Brief LA Arboretum Visit


 We never do the LA Arboretum justice.  It is the location for the Intercity C&S show, and the show (and August heat) is usually so overwhelming we spend only a brief amount of time in the garden.  

Our visit this time was typically brief, even though the temperature was quite tolerable--the low 80s F (~27 C).  One memorable (though not in a good way) Intercity was over 100F (~38 C)--at 9am.

The Madagascar garden is just a few seconds walk from the Show building.  I always enjoy seeing the Bismarkia palms.  We have a baby potted Bismarkia at home.  
We're going to need a bigger garden:
 Across from that Bismarkia is the Madagascar Thorn Forest trail.  Dypsis decaryi in flower, with a Xerosicyos daguyi climbing its fronds.
 We also have a Xerosicyos at home, but it is far smaller.
What a guy!
 Their Aloe suzannae is troubled by fungal infections.  I'm going to treat mine with a systemic fungicide before the rainy season.
 The Pachypodiums were in flower.
 This was a magnificent Aloe vaombe on our last visit.  Cold(ish) wet winter too much for it? 
 Uncarina was covered with these flowers
 The Alluaudias looked good.  Endemic to Madagascar, these are vanishing from their native home.  The impoverished human residents burn them for fuel.
 We walked to the exit.  The heat was increasing; our energy level ebbing.  A fine display of Dasylirion and other xeric plants.
Cactus flowering in the summer makes more sense to me after I realized Arizona and northwestern Mexico gets most of its rain in the summer monsoonal season, when moist tropical air pushes up from the equator.  

 A purse is a handy way to show the size of this magnificent Agave ovatifolia.  

We passed by the Aloe trail.
 This mass of dark purple-blue Agapanthus said goodbye. 
 So many plants, so little time.

Comments

  1. That Bismarckia is really impressive and I love that huge Agave ovatifolia, I've been trying to find one without success here. Have a nice sunday!

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    1. I hope you find an ovatifolia--it's consistently gorgeous where ever I see it. The Bismarkia is magnificent, isn't it?

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  2. Thanks for the tour. So different from what we see in the PNW or other northern parts of the country. Sad to think of the Alluaudias vanishing in Madagascar because they're being over-harvested for firewood, but at the same time the people who live there don't have access to much else. I wish our species wasn't so hard on the environment. Hmm. I'm not sure about that purse for scale. I've seen tiny ones that barely hold anything and others that are as big as an overnight bag. How do I know you aren't using a really tiny purse to make that agave look bigger?

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    1. I enjoy the PNW--to these eyes so different from here. Like, green!

      The problem with our species is we've gone for quantity, not quality. That must change. When we destroy the environment we are destroying ourselves. We are of nature, not above it. But I preach to the choir?

      The purse is visible in the 1st picture, slung over the admirer of the Bismarkia. No purse jokes, okay? Don't get me started on manspreading, mansplaining...man bags...are those still a thing?
      ;^)

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  3. I don't think I've ever visited the Madagascar section of the gardens. (Tut-tut!) Although I don't much care for the kinds of palms that toured above the house I grew up in and dropped large messy fronds during every Santa Ana wind event, I do like the Bismarkia palms, not that I can imagine adding one to my garden unless we managed to acquire the properties on either side of ours. (We haven't won the lottery yet.) That Aloe fungal infection is almost artistic in appearance.

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    1. I saw some art pottery the other day that had the same sort of pattern and colors as that Aloe leaf. Took me aback!

      Yep, those Bismarkias are BIG!

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