JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, A Visit to Historic Keys Ranch, Guest Post by Susan Kean

Keys Ranch, main house, Joshua Tree National Park.

My friend Susan Kean loves to travel and has been a regular contributor to this blog. In February, she drove with friends to Joshua Tree National Park from her home in Redlands, California. I was particularly interested to hear about her visit to Keys Ranch, once a homestead and now a historic site within the park. Joshua Tree became a National Monument in 1936 and a National Park in 1994. 

Here is Susan's report.

I recently spent an overnight in Joshua Tree National Park with my friends Barbara and Sue. On our way out, we enjoyed the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and walked around at the top of the mountain. There was a small amount of snow. The day was glorious, so the view from the top was magnificent.

At the top of the tramway.

Then we headed over to our lodging in the Joshua Tree area in an incredibly isolated location down about two miles of dirt road. 

Desert landscape with Joshua Tree.

The antelope ground squirrel is adapted to desert life, using its tail to shade itself from the sun.

It was a real adventure with a spectacular nighttime view of the stars.

Mining equipment at Keys Ranch. They mined silver and gold.

The next day we booked a tour of Keys Ranch. This was a mining and cattle ranch built by homesteader William Keys in 1910. 

He kept everything.

This was the chicken coop--to give the chickens a safe place at night from coyotes.

Since farming in the desert was very difficult, many other homesteaders left and he acquired their land. He built up a huge area of land which he eventually sold but on condition that he and his wife could live out their lives there. The person they sold it to gave it to the Government and it became Joshua Tree National Park.

View down to the Salton Sea.

Note from CA: You an learn more about the creation of Joshua Tree National Park in the excellent children’s book, Cactus Queen by Lori Alexander, the story of Minerva Hoyt, who campaigned in Washington, D.C. for the creation of the park. 

CANARY ISLANDS NATURE TOUR, Part 1: Guest Post by Susan Kean

Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

My friend Susan Kean and her partner George recently toured the Canary Islands on a nature tour. I thank her for sharing her impressions and terrific photos with The Intrepid Tourist. The islands are not named for the canary bird. Rather, the name Islas Canarias is likely derived from the Latin name Canariae Insulae, meaning "Islands of the Dogs", perhaps because monk seals or sea dogs were abundant.

View from our hotel balcony.

We arrived in the Canary Islands, specifically Gran Canaria yesterday. The islands, which include Tenerife (the only one I’d heard of), are about 100 miles off the coast of Africa. They are an autonomous community that is part of Spain They claim to have the best climate in the world. They are volcanic islands of various ages--2-3 million years-- and are still active. The volcano on La Palma erupted last year.

Church of St John the Baptist, Arucas. Built about 100 years ago in volcanic rock

Gran Canaria is a circular island about 30 miles across. Our hotel is on the Northwest side of the island in a beautiful setting.

Dragon fruit tree…no dragon fruit do not come from this tree. They only flower every ten years. So the bag on the top is to collect the seeds.

We are on a nature tour. It’s amazing that a small island like this has so much to see.

Limonium, very rare Canary variety.

Today we visited the Botanic Garden to be introduced to all the different plants and birds on the island.

Our guide explaining that this is not a cactus. The only true cactus are in the Americas. It evolved down a separate line. It developed similar water retaining features but has a milky sap.

Sunset.

Part 2 will post next week, with Part 3 in the following week.

AROUND THE WORLD WITH PLANTS at the UC Botanical Garden, Berkeley, CA

View of San Francisco Bay from the UC Botanical Garden, Berkeley, CA.

Fifty years ago, my daughter Jennifer and I posed in front of the sunflowers I was growing along our garden fence in Millbrook, New York. Several weeks ago, on our visit to the University of California Botanical Garden in Berkeley, Jennifer posed in front of a sunflower again, planted in the Crops of the World section.

With Sunflower, 1974.

With Sunflower 2024.

When Jennifer was young and we lived in a house in the country, we planted a huge garden, growing flowers and most of our own vegetables. Today, I still enjoy growing flowers in pots on my patio, but I buy my vegetables from our local Farmer’s Market.

