sunday funday: descanso gardens

Spring is here and to celebrate (and also get a hiking workout in) I visited Descanso Gardens for a Sunday Funday with three of my friends, two of whom are Descanso members. (This is an important factoid because it meant that we got to avoid the reeeeaaaaaaaallllly loooooooooong line of non-members winding around the parking lot and go straight inside via the members-only entrance. Hint, hint. Membership has its privileges. You're welcome :) 

The gardens are huge and actually include orchards, streams and ponds, making the area a real escape into nature from the cities and suburbia that surround it. There are thousands of plants in the botanical collection, that is accredited by the American Association of Museums. And you could walk around for hours and still not see everything.

But what you will definitely see are camellias... lots and lots of camellias! Descanso has North America's largest camellia collection, which used to supply the florist industry with all the flowers they needed for 1950s-era corsages ;) However, those thousands of camellias were just about the only flowers I did NOT take a photo of because I just have to look out my back door to see them. Yep, this trip helped me finally figure out something I've been wondering about for four years and five months: the big red flowers constantly falling into my rose garden from my neighbor's yard are... camellias.

Here are all of the flowers (and streams and houses and lizards... oh my!) that I DID take photos of. 

Enjoy and Happy Spring! 

Tulips of just about every color are in bloom as you first walk into the gardens. 

I, of course, was drawn to the purple section of the tulip garden :)

A lovely stream and mini-waterfall is also near the front of the gardens as you walk in. The gardens also have multiple ponds with giant koi fish, ducks and geese. There is even a "bird observation" area with info on all the local birds provided and posted by a local Girl Scout troop.

 Cherry blossom trees were in beautiful bloom and smelled amazing!

Different colors and breeds of lilacs, each with a distinctly different smell, are in the Lilac Garden.

This "LIZARD!" was just hanging out in the sun outside the Boddy House near the top of the hill. He was one of the chubbier lizards I've seen on my nature hikes and sat there posing for photos for like five minutes ;)

The historic Boddy House lies at the top of the steepest part of your trek around the gardens and orchards. It has a beautiful view and a fabulous catering kitchen. And the garage of the house has been converted into an art gallery featuring mostly floral pieces.

A lone poppy in the California Garden section, which also featured cactus and other heat-tolerant vegetation.

Loved this poem on a plaque near the Rose Pavilion, which explains why I love my garden. 

It's great therapy :)