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.

 

SARAH P. DUKE GARDENS, Durham, NC: The Tranquility of Nature on a Summer's Day

Terraced gardens. Sarah P. Duke Gardens, Durham, NC

From traditional garden flowers to native trees and plants, the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, North Carolina, offers a plethora of opportunities to appreciate the beauty of nature. Paths meander down shaded paths, around a small lake, through formal planted garden beds, and across grassy lawns. 

Guide to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens.

I recently toured the garden when I was visiting family in nearby Chapel Hill, NC. It was a warm summer day—quite hot in the full sun, but pleasant as long as we stayed in the shade.

Shaded walkway at the garden entrance makes one feel immersed in an Impressionist painting.

After parking and purchasing our tickets, we entered at the gate and proceeded to the rose garden, and from there to the terraced gardens that are part of the Historic Gardens where the Duke Gardens began in 1934. From there we followed trails to the Asiatic Arboretum, which features plants from Southeast Asia. Then, finally, we toured the Garden of Native Plants with its wildlife garden, carnivorous plant collection, and bird viewing shelter.

Purple cone flowers (Echinacea).

It was hard to resist taking photos. Here are a few favorites:

Lily pond at Azalea Court.

Close-up of sacred lotus reveals its bizarre cone shaped center.

Shrine with view of lake and Meyer Bridge

Meyer Bridge in the W.L. Culberson Asiatic Arboretum

A shaded bench in the native plant garden invites visitors to rest and enjoy the view.

A carnivorous plant opens its "jaws", waiting for its next victim.

A bee gathers nectar from an appropriately named beebalm (Lamiacea) blossom. Also called bergamot.

Snowballs the size of melons were in their full glory.

Every day is different at the garden, depending on the weather and time of year. On our visit we enjoyed the height of the summer bloom. The garden is open year round.

Sundial: "Nothing is worth more than this day."

For information about visiting the Duke Gardens, click here: https://gardens.duke.edu/visit

 

SANTA BARBARA BOTANIC GARDEN: Native Plants in a Spectacular Setting

California lilac (Ceanothus), Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, California.

In early February I spent a lovely morning at the beautiful Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, tucked in the hills of Santa Barbara, California. Featuring native plants of California, the garden paths take you through a variety of habitats–an open meadow, a redwood grove, wooded dell, desert, and more.

Woodland path to the redwood grove that borders the stream bed at the east end of the canyon.

After parking our car in the adjacent lot, we bought our tickets at the garden entrance and a friendly docent gave us maps. We decided to start by exploring the less crowded trail on the opposite side of the parking area, which leads up the hill to the new Pritzlaff Conservation Center sitting on top of the ridge. 

View of patio from gallery of the Pritzlaff Center.

Inside the open gallery (perfect for Covid times with the front wall open to fresh air) was a fascinating exhibit of California wildflowers, pairings of the actual flowers dried and pressed next to beautiful artist prints of the same flower.

Columbine. Print, left; dried and pressed specimen, right.

Outside the Conservation building the broad patio has comfortable chairs to sit and enjoy the view. From there a path leads to a viewpoint at the edge of the ridge. 

View of Santa Barbara with Santa Cruz Island in distance.

To the West we had a spectacular view over the city of Santa Barbara all the way to the Channel Islands. Behind us the coastal mountains rose to the sky. And below us in the canyon was the main part of the Botanic Garden.

Poppies and other native wildflowers. The Garden's 78 acres with more than 1,000 types of exclusively California native plants illustrates the remarkable diversity of California's flora and vegetation.

We returned to the entrance and then followed the path counter-clockwise. To our right was the meadow where early spring poppies and other wild flowers were already starting to bloom. 

Turtle

We passed a small pond where turtles were warming in the sun, and marveled at an unusual sundial, as we made our way to the redwood forest at the east end of the Garden.

This sundial, created by Victor Edwards, was bequeathed to the garden in the 1920s. The dial’s complex curved arm is unique. Its separate pointers for standard and daylight savings time are also unusual.

From the redwood forest we followed the creek to the other end of the garden, past the Japanese Tea House and manzanita grove, and back to the entrance.

Red buckwheat.

It was a beautiful day for a stroll in the garden. Winter rains had nourished the plants and spring flowers were blooming everywhere. Several years ago I had visited the garden in summer, when different plants were in bloom. Every season has its glory. On this visit, it was the beauty of spring.

Note: For our visit to Santa Barbara, my husband and I stayed at the Upham Hotel, the oldest continuously operating hotel in Southern California, opening in 1871. We stayed in one of the cottages surrounding the interior garden. As one reviewer says, the property exudes Victorian charm without going overboard. I had a tasty dinner in the accompanying restaurant, Louie’s Bistro, eating outside on the side porch. The hotel is just two blocks from State Street in Santa Barbara’s downtown.

