I’ve started a new photo blog! It’s called Beautiful Balboa Park! My first post concerns a beautiful but scraggly cactus garden that very few visitors see.
As you might know, I live in downtown San Diego very close to Balboa Park, so this new blog should be fairly active. I hope you enjoy it!
Here are a few of the photos:
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I believe all these beautiful images are of orchids! I apologize if I’m mistaken. Most photos were taken just inside the left door to the Botanical Building in Balboa Park.
I believe all these photos are of orchids. Unfortunately, I’m not an expert when it comes to plants or flowers. Heck, I hardly even rank as an amateur. But I do recognize exquisite beauty. And you’ll find it just inside the left door of Balboa Park’s amazing Botanical Building!
I don’t know the types or names of these orchids. I looked for signs, but saw none. If you recognize anything, leave a comment!
Velvet beauty for everyone to enjoy.So much to absorb in the amazing Botanical Building–one’s eyes leap from bloom to bloom.Nature’s masterpieces are often small and fragile.Should you ever visit Balboa Park in San Diego, don’t miss the Botanical Building. The enormous lath building stands behind the reflecting pool near El Prado.White angel-like flower seems to signal that the world is just fine.Many orchids in clay pots hanging from a wall trellis.A long strand of gems.Everywhere you turn in the Botanical Building you’ll discover lush plants and natural wonders.A lady glides into heaven on Earth.
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These cool ladies know all about irises. They had lots of information on display during the rhizome sale in Balboa Park.
As you can see, I saw a lot of fun stuff today in Balboa Park. Included in the mix was the annual rhizome sale put on by the San Diego Iris Society. The folks I met were very friendly and eager to impart information about their fascinating, uniquely fulfilling hobby. After about ten minutes, I’d learned so much about irises my head almost popped!
The Iris Society has many members from around San Diego County, and features loads of fun events throughout the year. If you enjoy gardening, and irises in particular, check out their website! In May they’ll have their big flower exhibition in Balboa Park’s Casa del Prado, where spectacular blooms and arrangements will be on display for the general public. I recall walking through the free event in past years, and it’s spectacular!
Stick these guys in the ground and watch them grow! Irises are often called the poor man’s orchid. They thrive in San Diego’s climate.There are many existing hybrids, with many new types being introduced each year. The San Diego Iris Society is an affiliate of the American Iris Society.This is a four year clump. One can separate root clumps to create multiple individual plants!Visitors to Balboa Park were checking out the annual iris sale and dreaming of beautiful garden flowers!
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A monarch butterfly has found some milkweed. I snapped this photo just in time.
Early this afternoon I managed to capture some elusive living colors. I caught them with my camera, during a leisurely visit to Balboa Park’s beautiful Zoro Butterfly Garden.
Created in 1915 for the Panama-California Exposition, the unique amphitheatre-like stone grotto features meandering paths tucked beneath some shady trees. An easy stroll down into the hollow reveals a lush garden full of flowers specifically planted to attract butterflies. That wasn’t always the case. In 1935, during the California Pacific International Exposition in Balboa Park, this partially hidden area was called the Zoro Garden Nudist Colony!
In this peaceful garden you’ll experience monarch, sulfur and swallowtail butterflies, fluttering quickly past your astonished eyes. Most of the time, my old camera finger reacted much too slowly! But I got a few pics!
An artistic bird bath in the garden depicts leaves, flowers and butterflies, naturally!A tiny insect takes a walk on a sweet sun-yellow carpet.Zoro Butterfly Garden contains rustic, ragged beauty along its stony walkways.This sneaky lizard would’ve been happy to capture a quick butterfly, too! I don’t know if he had any luck.Cool close-up photo of red passion vine flower.I’m not sure who this guy is. Is it a Mourning Cloak? Some kind of moth? If you know, leave a comment.Sunlight reflects from a butterfly winging past some weathered public art in a section of the garden.Painted mural in Balboa Park’s Zoro Butterfly Garden shows an Orange-barred Sulphur and Cassia.Another section of this informative artwork depicts Passionvine and a Gulf Fritillary.A third section shows that Monarch butterflies are attracted to Milkweed.The underside of this Gulf fritillary almost looks like a torn, crumpled brown leaf.A swallowtail butterfly takes flight!Looking upward from the lush hollow where butterflies thrive, toward blue sky and fluttering, living color.An Anise Swallowtail spreads its wings on a glorious day in San Diego’s wonder-filled Balboa Park.
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Visitors stroll through endless natural beauty at the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park.
Please enjoy the following photographs. They were taken today at the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego’s wonderful Balboa Park. As you can plainly see, natural beauty is abundant in this amazing garden. I hope you have a chance to visit.