A trip to the Botanical Garden in Berkeley is always a favorite outing with family and friends when we are at our house in Oakland. The 34-acre UC Botanical Garden is the third largest in the United States, featuring more than 10,000 kinds of plants from around the world. It specializes in plants that thrive in a Mediterranean climate similar to that of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Cactus bloom.

After buying our tickets at the front gate, we began our walk, first visiting the exhibits of orchids, cycads and carnivorous plants in the glass houses located just beyond the entrance. 

Gunnera tinctoria, also known as Chilean rhubarb.

From there we followed the paved and gravel paths through the deserts of the Americas, then upward through the Africa, Asian, Australasian, Mediterranean and South American sections, ultimately reaching the garden of old roses with its magnificent view of the garden and San Francisco Bay beyond. It was a warm, but overcast day, perfect for photography. 

Here are a few of our favorite photos from our expedition.

Cactus fruits.

Cactus viewed from above.

The garden was abuzz with bees collecting nectar.

Eryngium Paniculatum, from Argentina.

Sundial in the Garden of Old Roses.

The UC Botanical Garden has a lovely gift shop as well as a garden shop with plants. It puts on many programs for the public, including a monthly Butterfly Walk in summer, which we enjoyed a year ago. (Click on link for my blogpost about the butterfly walk.)

For directions and more information about the UC Botanical Garden, go to their website.

 

MAGNIFICENT CACTI AND SUCCULENTS: The Desert Garden at the Huntington, San Marino, CA

Desert Garden at the Huntington Botanical Garden, San Marino, CA.

When “June Gloom” blankets the Pacific coast on the west side of Los Angeles where we live, we go inland to get a little sunshine. We don’t have to go far—one of our favorite places is the Huntington  (located in San Marino just a 40 minute drive way) with its Library, Art Museums and huge Botanical Garden. We enjoy all the themed gardens—the rose garden, herb garden, Japanese garden, Chinese garden and more—but our favorite is the desert garden with its plethora of cactus, succulents and other drought resistant plants. It is always our first stop as we make our way around the 207-acre grounds of the Huntington estate. Here are a few photos of the desert garden from a recent visit.

In one section of the garden, dozens of barrel cacti seem scattered like spiny bowling balls across the sandy soil. It is hard to resist taking photographs in the desert garden--close-ups that reveal the complex shapes of each species and broader views showing the wide range of colors and shapes of the plants.

 

In other parts of the garden the plants are tucked among chunks of volcanic rock that become hiding places for small lizards. After pausing for a few seconds for its picture to be taken, this lizard scampered away.

The range of colors in succulents is amazing--from yellow, orange and red, to multiple shades of green, blue and grey.

Some of the plants have delicate blooms. This past winter Southern California had record setting rains, which may explain some of the lushness of the desert garden on our visit.

These herbaceous plants known as "towers of jewels", have an other-worldly appearance, resembling spiny multi-colored spaceships. They are endemic to the Canary Islands.

Little cacti next to big cacti illustrate the range of sizes in the cactus world.

While cacti are armed with sharp spines, this succulent has a leaf-like covering and "arms" that end in delicate clusters of blooms. Alluaudia procera comes from Madagascar.

The branches of this white flowering floss silk tree is covered with white flowers. The bulging trunk is armed with sharp thorns.

Gravel paths wind through the desert garden providing visitors with close-up views..

Everywhere you look, there is something to marvel at--the variety of shapes and colors, the wonderful symmetry of nature, the repetition of patterns, the remarkable way that desert plants have adapted to the stresses of extreme heat and lack of water.. 

The Huntington Library, Art Museums, and Botanical Garden is a collections-based research and educational institution founded in 1919 by Henry E. and Arabella Huntington. Henry Huntington was a businessman who built a financial empire in Southern California. The former residence of the Huntingtons is now the Art Gallery. You can see their portraits displayed near the entrance.

