Even though I'm committed to 'buying local' and exploring my own backyard,
my visit with Karen to the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley
was awe-inspiring. I'll show you 5 reasons why.
Pachypodium lamerei, a native of Madigascar, stands 3 feet tall above its pot behind Karen's shoulder.
It's frilly top is about 20 inches wide and is covered with red spines and long green leaves.
Do you hear the sound of delighted giggling filling the dry air greenhouse?
Here in the very humid fern house is the Masdevallia ignea, an orchid of Colombia.
The one inch blossom fades from golden yellow to a beautiful orange-red.
Is this one-inch blue flower an iris or an orchid? I didn't identify it. It grows near the Japanese pool where the newts swim.
Listen for the raucous voice of the Stellar Jay picking some kind of fruit for his mate.
Is she nesting?
A tiny Allen's Hummingbird buzzes Karen repeatedly as she photographs on a Mediterranean hillside overlooking San Francisco Bay. We marvel at this two-inch Red Pincushion Flower. Its genus name is Scabiosa, Latin for itch. It's said to have been used to relieve itching.
By now the noon sun is too bright to get a flattering picture of mother and daughter,
but it's perfect for backlighting this nine-inch long Angel's Trumpet as I stand under it.
Here in the Garden of Old Roses, we avoid competing with the bees while we
smell the old-fashioned roses.
With Heart