Gleaming droplets of water descend from a hollow bamboo kakei into the tranquil, cleansing tsukubai basin.Even age and imperfections in this fallen leaf are beautiful beyond description.A rocky island, seemingly, in the Karesansui Dry Stone Garden, with carefully raked gravel inviting meditation.Looking upward into the sunlit leafy canopy near the koi pond.The day’s light makes striking patterns of living green.Bright red bougainvillea bracts catch the eye of a young person walking through the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego.Bougainvillea red is an especially beautiful sight in the bonsai garden.A yellow day-lily which is growing near the Charles C. Dail Memorial Gate.Bamboo leaves flutter in the gentle San Diego breeze.This small sculpture is a mystery according to one of the groundskeepers. It was placed in the garden by someone unseen. The sculpture might be a young Buddha. It might have been placed here by someone who lost a child. No one seems to know its history.Bright green palm fronds produce instant human delight.Close-up photograph of the amazing, strange seed pod of a sago palm.Delicate white flowers of the star jasmine seem to have descended into this world from a heavenly place.Close-up photo of torn wood fibers where a dead tree limb finally separated from the trunk.Water cascading over stone shines in the sunlight. A small gentle river flows through the bottom of the spacious garden canyon.Looking down through magical, jewel-like water.Jumbled leaves have turned many colors.Nature’s fantastic patterns are evident everywhere you turn in the amazing Japanese Friendship Garden.After being corrected by a great reader, this appears to be a gardenia. I first thought it might be a white azalea! That shows you how much I know!Visitors at the Japanese Friendship Garden stand in the shade of the Inamori Pavilion looking down at a pleasant waterfall.A pink saucer magnolia bloom and buds. In the background you can see the new Inamori Pavilion, which opened this year.Another photographer was recording the carefully arranged natural beauty at the Japanese Friendship Garden.Even dry brown curled leaves can take one’s breath away.Leaves and shadows of leaves.If one small place can contain such abundant wonder, imagine what the vast universe holds.Natural beauty at the amazing Japanese Friendship Garden
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Artist works by the Sybil Stockdale Rose Garden, behind the Command Center at NTC Liberty Station.
Yesterday, while I waited for the San Diego Comic Art Gallery to open, I walked a bit around NTC Liberty Station. I was pleased to stumble upon painters at work in the beautiful rose garden behind the old Command Center. I learned the artists were members of the San Diego Watercolor Society, which has its gallery in one of the nearby buildings. I took a few photos that you might enjoy.
Members of the San Diego Watercolor Society practice painting portraits amid beautiful rosesThis creative lady at an easel wore a unique paint palette hat!Brushes wait on a nearby bench.The painters appeared to be mostly working from photographs.Friendly gentleman receives some feedback as he carefully applies color to a canvas.Artist in a corner of NTC Liberty Station creates a watercolor portrait.Another member of the San Diego Watercolor Society walks toward the old Command Center on a perfect Saturday.
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Child gives potted plant to spectator during floral wagon parade in Balboa Park.
It was a memorable day in Balboa Park!
To celebrate its centennial, San Diego’s historic Balboa Park is throwing a number of special events this year. Today our beautiful park was the scene of the Garden Party of the Century. And what a party it was!
As the title suggests, the emphasis was on gardening and the many incredible gardens of our world-class urban park. Spring flowers filled every corner, and lots of people came out to enjoy excellent exhibits. A unique parade also took place, as you’ll see in the following photographs.
The event’s main ceremony involved Marines from San Diego’s Marine Corps Recruit Depot, which is perhaps a mile (or two) from the park. The Marines played an instrumental role during the early days of Balboa Park, which was created for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. The mere presence of a Marine camp inside the large park back then eventually helped to preserve many of the wonderful old Spanish Colonial Revival-style buildings visitors marvel at today.
