Lotus, Mostly

 Usually I only see the Lotus seed pods and dead leaves.  A rare summer visit to the Huntington was worth enduring the heat--mostly.  The Lotus in bloom, bees attending.  The luxury of moist air.  Curtains of willow.

 Older plantings--Agapanthus.  There's a hummer in there, if you can spot it, a smear of little wings near the center of the photo. 
 Latest and greatest plantings to replace lawn:  Olive (I think), Anigozanthos, Brachychiton, Muhlenbergia rigens.
 A greener grass in bloom:
  Are those Yucca rostratas new?  Pleasing color pairing with the lavenders, weird with the red Anigozanthos.  Aqua and red, not so good. 

Marigolds gone, more xeric plants have filled in the entrance way rill beds.  The potted Chondropetalums are growing rapidly.  The whole new entrance complex was paid for by Charles Munger, the long time investment partner of Warren Buffett. 
 No bucks, no buds. 

Water lilies also, fenced off from hungry koi.
In a broken urn in a transitioning area in the Shakespeare garden, a plant new to me:  Texas endemic Buddleia marrubifolia, with beautiful dainty-silvery-fuzzy foliage.  A Shakespeare garden is an odd place for a west Texas endemic.  The urn also contained Graptopetalum paraguayense, which is mentioned in "Hamlet" and "MacBeth", if you call it by the common name of Ghost (plant).  

 The Buddleia flowers feed butterflies.
My heart, though, kept drifting back to Lotus.

Comments

  1. Nicely done! You've made the lotus look very appealing. Good to know that they've spent some of their vast amounts of donations on making the entrance look contemporary/conservation-oriented/Californian. We can use ideas with demonstrations like that. I'll never understand deer grass use, it is unbeautiful. Agapanthus color great. As I've complained before there are 183 flowers in Shakespeare, some of which will grow here. I like that Texan butterfly bush, though. Wouldn't it look good with California fuchsia in the entrance garden?

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    1. I've seen some places where deer grass looked quite nice. Near the coast it doesn't get so grey? I wonder if it is a temporary thing---the area has various plants here and there between the grass clumps--Aloe ferox, etc...

      The Buddleia would look really good with the CA fuchsia, nice idea for a combination!

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  2. It's quite some place. If I get over to California one day it will be a must see.

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  3. Gorgeous images dear Hoover, the Lotus blossoms are really spectacular, the Hummer is so tiny.
    Happy weekend
    xoxoxo ♡

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    1. Thanks Dianne! Hope your weekend is fun as well.

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  4. I kind of love the aqua yucca among the red. A 1950s color scheme; think of vintage tablecloths.

    The lotus image in the middle of the post is a stunner. It captures that carved-from-ivory effect so well, and the beauty of each different stage of bloom. Thanks so much for bringing the Huntington to us. Well, you and that plutocrat...

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  5. I would've missed the hummingbird if you hadn't pointed it out. I forget how tiny they are. And I have to say I really like the blue yucca/red anigozanthos combination! Unless you mean the three together, which I would agree with. But I like the blue/red :)

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    1. I never claim to have good taste in color combinations. If you saw my garden, you'd agree! ;^)

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  6. Ahh the beautiful Lotus, no wonder so many people still persevere with I to bloom here!

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    1. They are big flowers on big plants and quite dramatic.

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  7. Great photos as always. They are special plants.

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  8. Nice to see the lotus blooming. My acquaintance has been with the pods only. Spectacular plant, especially in such numbers.

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    1. Big bold plant for a big space! The pink one was blooming also, but didn't get a good photo.

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  9. The lotus are lovely. I don't think I've ever seen them in bloom during a visit to the Huntington - clearly I don't time my visits well. Do you know if that graceful green grass with the whitish flowers was Pennisetum orientale? I'm looking to change out some of my Mexican feather grass due to concerns about its potential invasiveness but the fescues and seslarias I've used elsewhere don't fit the bill.

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    1. The Lotus are heat lovers while I am not, so this is the first time I've really seen them in their prime at the Huntington. I looked for the sign for that grass, and couldn't find it--I was curious myself. It's not P. 'Fairy Tails'?

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    2. Kris - check out Melinus 'Pink Ice'. I saw it for sale up here, and - despite not usually being a lover of pink - found it adorable. It's not really reliably hardy here in OR but it probably is in CA. :)

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  10. The sum total of all your Huntington photos is putting that place firmly on my bucket list. What a beautiful place! The Lotus is beautiful, but I also really like the Texas buddleia. Such cool flowers with that silvery foliage. Love it!

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    1. I hope you get to see it...there's lots to enjoy, art galleries too (air conditioned!) and all kinds of different plants.

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