{"id":10638,"date":"2016-05-28T08:53:06","date_gmt":"2016-05-28T15:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogadmin.plantlust.com\/blog\/?p=10638"},"modified":"2024-01-24T07:43:49","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T15:43:49","slug":"sunnylands-gardens-say-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/sunnylands-gardens-say-what\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunnylands Gardens: say what?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my continuing saga, Stranger in a Strange land (kudos to Denise Maher<\/a> for the\u00a0pithy\u00a0observation,) I’m trying to sort\u00a0out how to think about Sunnylands–apparently a place of world-wide fame. I’m sure I missed the royal treatment generally reserved for visiting dignitaries, but still, in strolling the gardens–impressive though they be–I came away confused.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Why mass planting after mass planting?\u00a0I wanted to grab a spade and mix things up. Of course, there was this to discourage me–if I were to be seriously inclined. Overall, though,\u00a0I had strong deja vu of parochial-school\u00a0confines.<\/p>\n

And though I didn’t observe security–other than the cameras every 20′ surrounding the entire perimeter–I imagine someone would have appeared to stop me.<\/p>\n

\"Aloes<\/a>
Aloes line up over here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And a wider shot, but you see what I’m saying about the formations–a little soldierish. In fairness, this area did have nice trees.<\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>
I liked the trees, Parkinsonia aculeata aka Palo Verde.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And this–which was a lovely vista.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Palo Verde bloom is an intense clear yellow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More\u00a0soldiers,\u00a0Echinocactus grusonii<\/a> aka Golden Barrel Cactus.<\/p>\n

\"Barrel<\/a>
Barrel Cactus all in a row. (Actually, one of my favorite mass plantings.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And more organization. Of course, now that I look at the pictures, I like it more than I thought I did when I was there.<\/p>\n

\"Hesperaloe,<\/a>
Hesperaloe, which I love, planted en masse.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hah, I found a bed where things were intermingling a bit. That’s more like it.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This bed mixed it up a bit. More interesting, no?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I liked that there were lots of trees, relatively speaking. I mean, not Oregon-style lots of trees, for godsakes, but trees.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A little shade makes everything better.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’m always looking for a place to park in the shade, and\u00a0my son-in-law Justin\u00a0(in all but the fine print)<\/em> indulged me by finding one.<\/p>\n

\"Parking<\/a>
Parking in the shade, sorta. Thanks, Justin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In looking at the photos, it seems more lush than it felt when we were there. The trees were lovely.<\/p>\n

\"Megan<\/a>
Megan way down over there, to give an idea of scale.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And there were some nice people sitting behind this vista who kindly took our photo. Public Service Announcement: when taking a group photo, get the feet too!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Elliot,<\/a>
Elliot, me, Bill, & Megan at Sunnylands.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ever so\u00a0slight mixing it up.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a>
Texas Sage backdrop, lots of Texas Sage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I liked this bright bug, but couldn’t get him to turn around for me.<\/p>\n

\"Unidentified<\/a>
Unidentified bug on unidentified plant. You’re welcome.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soft and fluffy trees with grass in the desert. Hmmmm.<\/p>\n

\"Repetition<\/a>
Repetition on a theme: grass, cement, trees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I purposely have not read a lot of other bloggers’ thoughts on Sunnylands. I didn’t want to be unduly influenced. But I will now. In trying to identify the plants, I stumbled upon pal Gerhard’s post. He knows stuff, and you can read about his take here<\/a>. (In my sneak peek of his post, seems we had a similar reaction, though his is a more scholarly approach.)<\/p>\n\n\t\t