A rainy day in Providence seems like a good time to revisit sunny southern California. We stopped by the Huntington Botanical Gardens in Pasadena two Fridays ago…

There wasn’t time to explore all 120 acres, but being fond of thorny, spiky, alien-looking plants, I definitely didn’t want to miss the 100-year-old Desert Garden. My friend John will appreciate this post.

Before I share some of the “ow! my eye!” plants, take a look at this massive bamboo just inside the entrance…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wowza!

And now, without further delay, I bring you glorious blue skies, oppressive heat and where’s my water bottle?

(As always, click to biggify)…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In case you didn’t catch it in the shot above, please note: some aloes can grow to become trees? Really? I had no idea…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s no sense of scale in this shot. Those plants are at lease 2′ to 4′ across…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What the… euphorbia also grows like trees here? 6′ tall. So unfair…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this sea of happy aeoniums…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And these octopi…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And these starfish…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve seen radio towers shorter than this thing! That’s easily 50′ tall…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the agaves are crazy huge, as you might imagine. Do not hug them…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have no idea what this bizarre specimen is but look closely — green lily-like blooms and it’s about to launch missiles…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crazy. Who designs these things anyway?

Do yourself a favor and take a quick 360 spin around the Desert Garden. It’s wondrous. Better yet, go there in person because my pictures do the collection no justice. Bring protective eyewear.

 

Tags: plants, xeric

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 1st, 2012 at 5:03 pm and is filed under garden, visits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.