The pergola near the center of the Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden in Balboa Park is being rebuilt!
I took these photographs today as construction workers were busy recreating the historically inspired pergola. The original structure had been torn down several years ago due to wood rot and being exposed to the weather for decades.
Now the pergola (what I’ve previously called a gazebo) is coming back! When completed, visitors to Balboa Park will once again enjoy a shady retreat in the middle of a world-class rose garden.
As I passed the old Del Mar Post Office on 15th Street, I noticed the Del Mar Garden Club has put together a colorful box display that celebrates the fall season and Dia de Los Muertos.
Thought you might enjoy seeing this…
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Volunteer members of the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County were working in Balboa Park’s Founder’s Plaza this morning, removing old overgrown vegetation so that new, beautiful plants can be introduced.
For many years they’ve maintained this small garden that surrounds statues of Balboa Park’s founders. Their efforts are part of Balboa Park’s Adopt-a-Plot program.
I learned the new plants will require less water than most, and will attract pollinators such as butterflies.
I can’t wait to see the finished garden!
UPDATE!
Several months later, I saw them at work here again!
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About a month ago, I discovered a very beautiful garden in front of the Solana Beach Post Office. It was obvious that people have carefully tended the green space that includes paths for strolling and public art.
Those people, I’ve learned, are the volunteer SeaWeeders of the Solana Beach Garden Club. Their mission is to promote the sustainable beautification of the City of Solana Beach through social interaction, garden education, and home and civic enrichment.
Here’s a webpage that describes the Solana Beach Post Office garden rejuvenation project. (Other community projects by the SeaWeeders, too!)
The colorful sculpture you see in my photos is by artist Christi Beniston. It was originally created for the El Paseo Invitational Sculpture Exhibit “Topiaries” in Palm Desert. For a while it had been located on North Cedros Avenue.
You can join the SeaWeeders to help keep Solana Beach green and beautiful! Learn more about this opportunity here.
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Once Upon a Fair is this year’s theme for the San Diego County Fair. Fairy tales, beloved picture books, popular fiction and timeless classics are celebrated in fantastic exhibits throughout the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
The ever-popular Garden Show, not surprisingly, has become a place where gardening clubs from around the San Diego region have “hybridized” beautiful flowers and plants with . . . fantasy!
Walk around the Garden Show and you’re likely to discover scenes from wonderfully imaginative works like Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Snow White, The Three Little Pigs, The Tortoise and the Hare, The Little Mermaid, and more.
I always delight in the huge model train layout built by the San Diego Garden Railway Society. Their display this year contains fantasy elements from many well known tales.
Check out the following photographs! What stories can you identify?
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The 2026 Geranium Show and Sale was held this weekend in Balboa Park. Members of the San Diego Geranium Society filled Room 101 of the Casa del Prado with beautiful living color!
There’s something very homey about geraniums. They’re easy to propagate and grow, and their cheerful blooms endure most of the year. What home doesn’t have a pot of these flowering plants on a porch or window sill?
In addition to the different varieties of geranium in the show, visitors could view works of art and special displays that celebrate the geranium.
Some photographs…
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There’s a special garden in Balboa Park you might not know about. It’s located outside the WorldBeat Cultural Center. Those heading along Park Boulevard can glimpse the greenery just south of the circular WorldBeat Cultural Center building.
Known by several names, including the Healing Peace Garden and Children’s Ethnobotany Garden, this green oasis can be visited by appointment or on special occasions.
Fortunately, the garden was open during the Global Earth Day festival last weekend. Having never stepped inside, I took advantage of the opportunity!
When I entered the Healing Peace Garden, I did feel at peace. The nearby street and urban surroundings seemed to vanish. I had entered what felt like a wholly natural place–a world of deep green, full of life and living.
Several footpaths pass shady nooks–places for mediation and contemplation. There are bits of art among the trees and plants, including a seating ring where people can gather to talk, create music, or simply absorb the surrounding beauty.
I was interested to learn the award-winning garden is considered the first sustainable, edible garden in Balboa Park, as well as a monarch butterfly waystation certified by Monarch Watch, and a wildlife habitat certified by the National Wildlife Federation.
The garden is used as an outdoor classroom, too. This webpage explains: The unique organic herb, fruit, and vegetable garden honors the memory of George Washington Carver, and is dedicated to teaching young people about the role of plants in society. Gardening classes are available to schools, youth programs, individuals and families by booking a workshop or requesting a docent at the WorldBeat Center.
Now let’s enter the garden and walk around…
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This is one of the most uplifting and creative exhibitions of art you’re likely to experience. It’s a garden of flowers, trees and animals that was created using Persian carpets! You read that correctly!
This unique exhibition at the museum of the California Center for the Arts, Escondido is titled Maryam Bayat: Unrolling Paradise.
I stepped into the “garden” yesterday during my museum visit. With the sound of birds chirping in the background, I wandered through the plush, colorful foliage and wished there was a “park bench” where I could sit and simply be happy and alive.
In this garden paradise life is good. All cares drop away. From my photos you might understand the wonderful feeling this installation produces. It’s like a comfy living room that has come to life all around you!
The exhibition webpage explains: Unrolling Paradise explores the Persian garden as a living design tradition carried through textiles, memory, and everyday objects. Interdisciplinary artist Maryam Bayat reinterprets centuries-old carpet aesthetics through sculptural works that merge traditional Persian rugs with contemporary form and function.
Raised in Tehran in a family of rug producers and now based in North County San Diego, Bayat draws from inherited craft to create installations that reflect on place, belonging, and cultural continuity. Her woven sculptures—appearing as furniture, abstract trees, and domestic interiors—extend the symbolism of the garden into three-dimensional space, linking ideas of sanctuary to personal and collective memory.
If you tend not to visit museums, this might be the time you consider going. There are several other exhibits, as well, including one that concerns graphics used in computer and video games. Swing on by and have a great time!
Maryam Bayat: Unrolling Paradise can be experienced through Sunday, August 16, 2026, at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido’s museum.
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This memorial plaque should be read by all who love beautiful San Diego. It’s set in a bench by the fountain east of Balboa Park’s Botanical Building.
Here’s what it says:
In Loving Memory Of RUTH C. SMITH
Known for her generosity and her Love for San Diego
San Diego can be proud of Ruth C. Smith for her work to preserve Kate O. Sessions and Mt. Soledad memorial parks; for her promotion of the ecology by the planting of 10,000 trees in San Diego Parks, and the beautiful poinsettia display at Balboa Park’s Botanical Garden from December 3rd to January 3rd.
As the founder of the City Beautiful of San Diego, Ruth C. Smith has left a legacy of beauty for all San Diegans to enjoy for years to come.
She was loved by everyone.
Will you have a similar legacy?
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