Visiting the Huntington

Tickets for visiting the Huntington can be purchased online, where you are asked to choose an entry time. Reservations are required for most days.  For prices and details check the Huntington website. The website also has a map and directions. Parking is free.

There are several places to eat at the Huntington ranging from cafes and a coffee shop to the Rose Garden Tea Room (for which you need reservations weeks in advance.) On our recent visit we ate lunch at the Jade Court Café where we enjoyed delicious Chinese food, sitting outdoors at a shaded table.

The Huntington also has an excellent gift shop, located near the entrance.

There is much to see at the Huntington. For an earlier post at The Intrepid Tourist about a visit to the Chinese Garden, click HERE.

  

A SUCCULENT TREASURE TROVE: The Ruth Bancroft Garden and Nursery, Walnut Creek, CA

Ruth Bancroft Garden, Walnut Grove, CA

Tucked inside a residential neighborhood, not far from a busy shopping mall, is a wonderful garden specializing in succulents, cacti, and other drought adapted plants. From tiny cacti with mini flowers to a giant Chilean wine palm, there are a host of plants from all over the world. 

The unique shapes and colors of the plants make them living sculptures.

The Ruth Bancroft Garden and Nursery in Walnut Creek, California, was created as a private garden by Ruth Bancroft in the 1960s to house her large collection of potted plants. The 3.5 acre property, including a pond and structures for shade loving plants, had once been part of the much larger family walnut farm. The garden is now open to the public and a project of the Garden Conservancy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving exceptional American gardens. Mrs. Bancroft passed away in 2017 at the age of 109, leaving her garden as a testament to her vision.

This tree had its own living Christmas decorations, appropriate for the season.

A few weeks ago in Mid-December (actually, on the day of the winter solstice) I visited the garden with my husband and daughter. After paying the fee at the entrance kiosk, we followed the network of flat gravel paths through the plantings, marveling all along the way at the variety of plants, colors, sizes and shapes, and the skillful way the plants complemented one another. We had picked up a guide at the kiosk which included a map and a key to the names of the major types of specimens. We also had the monthly guide to "What's in bloom" to help us identify the flowers of the season.

This tiny specimen was tucked between two boulders and several larger plants.

It was a bright but overcast day perfect for photography-- no harsh shadows and soft light to bring out the variety of colors and textures. Here are some of my favorites.

Agave. Like many agaves the leaves have embedded impressions on their surface. This is a result of the leaves unfurling from a central cone, and leaving behind toothy indentations on the adjacent leaves.

Agaves are succulents, like the majority of plants in the garden. Succulents survive drought by storing water in their thickened leaves, stems, trunks, or roots.

Aloe. Note the bee gathering nectar.

We saw many species of aloe--sprouting large spiky flowers of yellow and orange. Examples of Aloes native to Mexico, South Africa, Kenya and elsewhere around the world are found in the garden.

Koi pond.

At the center of the garden is a small koi pond and a bench for resting in the shade.

A mix of succulents and cacti form a living wall.

Along a wall at the end of the garden a mosaic of succulents filled cells in a vertical planter box, creating a living wall.

Planting inside shade house.

Inside the shade structure a close-up view makes it seem that the plants are at the bottom of an aquarium. There were no fish, but we did catch sight of  a hummingbird sipping nectar from one of the flowers.

Hummingbird inside shade structure.

Cactus spikes are an adaptation that help deflect sunlight and reduce surface temperature in hot summer months. 

At the end of our visit to the garden, we exited through the nursery, filled with potted plants ready to purchase and take home for your own succulent garden. We bought a tiny cactus which will take its place on my patio at home.

Mosaic wall at garden entrance; nursery on the right.

Ruth Bancroft Garden and Nursery

1552 Bancroft Road

Walnut Creek, CA 94598

Phone: 925-944-9352

The garden is open most days of the year except for major holidays. On the day of our visit almost no one else was there.

For more information check the garden website: www.ruthbancroftgarden.org

Winter rains turn these barrel cactus into plump spiky balls.