Visit Car Museum, Take Pictures Of Plants

Green car:
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Our visitors were interested in the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, so we took a drive over there. 
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Of course, I considered the Museum's plants, which consisted of this...
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...and this:
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Across the street from the museum, an industrial building had a bit more vegetation:
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I think the three trees were ornamental Pears, which will potentially grow large enough to completely block the view of the building's entrance.  Maybe their maintainers will prevent that.  Or not, seeing as how they pruned the Phormiums.
 
Appropriate if standard plants for the area, but unfortunate maintenance.  No, the tips won't grow back.
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We thoroughly enjoyed the museum. I took photographs of numerous hood ornaments, assembling a group showing the breadth and evolution of the Packard types.  Not gardening related, but fuel for a future post.  I'll find some sort of garden angle.  Or not.  
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Afterwards we stopped at the nearby Super Charging Station to get a charge out of the landscaping, and to get a charge.  The super trendy minimalist landscaping included permeable pavement to minimize runoff of winter rain:
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Just a bit of lawn by the reflecting pool, with the typical trendy rectangles of grey concrete creating a decorative pattern in the grass:
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Dark Phormiums and blonde Nassella tenuissima as the shrubbery around the charging area:
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By the office doorway, a row of Agave desmettiana paired with Foxtail fern (Asparagus densiflorus 'Myers')
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Narrow screens of black Bamboo will eventually form a partially enclosed square.  The Bamboo is still establishing but appears happy.
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 A bit of foundation planting by the building looked less trendy and very standard--the old ho-hum standbys Rhaphiolepis indica, Daylilys, and Trachelospermum jasminoides:
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 I would be interested to see how the Very Trendies age over time in comparison to the Very Standards--are we learning anything about what to plant in commercial settings, or not?  Will the dark Phormiums grow huge and be cut into cubes? (No, the tips don't grow back.) Will the bamboo accumulate a wad of dead material at the base, and become a thick hedge cut to four foot height (the height which a mow-blow guy with gas-powered hedge trimmers trims everything)?

Time will tell on that, and on Tesla's prospects as well.  We left with both the car's batteries, and my plant love, relatively recharged.

Comments

  1. Nice...who needs cars with some good plant bling? Looks like some maintenance people from NM moved to your area...sorry about not knocking them off before they became a problem:-)

    The agave w/ foxtail fern is stunning. They flaxes w/ the feathergrass would be, if the latter weren't so invasive.

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    1. The person who finds and patents a sterile version of that Nassella could make some bucks.

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  2. I really am curious what exactly they thought would be accomplished by cutting the tips off the Phormium...any ideas?

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    1. Usually for one of three basic reasons: to tidy up the plant by removing damaged, brown tips; to make it "safer" by removing sharp, pointed tips, whether they really ARE sharp or pointed; to make it conform to a preconceived prejudice of every plant needing to be squared off. You see it in these parts all the time.

      Hoov, you really need to take your guest to the Nethercutt Museum in Sylmar. Wonderful collection of automobiles and memorabilia. http://www.nethercuttcollection.org/ If you register well enough in advance, you can tour the original collection in "San Sylmar" which includes a marvelous collection of automatic reproducing pianos, watches, orchestrions, and "Cloud 99", the top floor of the facility which features a 1926 Wurlitzer organ connected to something like 1500 pipes. It is computerized to exactly reproduce live performances. The carpet for Cloud 99 is woven to resemble meadows of wild flowers as seen from a hot air balloon. It is truly an amazing facility with a number of wonderful collections.

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    2. Yes, they went to the Nethercutt last visit. Quite the car fanatics--well at least one of them is. I imagine we'll eventually get to every car museum in California--there's one in Paso Robles next on the list...

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  3. I can't believe what they did to those poor phormiums! I especially love that combination with the agave and foxtail fern. beautiful

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    1. Yes, isn't that fine looking? Simple yet beautiful.

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  4. Some very nice plants, interesting permeable pavement, the kangaroo paw looked good, a shame about the tips of the phormium being trimmed.
    xoxoxo ♡

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    1. I'm so happy to report that at least they didn't prune the Kangaroo Paw foliage!

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  5. I could not help laughing about the trimmed Phormiums......I have never seen this before, who could have done that.... Furthermore, as far as I can see the maintenance of these public areas is rather good and with the designs is nothing wrong. Nice you showed us something different.

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    1. I do wonder why they cut those Phormiums. Everything else looked quite nice. There was plenty of room in the bed for them to arch outwards, they would not have been out in the walkway at all.

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  6. Now you've got me worried about the Tesla, what with taking both batteries in and musing on "Tesla's prospects." Hope everything is OK. I think I need some Myer's on my north-facing porch -- a good example of an omnipresent plant that still manages to be cool.

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    1. No, Tesla's just dandy. :) I'm eying 'Meyer's as well, what a good companion to Agaves!

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