The images directly above were taken at The Huntington (
www.huntington.org/) which houses a libary, art collections
and a botanic garden. On Thursday (July 22) of last week, our conference met out at The Huntington for the day, having seminars, tours, a reception and dinner. The scale/scope of this institution is impressive and mind boggling. The staff was ver
y cordial and everyone had a great time. I, of course, was most interested in the botanic garden portion of this place and enjoyed the children's garden, Chinese garden, Japanese garden and particularly the cacti/succulent garden. I was able to meander for about two hours and took most of my pictures at this garden. Their budget must be substantial as the gardens were enormous and very well maintained. Around each corner was a new garden experience and while I didn't recognize the majority of the plants, I felt that the layout and design were quite well done and it was by far, my fa
vorite garden of the trip. After our dinner, with the sun setting, I started thru the cacti garden while on the way back to the bus. I'm glad I did as I was mesmerized by the scale of this space and enjoyed the variations in form and color of a plant group that I know next to nothing about. Overall, a neat experience and a must-see for anyone in the LA area.
I didn't get to see the library, art collections or conservatory which I imagine would add to the visitor experience immensely. To the left, right and below are some shots of the cacti garden. My seminar at The Huntington revolved around the recruitment and retention of volunteers which I felt had lots of applicability to our situation at RBG. What was interesting was the sheer number of staff that they have to operate that institution with many permanent staff in the volunteer coordination positions. In fact, they had one staff member that dealt specifically with high school volunteers.
On Friday (July 23rd) there were field trips around the LA area. I was on the bus that visited public gardens. Other buses visited nature centers, school gardens and other destinations but I was interested in seeing both the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Gardens and Descanso Gardens. We arrived late at the Arboretum (
www.arboretum.org/) so had less than 1 hr. to explore. We met two of their educators (one of which who had friends in Janesville, WI!) and I was struck by their enthusiasm despite horrible budget cutbacks for their facility over the last couple of years. We had a nice tram tour of the arboretum and heard much of the history. There was an old stylish house that we saw in the distance and the tour guide mentioned that it was the house seen in the opening scenes of Fantasy Island so many years ago. We all noticed the peacock population around the grounds and feral parrots were everywhere (after having been released many years ago during a nearby pet store fire).
It was interesting to see that they re-process all branches and tree debris into woodchips for on-site use. They had a huge yard area where they had stockpiled debris for later grinding and usage. When we to
ok our tram ride around the grounds, we noted a large amphitheater with surrounding turf that had many tables and chairs. Our tour guide mentioned that the Los Angeles Philhar
monic played there every two weeks and it was always a packed crowd. The entire setting was lovely but you could start to see the effect that a minimized budget was having. Our next stop was Descanso Gardens (
www.descansogardens.org/) where we had another hour to explore. I was bummed as they kept us in large groups and I have a feeling we didn't get to see very much overall. It was a lovely garden though with many camellias and other plants that we could never grow. Our tour guide mentioned how often the garden is used for commercials, tv shows and movies for its tropical setting. The picture below was in their entrance garden. One of their grounds staff was a WI native from Lake Geneva.
Apparently many years ago, Descanso had a decision to become a state-funded botanic garden or a non-profit that would ha
ve to raise their own funding. They became a non-profit and apparently have thrived. I truly wish that I would have had an entire day to explore this neat garden but we were still behind and were in and out of there in les
s than an hour. Ugh! The image to the left is a vertical, succulent planter (a style that I also saw at the LA Arboretum). Packed with moss and/or some other growing material, the succuslets are placed thru chicken wire and eventually fill out. My guess is that these are grown horizontally until they fill out and are then secured vertically and watered as needed from the top of the structure or lightly misted as needed. To the right is the mansion of E. Manchester Boddy, the founder of the gardens and both a publisher and former owner of the Los Angeles Daily News. In 1953, Mr. Boddy sold the estate and land to Los Angeles County and the gardens were formed. We didn't get to see the house but at 12,000 sq. ft., it was quite large for its time when built in 1937. Not having more time at Descanso was one of few regrets from this entire experience.
The images directly above were taken at The Huntington (www.huntington.org/) which houses a libary, art collections
and a botanic garden. On Thursday (July 22) of last week, our conference met out at The Huntington for the day, having seminars, tours, a reception and dinner. The scale/scope of this institution is impressive and mind boggling. The staff was ver
y cordial and everyone had a great time. I, of course, was most interested in the botanic garden portion of this place and enjoyed the children's garden, Chinese garden, Japanese garden and particularly the cacti/succulent garden. I was able to meander for about two hours and took most of my pictures at this garden. Their budget must be substantial as the gardens were enormous and very well maintained. Around each corner was a new garden experience and while I didn't recognize the majority of the plants, I felt that the layout and design were quite well done and it was by far, my fa
vorite garden of the trip. After our dinner, with the sun setting, I started thru the cacti garden while on the way back to the bus. I'm glad I did as I was mesmerized by the scale of this space and enjoyed the variations in form and color of a plant group that I know next to nothing about. Overall, a neat experience and a must-see for anyone in the LA area. 
I didn't get to see the library, art collections or conservatory which I imagine would add to the visitor experience immensely. To the left, right and below are some shots of the cacti garden. My seminar at The Huntington revolved around the recruitment and retention of volunteers which I felt had lots of applicability to our situation at RBG. What was interesting was the sheer number of staff that they have to operate that institution with many permanent staff in the volunteer coordination positions. In fact, they had one staff member that dealt specifically with high school volunteers.
ok our tram ride around the grounds, we noted a large amphitheater with surrounding turf that had many tables and chairs. Our tour guide mentioned that the Los Angeles Philhar
monic played there every two weeks and it was always a packed crowd. The entire setting was lovely but you could start to see the effect that a minimized budget was having. Our next stop was Descanso Gardens (www.descansogardens.org/) where we had another hour to explore. I was bummed as they kept us in large groups and I have a feeling we didn't get to see very much overall. It was a lovely garden though with many camellias and other plants that we could never grow. Our tour guide mentioned how often the garden is used for commercials, tv shows and movies for its tropical setting. The picture below was in their entrance garden. One of their grounds staff was a WI native from Lake Geneva.
ve to raise their own funding. They became a non-profit and apparently have thrived. I truly wish that I would have had an entire day to explore this neat garden but we were still behind and were in and out of there in les
s than an hour. Ugh! The image to the left is a vertical, succulent planter (a style that I also saw at the LA Arboretum). Packed with moss and/or some other growing material, the succuslets are placed thru chicken wire and eventually fill out. My guess is that these are grown horizontally until they fill out and are then secured vertically and watered as needed from the top of the structure or lightly misted as needed. To the right is the mansion of E. Manchester Boddy, the founder of the gardens and both a publisher and former owner of the Los Angeles Daily News. In 1953, Mr. Boddy sold the estate and land to Los Angeles County and the gardens were formed. We didn't get to see the house but at 12,000 sq. ft., it was quite large for its time when built in 1937. Not having more time at Descanso was one of few regrets from this entire experience. 
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