Luanne Castle: Poetry and Other Words (and cats!)

Tag Archives: garden

by Luanne | June 5, 2013 · 5:20 am

We Stayed All Day

As I explained on Monday, 0n Memorial Day, I went with my family to The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. We spent the day there because there was so much to see.

This museum owns 207 acres. Of those, 120 are landscaped and divided into their various botanical gardens.

In Monday’s post I showcased the cacti and succulents and some non-desert flowers. Today I want to share more of the gardens with you.

Their Japanese garden is gorgeous and complete with a traditional Japanese house, Zen garden, and a collection of bonsai trees.

These bonsai trees are larger than the sort you usually see at a store. These were a couple of feet tall.

After the Japanese gardens, we visited the greenhouse and saw the carnivorous plants.

: Carnivorous plant

: Bug gets caught in water in the “pitcher”

After the greenhouse, we visited the herb garden with its calming colors and fragrances.

At the end we took pictures on the statue-bordered lawn. Maybe you recognize it from the movie The Wedding Planner. You remember what happens to one of the statues, right?

After we left we found a Persian restaurant for dinner. Next time we go to the Huntington, I want to take tea in their tea room. I hope the library will be open by then because, after all, it is a library ;).

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Filed under Creative Nonfiction, Photographs, Sightseeing & Travel

Tagged as Botanical garden, botanicals, cacti and succulents, California, garden, Huntington Library, huntingtonlibrary, Japanese garden, Japanese rock garden, library, museum

by Luanne | June 3, 2013 · 5:20 am

Why Didn’t We Go a Long Time Ago?

Over the weekend, hubby and I visited our twenty-something kids in California. On Memorial Day, we went to The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Although we lived for twenty years in southern Cali, this was the first time we had gone. I wanted to see the library, which I have heard so much about. A few of my friends worked on their dissertations there. So many times people have urged me to visit, and I kept putting it off. Don’t procrastinate as I did. Seize the first opportunity to visit the Huntington! A lovely time was had by all :).

The Blue Boy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Unfortunately, they are working on the library this summer, and visitors were not allowed access (that will change in September). However, they did have the Huntington collection of volumes of Darwin’s The Origin of the Species on display. It’s hard to believe there are any others left in the world! One row of the books wrapped around the walls of a large gallery. When we entered one of the art galleries, I spotted Gainsborough’s The Blue Boy ahead, on the far wall, and ran up to hubby, the kids, and their friends excitedly pointing out the painting. I hadn’t realized it was at the Huntington. We also saw Pinkie by Thomas Lawrence. Most of our day was spent in the remarkable gardens.

Sorry about the light puddles–no time for fancy stuff when strolling with the family

We saw a few peacocks at one point. But the only other animal we saw in any quantity was the occasional small lizard.

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I hope you enjoyed the slideshow of cacti and succulents. They also had flowers which reminded me of “back east”–Michigan, Cape Cod, all my other memories from years ago.

There’s still much to share, but I’m out of time for today. Check back later this week for more of our fun time at the Huntington. And, yup, it definitely took me away from my writing, but it also fed my soul–and that sure helps with the writing! Here is the link to the next post.