Thursday, May 26, 2011

Huntington Gardens



The Huntington was the last garden we saw before we came home. They had termites on display and one display was about how orchids mimic insects to get pollinated by pseudocopulation. The children's garden was was fun, even though we had no children. The wire house covered with vines was lovely. And they had some water features designed to keep the kids cool on hot summer days. It was really crowded. It was Saturday, and even though we arrived at opening time, the parking lot was almost full because they were having a plant sale the same day.

The roses were really pretty. And so were the rest of the flowers.

We had to go inside at least one museum. We picked the right one, because it had vintage light bulbs in a very artistic display, perfect for an energy engineer.




3 comments:

Kristin said...

This is a wonderful blog.

Would you have any thoughts on the 2 or 3 best butterfly plants for Sonoma County? I live in Petaluma, and have mixed native wildflowers, various ribes, zauschneria, mimulus and salvias... but so far, very few butterflies.

What butterflies are already here that could use extra habitat?

Thanks for any suggestions you can provide!

Caterpillarlady said...

Hi Kristin,

Thanks for the compliment!

There are so many plants to pick from, it is hard to choose just two, but I guess Pipevine and and Pellitory are two excellent butterfly plants.

You may want to consult the people at the Hallberg Butterfly Garden because they are near you.

http://www.hallbergbutterflygardens.org/plants.shtml

Open house June 26! Maybe we should go!

Kristin said...

Those are great suggestions. One of our birches died in the drought -- it might make a nice place for a pipevine. In theory, we could end up with something resembling the former tree.

I've been wanting to go to Hallberg for a while now -- time to get it on the calendar!