A morning at the Botanical Garden

Yesterday morning I spent a few hours doing Master Gardener volunteer time at the Botanical Garden Building in Balboa Park. Sunday mornings are quiet and it was a treat to hang out in this historic building surrounded by beautiful plants. The place was decked out with red and yellow poinsettias for the holidays which only added to the experience. Built in 1915, this building is one of the largest lath structures in the world.

Holiday spirit at the Botanical Garden

The bromiliads on the west end of the building were very interesting and more appealing to me than I thought they would be. I have not had good luck with bromiliads and have sent a lot of them to bromiliad heaven. At Balboa Park I can enjoy all the varieties they are growing.
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Orchids were pretty, too.
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The people watching was fun. It was quite the entourage of families getting Christmas card pictures taken in front of the poinsettias. A lot of Europeans visited. An entertaining moment came when a little boy ended up in the little pond. He was no worse for wear. His mother was right there and fished him out, but he was covered in pond scum and was not a happy camper. I was tempted to yell, “Clean-up in Aisle 6!” but I kept my mouth shut. 😉

One of the specimens in the building is a Deppia splendens. Native to Mexico, this plant is extinct in the wild, but is propagated widely, so it’s not going away anytime soon. Pretty blooms….