San Diego Botanic Gardens, Encinitas, California, USA

[nanila]

San Diego Botanic Gardens, Encinitas, California, USA



“Visit the botanic gardens” is not an activity that ever appeared on my lists of things to do when I was living in San Diego. Partly this is because I spent those five years in a basement lab staring at oscilloscopes. Mostly it’s because when I wasn’t doing that, I was more interested in going out dancing than I was in staring a birdhouse for half an hour, watching a cute Bewick’s wren feed the noisy chicks inside. Or tracking dogfights between Anna’s and Costa’s hummingbirds. Or making lists of succulent cacti to try and grow at home (indoors).

My inclinations have changed with age, and I was lucky enough during my visit to have a companion willing to check out the attractions of the botanics on a warm, overcast afternoon.


Trailing ice plant










Sapphire Tower. Teal flowers - so unusual!


Mourning Cloak butterfly














Birds of paradise. I grew up with these. I love them.

Comments

[holyschist]

Ooooh, these are all lovely. Maybe I will try to go to a botanic garden next weekend (sadly, not that one).

[nanila]

Come to the Cambridge botanics! The glasshouses are beautiful.

[holyschist]

It is slightly far away!

[nanila]

Oh, that's right. For some reason I keep forgetting you're not on this side of the pond.

[holyschist]

I cannot imagine why, given my spelling! :-P

(Man, I wish I were. Texas is not a happy place for me. I would much rather be in England.)

[lovepeaceohana]

These photos are so gorgeous! I did lol a bit at the expression on the lizard's face, but, I think I'm justified there :P

[nanila]

Oh, he was definitely Not Impressed by the giant lens. But he was also Far Too Lazy to move away from it.

[marshtide]

Oh, gorgeous photos! :)

[nanila]

Thank you. I loved taking them, especially the bird photos. I sat there for a long time watching them and waiting for the right moments.

[miss_haitch]

I really want to go to a botanical garden now! I wonder if I can justify the train fare of getting to Kew...

[nanila]

If you don't want or can't afford to go to London, the Cambridge Botanic Gardens are a beautiful place to visit - and entry is much cheaper than Kew. I've always been enamoured of the glasshouses here.

[foxfinial]

These are such gorgeous photos.

[nanila]

Thank you. I think I've recently made a little cognitive jump with photography recently, which is rather nice as it's been a few years since I first purchased an SLR camera.

[vi]

You take amazing photos! There's such a variety of textures and colours in these.

I have never seen teal flowers before and they are wondrous. (And predictably I really, really, really like the cacti and the succulents.) And OH! KANGAROO PAWS! \o/

[nanila]

Thank you! I think my photography is improving at the moment.

I think I was very lucky to catch those sapphire towers when they were blooming, otherwise I would have wondered what the fuss was about. The base of the plant is a rather dull pale green leafy plant, a bit like a spider plant.

The photo below shows what I mean:

[capri]

Your photos are gorgeous! I can't pick my favourite, but those teal flowers are fascinating.

[nanila]

Thank you. We spent quite a while marveling over the teal flowers.

Looking forward to reading about your trip to China!