Many tents with horticulture exhibits were around Balboa Park for the Garden Party of the Century. Some can be seen next to the Botanical Building.These friendly folks explained that dahlia blooms can be as large as fourteen inches!Displays concerning gardening were front and center during the special Balboa Park Centennial event.These master gardeners showed me what a ladybird larva looks like! (It’s the critter on the right.)There were lots of flower arrangements and botany-themed art throughout the park!It’s still early in the morning, so some exhibitors are still setting up near the reflecting pool.This super cool lady talked to me about the work of the City of San Diego Environmental Services Department.Smiling lady from the San Diego Epiphyllum Society.Lots of plants were for sale in the park, including on the Casa del Prado patio.Ducks and baby ducklings were swimming about the lily pads in the Balboa Park reflecting pool!Sign shows the way to the Rose Garden across Park Boulevard.One example of Balboa Park’s Adopt-A-Plot volunteer gardening program. This plot is in Sefton Plaza.A photo I took this morning of beautiful flower beds in the Alcazar Garden.Another exhibitor near the huge Moreton Bay Fig Tree and Natural History Museum has a cool trash can painted with flowers and a bee.The Navy was showcasing its environmental programs.Marines cross street in front of the Casa del Prado Theater.The floral wagon parade was staged in a parking lot by the Balboa Park carousel.Musicians stand ready for the beginning of the big parade through Balboa Park.San Diego’s own Fern Street Circus has gathered for the parade holding colorful banners.Other performers from the Fern Street Circus wait a bit further down the parade route for the spectacle to begin.The Garden Party of the Century Parade is underway and turning onto El Prado!Kids, families, wagons and flowers. An overcast day after our recent stormy weather.Here come drummers and a flag down the festive parade route!Look at the boldly colored dresses and fantastic costumes!Here come some lush, wonderful floral wagons.Garden Party of the Century parade turns the corner and heads down El Prado toward Plaza de Panama.Flower-laden wagons pass in front of ornate Casa del Prado facade.A bee is followed by a beekeeper!The parade approaches the reflecting pool as it passes booths that line El Prado.This lady in an elegant old-fashioned dress was handing out goodies to the watching crowd.A painter in Balboa Park gets an eyeful as the parade passes by.Uncle Sam and lots of other happy San Diegans.Dr. Seuss seems to be a favorite author of the City of San Diego Park and Recreation Department!The cool parade finally reaches the spacious Plaza de Panama in front of the San Diego Museum of Art.A second parade nears! Marines from San Diego’s MCRD march down El Prado for a special ceremony.The band leads the way as marchers from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot enter Plaza de Panama.The Marines played an important role in Balboa Park’s beginning, and are duplicating their march from 100 years ago!Marines stand at attention. The San Diego mayor, MCRD commandant and other dignitaries spoke during the special Balboa Park Centennial event.Civilian and military bystanders look on as a memorable San Diego event is taking place.Proudly marching Marines head west down El Prado toward California Tower and Museum of Man.Marines start across the Cabrillo Bridge to reproduce a famous photograph from one hundred years ago!
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A tiny barn and rabbits in a narrow garden, located between the sidewalk and a local acupuncture and wellness center.
I recently walked through Bankers Hill, a historic neighborhood just north of downtown San Diego. During my small adventure I got a few interesting photos on and around Olive Street. Like the sights in any city, they form a mixture. Here’s a flavor of Olive in the San Diego cocktail!
Flower at the HERBIN Community Garden Project, among plots where many herbs are grown.Ms. Pacman, Space Invaders and other video game legends hang out on a porch railing.The Amy Strong House, built in 1906 on Olive Street by an enterprising San Diego dressmaker, or couturier.Amy Strong lived here until 1912. The house is in the early 20th century Craftsman architectural style.A few unusual features anticipated the highly eccentric Amy Strong Castle at Mt. Woodson, which she built years later.Future site of Olive Street Park. This small plot of land for years has been the object of contention, as you might have seen on KUSI News’ Turko Files.Huge medical office building between Fifth and Sixth Avenue just north of Olive being demolished.Cool art hangs on residential building at corner of Fourth and Olive.
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Spring is only a few days old and flowers are blooming everywhere. The gardens in Balboa Park are fairly exploding with dazzling color. This weekend my feet directed me through the bright, sprawling rose garden along Park Boulevard. Using my camera’s macro setting, I took some close up photographs that you might enjoy! The rose variety is shown in each caption.
The Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden contains hundreds of brightly colored blooms!On a sunny Spring Sunday, a couple walks slowly through south part of beautiful Balboa Park rose garden, next to Park Boulevard.Strike It RichRainbow SorbetKoko LokoShockwaveSheila’s PerfumeLove SongGold Medal
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The Casa del Rey Moro garden is a small gem in Balboa Park.
In the 1920s, prominent San Diego architect Richard Requa visited Europe. During his extensive tour, he carefully observed a Moorish king’s garden in Ronda, Spain. A book that he later authored stated: “In my travels about the world, I had found three gardens of outstanding interest and beauty… The finest of these is in a small town in southern Spain called Ronda. Viewing it for the first time, there came instantly to mind the spontaneous exclamation, ‘I hope to die before I see anything more lovely.'”
Inspired by what he’d seen, Requa designed the Casa del Rey Moro garden (House of the Moorish King) for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition in San Diego’s Balboa Park. In 1997 the garden and adjacent House of Hospitality were rededicated after a major renovation. The garden, today a popular wedding spot, includes a replica of the wishing well in the Guadalajara Museum of Gardens.
Balboa Park is an enormous place full of competing attractions. It’s strange how I always feel compelled to walk through the Casa del Rey Moro garden!
View from a House of Hospitality balcony of The Prado restaurant’s outdoor seating near the garden.A wishing well frames two elegant, classic fountains.Beautiful elements are reproduced from a Moorish garden in Ronda, Spain.A close up photo of one picturesque fountain.Visitors read about the interesting history of the Casa del Rey Moro garden.“In my travels about the world, I have found three gardens of outstanding interest and beauty…”One can see why this venue is extremely popular for weddings.
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