Tag: flowers

Liberty Station’s Hugh Story Memorial Rose Garden.

There are several beautiful rose gardens around Liberty Station in Point Loma. One that visitors might miss is located along the path that follows the edge of the nearby boat channel. It’s called the Hugh Story Memorial Rose Garden.

This garden is situated not far from the 52 Boats Memorial, which honors the ultimate sacrifice made by men aboard U.S. Navy submarines that were lost at sea during World War II.

Those who read the Hugh Story Memorial Rose Garden’s marker can understand why.

Hugh Story Memorial Rose Garden

Dedicated To The Memory Of HUGH GOODMAN STORY, SR. 1920 – 2006 Creative Leader – Motivator

Hugh served his country within the submarine service during World War II, making 5 war patrols in the Pacific and earning a Bronze Star and Combat V Unit Citation.

After the war, he remained in the Naval Reserve, attaining the rank of Commander. In civilian life, he spent thirty years building and managing refineries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Hugh is revered by this community for his twenty-four years of full-time volunteer service to Point Loma and San Diego. He is especially loved for the hundreds of trees that he and his fellow volunteers planted, and for the streetscape improvements they brought to the sidewalks, streets and boulevards of Point Loma. As past president of the Point Loma Association and its Beautification Committee, he formed the “Mean Green Team” to care for the Committee’s many undertakings. He inspired people of all ages, from Boy and Girl Scouts to retirees, to create, install, and maintain the urban projects that enliven Point Loma.

Hugh was equally unflagging in the time and effort he devoted to the Navy League, the Submarine Veterans of WWII, the San Diego Maritime Museum and Friends of the Point Loma Library.

Hugh Story made a difference. He did so in many ways, but always by improving life for those he touched through his selfless service to the community.

Friends and family of High Story provided funds for this garden which was dedicated March 19, 2010.

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Monarch butterflies find food, shelter in Balboa Park.

Few people visit the northeast corner of vast Balboa Park, a quiet area bordering 28th Street in North Park. This is the home of Bird Park with its picnic benches, playgrounds, and expanses of green grass. It is also the home of a lush Monarch Waystation.

West of 28th Street, south of Thorn Street, the beautiful Monarch Waystation includes winding paths through milkweeds and nectar sources that shelter and sustain monarch butterflies as they migrate through San Diego.

When I walked the paths about a week ago, I noticed many monarch butterflies flitting here and there, and I attempted to capture them with my camera–but to no avail. I did take these photographs, however. They show what a fine, tranquil garden this is. No wonder. It has been adopted by the California Native Plant Society.

If you’d like to learn more about the Monarch Waystation Program, or would like information on how you can support butterfly populations, click this link.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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Exhibition of Japanese ink painting in Balboa Park!

In San Diego? Would you like to watch skilled artists create Japanese ink paintings? Would you like to learn this traditional Japanese art?

Head over to Balboa Park tomorrow, Sunday, June 22, 2025, when the 22nd Annual Art Exhibition by Friends of Sumi-e resumes in Room 101 of the Casa del Prado!

I swung by today. I love the simple elegance of this unique art form, and whenever I see there’s an exhibition of Japanese brush painting (called sumi-e or suiboku-ga) in Balboa Park, I can’t miss it.

The participating members of Friends of Sumi-e are always delighted to demonstrate their craft. Today Gaye Lingley showed me how to create an orchid. Here she is, near some of her exhibited artwork:

And here she is creating the orchid. She told me learning Japanese ink painting is never ending. I thought: isn’t that true of any art form?

The orchid is finished. A few strokes of the brush have created depth and subtlety:

Meanwhile, instructor Naoko Ozaki was holding a demonstration across the room….

You can see how, six years ago, Naoko created an incredibly beautiful flower here.

Interested in Japanese brush painting? Want to learn how to do it? Check out the Friends of Sumi-e website here!

Some of the beautiful work on display this weekend:

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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A visit to the San Diego Floral Association Library.

If you maintain a garden in San Diego, or would love to learn more about plants or gardening, you need to know about a very special library that is open to the public in Balboa Park. The San Diego Floral Association Library, located in Room 105 of the Casa del Prado, contains over 3,500 books filled with horticultural and gardening knowledge!

The San Diego Floral Association Library and Office is located down a short hallway beyond Balboa Park’s Senior Lounge. On a table just outside its entrance, one comes across an informative bulletin board and a table covered with all sorts of free printed material. I once was lucky and found the book-like California Garden Centennial Compilation 1909-2009, which is jam-packed with San Diego history and articles from past decades–a real treasure!

The San Diego Floral Association is home of California Garden magazine. It is the oldest horticulture magazine in continuous publication in the United States!

