GardenBook

 Because my recent road trip to southern California and the central coast was a weather bust I took advantage of the single non-rainy day on the whole excursion (ironically that was the day I drove home) and stopped by  the Ruth Bancroft Garden as the route to Napa from down yonder takes me though Walnut Creek. It was clear to me as I walked up to the entrance and saw the progress on the new visitor center  that it had been much too long since I'd been to the garden. After days of rain the plants looked plumped-up, fresh and hydrated.  When the windows are in, it's a good sign.  The facility  is scheduled to open at last this  June  The Aloe bloom season continues, a primary reason for scheduling my trip at the beginning of February. The weather thwarted my plans for the most part but the RBG provided a bit of redemption.  Blooming Acacia in the west side .     One of my favorite Eucalyptus  trees in the garden sported some frost

 On my journey up Highway 101 from Santa Barbara I took advantage of an opportune  break in the rain to swing by San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden. It was on my upended agenda in any case, though it was to be a stop on a day of nursery crawling.The weather forecast pretty much dictated that said nursery crawl was not to be. Since it looked like the rain would hold off for at least an hour, and I knew this garden was relatively small (this would be my first visit) I exited the highway and instructed Hal, my trusty GPS , to take us there.  The garden is located in El Chorro Regional Park, in the hills of the central coast region of California. There is a robust plan for a 150 acre garden that displays the plant communities from Mediterranean climates world wide.     Certainly this plan seems daunting, but I saw many signs in the garden as it exists today that seemed to point to significant progress.  Just inside the entry was  a bed of Leucodendrons  -is this Safari 

I picked February for my spring road trip this year -earlier than my usual March or April dates. Since I was heading to southern and central California I hoped to catch some nice blooming Aloe action at the various locations I scheduled myself  to visit , including the Taft Garden  and the desert garden at the Huntington among others. As is my custom the trip was planned out with a highly developed daily schedule including approximate departure and arrival times, where I was going to stop for gas, how long I would spend at each venue and so on. As the trip dates got closer the weather forecast began to deteriorate to the point where I briefly considered cancelling the whole thing. But I really needed to get away for a few days of solitude so I rolled the weather dice and carried on with the plan. Mother Nature apparently had no interest in my itinerary. On the plus side, the drive down 101 from the bay area to Santa Barbara was incredibly beautiful. There were patches where it rained l