Are those trees being forklifted into San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter enchanted?
Yes!
LAIKA is setting up a tiny magical forest at the entrance to the Hard Rock Hotel to promote their upcoming movie Wildwood. It’s another cool activation for Comic-Con 2026!
I thought enchanted trees had the ability to move around by themselves. Not these ones, apparently…
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If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Perhaps you saw these guys on television news. When I noticed them at the San Diego County Fair yesterday, I recalled their unique offer. Any member of the public can adopt an avocado tree on a 34-acre organic Hass avocado farm in Bonsall, California!
Years ago, when you drove up Interstate 15 north of Escondido, the steep hillsides would be absolutely covered with avocado trees. Not so much anymore. As the Heal the Earth website explains: San Diego’s avocados are celebrated as the best in the world for their creamy texture and rich flavor—but that heritage is disappearing. Local acreage has dropped by nearly 47% since 2008 as rising water costs and wholesale pressures force family farms to close… Meanwhile, 90% of U.S. avocados now come from imports, crowding out local growers.
These friendly people have developed a solution that helps local avocado farmers. You can adopt a tree at Wild Acres Farm!
You’ll learn all about your unique tree, including a photograph and updates on its growth. Most importantly, you’ll receive shipments of hand-harvested organic avocados from your tree! I was told you can visit your tree on the farm, too, and harvest avocados by hand. By supporting a direct-to-consumer connection between farm and table, you’re keeping San Diego’s organic avocado tradition alive—while enjoying the world’s finest organic avocados, shipped fresh from our groves to your home.
Cool idea!
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Driving west down Valley Parkway toward Escondido’s downtown, the road splits into a pair of one-way streets: Valley Boulevard and Valley Parkway. Several roadside sculptures can be found in the vicinity of the split, including this shining one that I have previously shared.
I discovered two others during that same long Escondido walk. Both are very unique!
The first sculpture rises northeast of the split, at Hickory Street. It depicts a leaf, moon and star, and what appears to be a clock and the telescope atop Palomar Mountain.
I love this unusual public art!
The second sculpture rises on the southwest side of the split. The long metal arms of joined human figures seem to rise skyward as the leafy branches of a tree.
If you know more about this unique public art in Escondido, please leave a comment!
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I need your help. As yet I haven’t figured out something. This appears to be new public art in downtown San Diego.
Tree sections that double as seats have been placed near circles on a sidewalk. The circles, of various sizes, each seem to indicate the past location of tree. The approximate age of each tree is written inside each ring.
The sidewalk in question is west of the new The Torrey high-rise, the same building where huge new murals were very recently painted. Walk along Union Street between B and A Streets and you’ll no doubt spot the art.
Were trees removed from these spots? My memory is foggy. Should you happen to know anything, please leave a comment. If I get more information, I’ll post an update!
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Join friends, neighbors and others in the San Diego community this Arbor Day for a tree planting in Balboa Park!
On Friday, April 24th, between 9 and 11 am, volunteers will help plant new trees in Balboa Park.
Help the environment and add even more beauty to our beloved park! Have a fun time! No experience necessary!
You can learn more about this event and sign up (by April 19) by clicking this link.
A tall metal sculpture stands behind the WorldBeat Cultural Center in Balboa Park. It’s called the Sound Tree.
When I learned about the existence of this sculpture several days ago, I resolved to see it myself. I walked to Balboa Park yesterday and was able to take these photos. A fence and closed gate behind the WorldBeat Cultural Center kept me at a distance.
The WorldBeat Cultural Center is usually open on weekends, so that would be the time to grab the sculpture’s hammer and ring those long tubes, which dangle in the air like sonic fruit!
Sound Tree was created by artist and neurobiologist Victor Hugo Minces. He works as a research scientist at UC San Diego. According to the sculpture’s webpage, the dangling metal pipes produce low soothing vibrations that you can hear and feel. The pipes are tuned to interact acoustically, creating harmonies and rich sonic interference patterns.
The WorldBeat Cultural Center is a treasure trove of multi-cultural art, on display both inside and outside. Go check it out!
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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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UC San Diego’s outdoor public art can be surprising. That is certainly the case with Two Running Violet V Forms. The 1983 installation by artist Robert Irwin is part of UCSD’s Stuart Collection.
Located near the center of the La Jolla campus in a eucalyptus grove, stretches of blue-violet chain-link fencing form two elevated v’s that students can walk beneath. These linear geometric forms pierce the complexity of living eucalyptus trees.
I walked into the grove yesterday and paused for a few minutes to take in the effect.
The sky at the moment was cloudy gray. Had the sky been bright blue, the Two Running Violet V Forms might have been more intriguing–even spiritual–showing different qualities of light, seeming to blend with the upper air, providing a more subtle contrast with the organic grayish eucalyptus trunks and high green leaves.
Under a colorless gray sky, however, and among grayish trees, the fencing’s stark color was too garish, too harshly artificial. At least for me. Sorry to criticize. Keep in mind I’m no art expert.
When I finished reading an essay concerning of this unusual art, I completely understood the intention. I’ll have to return on a sunny blue sky day.
The sculpture and artist are explored in depth on this Stuart Collection webpage.
Robert Irwin‘s work is held in high esteem. His unique creations focus on human perception, engaging different environments and effects of light. His work includes the Central Gardens at The J. Paul Getty Center in Los Angeles.
His cut glass windows overlooking the ocean at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego produce interesting contrasts of light. See those photos here.
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I captured these sunrise photos early yesterday, while walking through Balboa Park’s Marston Point. I was on my way to watch the start of the Thanksgiving 5K charity “Run For Hope.”
Marston Point lies at the southwest corner of Balboa Park, at the south end of the West Mesa. When there are low broken clouds to the east, the sun rising beyond the trees and distant mountains can be very dramatic.
As you can see, airplanes descending at sunrise toward San Diego International Airport are an additional cool sight!
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Is that a kelp forest growing in Glorietta Bay Park, in front of City of Coronado Club Room and Boathouse? No! It’s an Urban Tree!
Sea Level, a mostly copper sculpture created by City College student Kim Ogburn for the 2010 Urban Trees exhibition along San Diego’s Embarcadero, depicts a kelp forest and the native marine life it sustains. Colorful fish swim beneath the imagined water; birds thrive on the surface above. Read an article concerning this amazing artwork’s creation here.
Sea Level was installed in front of the Boathouse at 1985 Strand Way in 2012. It is part of the City of Coronado Public Art Collection. I happened upon it during my latest walk in Coronado.
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