't visit the entire 150 acre garden in one go. So, we picked and chose a couple of main areas we wanted to visit. The Japanese Garden was one of those areas, located to one's left when entering the botanical garden. The other area was the Rose Garden, which was located to one's right when entering the botanical garden.
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| Pink, Single Petals |
It isn't the peak season for roses, but, I knew that there would be at least some roses blooming because the roses in my own garden bloom for a second time in the autumn. I was not disappointed!
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| More Roses |
The Rose Garden grew from its original one acre to 5 acres and consists of 1,600 varieties of roses. Apparently, it was renovated in 1994 and now includes many hybrid roses developed by horticulturists from around the world and is now called the International Rosarium.
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| Whole Beds of Roses |
According to the Gardens' website, the roses are interplanted with companion plants to attract pollinators and predatory insects which enable them to grow the roses organically, without pesticides or herbicides.
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| Roses and Companion Plants |
There were a few water features, too, including this pond:
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| Water Features |
After walking through several parts of the rose garden, we came to a fountain with benches around it and I sat for awhile to rest:
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View from a Bench
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My daughter and I were fascinated by the huge aeonium plant that was growing by the fountain. As far as we could see, it was just one plant! It merited a second look:
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| Aeonium |
There was a tunnel of arches strung with stars, which is a part of the Enchanted Forest of Lights feature, which starts mid-November and continues into December. It is an evening/night experience, featuring a one mile long walk with interactive lights, leading through various parts of the botanical garden (separate tickets are required for it and we saw several staff members getting the place ready for the lights displays). The arches are planted with climbing roses, I believe and would look lovely in the late spring/early summer when the roses are at their peak blooming season.
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| Part of the Enchanted Forest of Lights Garden Walk |
There is a pavilion in the Rose Garden which I believe is available for renting to host private parties, etc., and we walked through it as we left the Rose Garden.
Daughter took a picture of what currently looks like a dry stream bed, but, which I imagine helps to carry rain water and is part of the Garden's water collection and circulation system.
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| "Dry" Stream Bed |
We took another picture in front of an archway built out of branches:
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| Branch Archway |
I am wondering if M and I could put together a smaller version of such an arch in my garden?
By this time, we were both feeling a bit tired and I was wishing I had brought my bottle of water with me, instead of leaving it in the car, although the visitors' guide specified no food or drink in the garden.
There is a central courtyard one has to pass through near the entrance to the botanical garden, complete with tables and chairs, and surrounded by a coffee stand, a gift store, an adjoining plant nursery, a market where one could buy food and drinks, and a more formal restaurant. Of course, even though we were tired, I had to check out the plants in the nursery (they had some lovely Christmas cacti in bloom, but I thought they were very overpriced) and the items in the gift shop (again, very overpriced, in my opinion, although people were buying things).
Next, we wandered over to the market and looked at the snacks and drinks they had. $9 for an ice cream cone? No thank you!
I had anticipated food to cost a lot at the botanical garden and had made egg salad sandwiches before we left in the morning and packed a picnic lunch with a couple of bottles of water and a bottle of lemon-lime soda which I had kept in the car since you weren't allowed to bring food or drinks inside the garden. However, there was a picnic area with tables and chairs just to the side of the car park, before one entered the Visitors' Center and the courtyard area. My original plan had been to have our egg salad sandwiches in the picnic area, but, there were quite a few people sitting there and I didn't want to take off my mask to eat when there were so many people about. Yes, both my daughter and I wore N95 masks the whole time we were in the garden, except for a couple of occasions when we took the masks off to take pictures of ourselves, making sure that there were no people around while doing so.
So, after sitting at a picnic table for a few minutes to rest, we walked to our car. I had parked in a side parking lot that was a bit away from the main parking area, so it was fine to sit in the car with the windows down and our masks off to enjoy our sandwiches, drink our water, and share the bottle of soda.
Then, we drove home and encountered only the very beginnings of rush hour traffic. We stopped on the way home to get two ice cream cones and an order of chicken nuggets to share; once again, daughter paid as it was my birthday.
Altogether, I really enjoyed my birthday and the visit to the botanical gardens. I would like to go back to visit the garden at least one more time, perhaps in the spring, to see the rest of the gardens, including the California Garden with its native plants, the Hill Top garden and Boddy House.
Once again, I am very grateful for my gardener friend M for making this visit to the botanical garden possible.
