Two afternoons in this magnificent nursery and botanical garden have given me more close-up, gorgeous flower photos than I can possibly use in a lifetime of sending note cards and email attachments! So in this moment, rather than share a close-up, here's a segment of the Native Garden that was sprinkled with grasses and poppies. This little beauty is California's State Flower. The day was glorious, and I'll be returning here with every visit as it's only a 10 minute drive.
We shopped today, too! I asked what hummingbirds would like, and fell in love with a pincushion flowering plant that's riding home with us. I had to relinquish my front seat to it, but it'll be so worth it! (We also got a couple of sage plants with attractive flowers we were told the little birds will love!)
What a beautiful state flower. Can you believe the state flower of Virginia is the dogwood? I don't think tree blossoms should be allowed in this category. Which reminds of the charming movie where Michael Douglas plays the president, and he wants to give Annette Benning a bouquet of flowers from her state which happens to be Virginia and he can't find a florist that sells bunches of dogwood blossoms. A long way of saying I like your state flower better than mine.
@allie912 Oh how delightfully funny that is!!! I remember that movie well...it was absolutely dear! I suppose the dogwood resonated with you longer than it did with me... Along those line, while you're admiring our lovely flower, it wouldn't hold up in a bouquet! One of the main reasons I returned today was to photograph these again as, by 4:30 yesterday, they were all closed up! All that said, they're beautiful like this in a carpet!
My godson Michael has sent me a link to photos of Californian poppies in Chino Hills State Park and the poppies are covering the hill sides! So beautiful! I love your photo of these beauties! Poppies are one of my favourite flowers. I planted hundreds of poppy seeds last year and not one came up! It was too wet and the seeds must have rotted! So sad! Fav for your lovely image!
@pamknowler I'm SO glad you've seen how beautiful they are in their natural state! It relates to my last sentence in reply to Allison! I've seen them in the desert, and it's really breath-taking! For a relatively small area, the landscape designer for this section did a beautiful job! I was finally telling myself, "How many photos of poppies do you really need???!"
@laurieewilson Thank you! I wouldn't have thought of that, but it does have a look "of an earlier era"! (I didn't want to add any color or texture to it, however... it just felt to me like the California I love!)
@gaylewood Our carpets of gold are so akin to your carpets of blue! Pretty special! (When we get to NS, the lupines will be in bloom! They're somewhat tall and come in several colors, but what wonderful bouquets they make, and oh my! that gorgeous peppery smell!)
@ethelperry I bought a pineapple sage in Nova Scotia early in the summer (loved the smell of it!) and couldn't get over how bit it got in just 5 months! Wish I could have brought it home to California! I didn't notice that any bird took notice of it...and it probably hadn't lasted the winter there. We always start fresh...
