{"id":105970,"date":"2025-03-23T18:14:15","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T22:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=105970"},"modified":"2025-03-23T18:14:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T22:14:15","slug":"o-huntington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=105970","title":{"rendered":"O Huntington!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Notocactus warasii at the Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California in March<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It’s been too long! In my absence the past few years, there are now reservation requirements, QR codes, and repeated checkpoints throughout the gardens to reverify the QR codes. There’s also sushi in the very crowded cafe to refuel after two hours in the desert garden on a warm day with a high noon reservation. Even on a weekday, by noon the acres of parking were spoken for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aloidendron dichotomum aka Aloe dichotoma aka Quiver Tree. I asked staff about the support structure and was told it’s a new acquisition from a private donation and unfortunately is showing a bit of rot…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was especially excited to finally visit the newly built desert conservatory, construction of which has altered some access to the desert garden for at least…five years? But it’s not finished…yet. Maybe June, I was told, but don’t bet on that date either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Staff told me private donations of large specimens are viewed positively, even if it involves a lot of work for plants that are not necessarily rare, but it helps to keep the local community engaged and invested in the garden. A large donation of camellias rescued from the Palisades fire was recently obtained.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A staff member hinted that some of the delay in finishing the conservatory might be due to funding. (If an institution like the Huntington, with its name recognition and large endowment, struggles to fund projects, imagine the difficulties for small town libraries and museums now that the Institute of Museum and Library Services<\/a> has become a target for elimination.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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a jarring moment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As on this visit, I often skip all the rest that the Huntington has to offer — art, manuscripts, rose garden, Japanese garden etc — and confine my attention to the Desert Garden, which I find can disorder the senses like a psychotropic drug (in a good way). Yet I wasn’t in the Desert Garden five minutes before I heard staff asking a woman to keep her kids out of the plantings when taking photos. She sounded surprised at the request but immediately complied. So there are jarring moments, of course, even in botanical paradise because….well, people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But when you finally escape the crowded perimeter paths, the garden really begins to work its magic, that unique lost world appeal I find irresistible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As one of the world’s oldest and largest collections of cacti and succulents, the enormous emeritus specimens provide a rich vertical backdrop that designers expertly use to build up volume and a multi-layered experience. In other words, it is not just a collection, it is emphatically also a garden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aloe camperi ‘Cornuta’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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same scene as above but revealing the writhing variegated agaves in the center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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barrel cactus and Cleisocactus strausii<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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like a silvery grassland but comprised of puyas, terrestrial bromeliads, which will bloom later in April — don’t miss it if you’re in town! Architecturally stunning, puya flowers are some of the best sapphire, turquoise, and indigo blues the botanical world has to offer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Aloe cryptopoda x A. arborescens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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labeled Hechtia glauca<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The big views may be breathtaking, but the planting details don’t disappoint either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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unlabeled echinopsis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Just before this visit I planted these two together at home after finding the bromeliad cheap in a large quantity at the flea market — Aechmea recurvata, a bromeliad that tolerates full sun, with Tradescantia pallida — nice validation to see them used together at the Huntington too!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Locals can form very intimate, interactive relationships with the Desert Garden, making notes for future plant sale purchases or mourning losses. This morning I took out Aloe ‘David Verity’ after seeing the size it attains at the Huntington, where it was discovered. Seeing aloes I’ve grown and lost, like the Huntington’s selections ‘Kujo’ and ‘Jacob’s Ladder,’ brings pangs of regret as I wander the paths. My white whale, Aloe scobinifolia, was also seen this visit. I did not know when this aloe grew so well for me what a treasure I had, until too much shade overcame it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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cream-colored California poppies are a low-key spring addition to the grassland meadow adjacent to the entry garden with aloes and Eucalyptus macrocarpa (not seen). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I was absolutely wiped out after a three-hour visit, but tired and sore in the best way after getting reacquainted with my local garden lodestar. Next visit, the desert conservatory! (Fingers crossed…)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been too long! In my absence the past few years, there are now reservation requirements, QR codes, and repeated checkpoints throughout the gardens to reverify the QR codes. There’s also sushi in the very crowded cafe to refuel after … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[28,850,112,27],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paNJ2E-rzc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105970"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105970"}],"version-history":[{"count":68,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106039,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105970\/revisions\/106039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}