Pritzlaff Conservation Center at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

HOMAGE TO SUNDIALS: Eight Year Anniversary of The Intrepid Tourist

Giant wall Sundial at Redlands University, Redlands, CA

Eight years ago I launched The Intrepid Tourist as an outlet for my travel writing. Since then I have posted a new article once a week, accumulating a whopping total of more than 500 posts--some about far away places, others much closer to home. Most are about my own travel experiences, but others are about the trips made by family and friends. I thank all my guest posters who have contributed reports of their adventures on The Intrepid Tourist and shared their personal views of the world.

Berkeley Botanical Garden, Berkeley, CA

In many of my travels, I have come across sundials and been fascinated by both their beauty and technology. In celebration of the beginning of a new year of The Intrepid Tourist I an sharing a few of my sundial photos. 

Sundial Bridge, Redding, CA

Ranging in size from the giant sundial bridge at Turtle Bay in Redding, California, to a small garden decoration sundial at the Clark Library in Los Angeles, each one has its own special character.

Sundial by Eric Gill, UCLA Clark Library garden, Los Angeles, CA

The oldest known sundial was found in Egypt found in the Valley of the Kings (c. 1500 BC). I have never been to Egypt, but in Rajasthan, India, there is a collection of nineteen architectural astronomical instruments built by the Rajput king Sawai Jai Singh II, and completed in 1734. It features the world's largest stone sundial. I visited this amazing UNESCO world Heritage site when I was in India in 2000.

Stone sun dial at Jantar Mantar, Rajasthan, India

The marker, or gnomen, at the center of the sundial casts its shadow as the sun moves across the sky and indicates the time of day. Importantly, its angle must be equivalent to the Earth's latitude at that point.

Sundial at the Santa Barbara Zoo, California at 4:00 p.m.

A simple way of telling time by the sun is with your own shadow. At the Santa Barbara Zoo, in Santa Barbara, California, is a sundial that is read by standing in the center and casting your own shadow.

Alpha and Omega Sundial in memory of Harriet M. Gale, Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa. Paul T. Granlund, Sculptor

At Grinnell College a sundial in the center of campus honors the wife of a retired physics professor. At the University of North Carolina, the Morehead Sundial is on a plaza near the center of campus and has an accompanying plaque that tells us exactly where we are on Earth. I love sundials. They are beautiful and functional and as long as the sun is shining, will always tell the time.
Happy 8th Anniversary to The Intrepid Tourist!

Morehead Sundial Plaque, UNC Campus, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

FLAMINGOS, GIRAFFES, CONDORS AND MORE: Santa Barbara Zoo, Santa Barbara, CA

Chilean Flamingo, Santa Barbara, Zoo

Recently, on a trip to Santa Barbara, California, I decided to go to the zoo where I had not been for a long time. I stopped first at the large sundial on a plaza near the zoo entrance and stood on the marker for the month.  My shadow told me that it was 4:00–exactly the time on my watch! It was a great time to visit–the zoo was not crowded and the animals were up and about.

Sundial Shadow, 4:00

I then proceeded to the flamingo display, always a favorite, and watched these elegant and beautifully feathered birds. (They were Chilean flamingos, a species I had seen in the wild with my family on our trip to Patagonia in 1995.) After I left the flamingos and was walking down the trail to the next exhibit, I suddenly realized I was being followed.  I turned around and saw a group of flamingos (and their keepers) coming down the path!  I asked, and learned that the flamingos go out for a walk every day to get their exercise.

Flamingos Out for a Stroll

I took a circular path around the zoo past capybaras, some lively tamarin monkeys, and other animals, until I came to a sign that said “Giraffe Deck”. There I saw a group of children, under the supervision of a keeper, feeding treats to a very friendly giraffe.  As the giraffe stuck out its long blue tongue to grab the treats, the kids squealed with delight. (The cost for giraffe feeding is $6 or $5 for zoo members.) I learned from the sign that the blue color of the tongue is an adaptation that helps keep the tongue from becoming sunburned as giraffes feed in the wild.

Masai Giraffe

I then walked along the California Trails, which includes exhibits of a Channel Island fox, desert tortoises, and other animals native to the state.  I looked up and saw three condors sitting on their perches in their huge flight cage enjoying the afternoon sun. The Santa Barbara Zoo is one of only four zoos in the world to display California condors, along with Condor Ridge at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, Elephant Odyssey at the San Diego Zoo, and the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City. I have seen wild condors in the California mountains and along the Big Sur coast, but never this close up.  A distinguishing feature both in the wild and at the zoo are the large numbered tags on the birds’ wings. There are so few of these birds left, that each one has an identifying number. I learned about condors and their extreme plight when I researched and wrote my book On The Brink of Extinction: The California Condor.  No other bird in North America has a wingspan as wide as a condor’s–a spread of more than nine feet from tip to tip.

California Condors

The Santa Barbara Zoo is a relatively small zoo, but well worth a visit.  Its impeccably landscaped trails and large, well designed exhibits make it a perfect place for an afternoon walk or for a longer visit, with or without children.  As the attendant at the ticket booth says when you come to the zoo: “Have a Zooper Day!”

Santa Barbara Zoo
500 Niños Drive
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
Main Phone: (805) 962-5339
Info Line: (805) 962-6310

Open every day 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.,  10:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas.

Crocodile