Inside the library you’ll find shelves full of books and valuable references. You’ll also see walls covered with beautiful paintings!

Looking around, I recognized several images of Kate Sessions, one of the San Diego Floral Association’s founders. Because she was instrumental in making Balboa Park a botanical wonder, she is commonly referred to as Mother of Balboa Park. (The book The Complete Writings of Kate Sessions in California Garden is also available for purchase. It would make a great gift!)

The smiling lady with whom I spoke was so very welcoming. She explained how the San Diego Floral Association hosts many fun and educational events, plus they have a gardening outreach program with San Diego schools.

If you are so inclined, become a member! Perhaps assist their efforts and volunteer! Members have the privilege of checking out library books for home use.

To see everything they have to offer, I encourage you to visit the San Diego Floral Association’s website by clicking here.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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Native plant garden at Sikes Adobe Farmhouse.

A beautiful native plant garden can be enjoyed at the Sikes Adobe Farmhouse in Escondido. The garden is on the grounds of the historic farmstead, directly next to the San Dieguito River Park’s long Coast to Crest Trail.

I visited the native plant garden during a walk today and took these photographs. I noticed a sign indicating it was an Eagle Scout Service Project, undertaken in 2021 by Matthew VanderVorst of Escondido Troop 668.

It’s late Spring, so many flowers are in bloom. Signs identify the plants, which include Monkey Flower, Deerweed, Bladder Pod, Black Sage, White Sage, California Buckwheat, Shaw’s Agave, Coastal Prickly Pear, and others.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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The lively Home mural at Liberty Station!

How can you not love this colorful mural at Point Loma’s Liberty Station? It was created in 2023 for the arched passage between Barracks 14 and 15.

The over 2,500 square foot mural, designed by local Chicana artist Scarlett Baily, is titled Home. The installation was painted by many in the community.

According to a nearby plaque, it bridges the history of the Naval Training Center with regional indigenous maritime culture. Native flora and fauna stage the celebration of San Diego’s heritage and acknowledge the generations that have called Point Loma home…

You can’t help smiling as you walk up to and through this lively artwork!

I see faces, flowers, a whale, seagulls, a heron, even a sea lion!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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Planting summer flowers in the Alcazar Garden!

This morning the Alcazar Garden in Balboa Park was filled with activity. The City of San Diego Parks and Recreation Department and volunteers belonging to the Balboa Park Garden Stewards were planting hundreds of flowers!

The new flowers will fill the garden’s large beds in time for summer and Memorial Day weekend!

Thank you to everyone with sore backs and dirty knees for making San Diego’s crown jewel even more beautiful!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

Spring beauty in the Sri Chinmoy Peace Garden.

It’s springtime in San Diego, and the Sri Chinmoy Peace Garden in North Park is in full bloom!

Sri Chinmoy was a spiritual leader from India who taught meditation in the United States. What better place to meditate but in a place of tranquil beauty.

The Sri Chimnoy Peace Garden was established in 2013 and includes a statue of the spiritual leader and benches for quiet sitting.

The small garden, located off Adams Avenue just east of Arizona Street, has been maintained by the San Diego Sri Chimnoy Centre, which according to Google is permanently closed. As a sign explains, the natural setting is intended to enhance the beauty of the area and offer the community a place for reflection.

Spring is a time for renewal–perhaps for the soul as well.

Sri Chinmoy – STUDENT OF PEACE – CHAMPION OF THE INDOMITABLE SPIRIT OF MANKIND

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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Join Balboa Park’s volunteer Rose Garden Corps!

Do you love gardening? Do you love roses?

Perhaps you’d like to join Balboa Park’s volunteer Rose Garden Corps. You’ll help beautify the world-class Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden!

I saw a small army of volunteers today in the rose garden, pruning, weeding, raking and fertilizing, while enjoying the San Diego sunshine. Rose Garden Corps members work Tuesdays or Thursday in the morning, and there is a monthly meeting.

If you think you’d like to join the Rose Garden Corps, check out this webpage to learn all about it!

Incidentally, the rose garden is in peak bloom right now. It’s spectacular!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

San Diego Epiphyllum Society show on Mother’s Day!

A very busy Mother’s Day in Balboa Park included the San Diego Epiphyllum Society’s annual flower show and sale. I strolled through the Casa del Prado’s Room 101 and was wowed by hundreds of incredibly beautiful, very colorful blooms.

The web page describing the show claims SDES’s annual Mother’s Day Show is the ultimate Epi Flower Show in the country. I can see why!

The San Diego Epiphyllum Society is celebrating their 55th anniversary, and there were floral displays that proudly announced it! There were Mother’s Day displays, too, and many others that were artistic, or that provided useful information.

The flowers themselves were the star of the show!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!