Room With A View .. My Window at The Ambrose

Reaching out...

 to frame a memorable Santa Monica sunset from my window at The Ambrose:

Hotel rooms designed with feng shui principles in mind. 
Restful.....

The Ambrose in Santa Monica, California.

Flamboyant Flora .. Interlude at The Getty Center

The Getty Center Central Garden ... Part I

Angels Trumpet, a golden Brugmansia exudes fragrance in the evening garden.

Always wished I had the right place in my garden to grow Brugmansia 'Charles Grimaldi.'

Autumnal fireworks at The Getty are marked by flamboyant bougainvillea.

The Getty Center Central Garden has received buckets of press coverage

since opening in December, 1997.

An update on the design will follow in another feature.

Bamboo Muhly .. Muhlenbergia dumosa.
A specimen that captivated me, planted in large, prominently placed containers,

this grass or member of the grass family boasts a rather bristly texture and stately form.

Stunning color on an evergreen Tibouchina shrub - deserving of the name, Princess Flower.

Oxalis regnellii 'Atropurpurea'

A tree ...

... laden with pomegranates.

Ooh la la!

Part II to follow....

Santa Monica Hideaway - The Ambrose

The Ambrose Hotel

Befitting the Southern California locale, this lovely hotel features in-ground and container plantings enlivened by colorful, textural succulents and cycads. Santa Monica is a seaside town - an 8-square-mile community tucked within the city limits of Los Angeles, bolstered by a beautiful beach, the famous Pier, Ferris Wheel, and the vibrant 3rd Street promenade for dining, shopping, and night life. On a previous L.A. sojourn, I discovered this boutique hotel about a mile or so from the ocean. In a lovely part of Santa Monica, The Ambrose is walking distance to hip Montana Avenue, a stretch filled with restaurants, shops and galleries. Won over by the convenient, continental breakfast buffet with fresh organic fruit, I was smitten by the hotel's iconic London Taxi that allows guests to hop a ride to nearby attractions.The Ambrose is often fully booked, so when I planned my spontaneous recent trip, I shifted my dates slightly in order to stay 3 consecutive nights.

In the hotel's sequestered front garden, a pond and the sounds of falling water add up to a cool, soothing effect. The hotel's interior decor puts a contemporary twist on Arts & Crafts style, for a serenely comfortable atmosphere.

An Asian influence emerges in the layout of this enclosed space.

Variegated Aeonium plays off the dark strappy leaves of a Phormium in sunny, streetside plantings, while Kniphofias punctuate plantings along the front driveway.

The Ambrose composts, recycles, and as of last year, 

the hotel can boast LEED Silver certification for its conservations efforts, use of non-toxic products, and commonsense practices such as windows that open to let in fresh air! 

Landscape Architect:  Troller - Mayer Associates, Glendale, CA

Adieu to Malibu .. Adamson House Part III

Historic Adamson House Landscape

"Malibu's earliest history begins at this site where the Chumash people lived in a thriving village they called Humaliwo meaning,

"the surf sounds loudly.""

Part III ... final vignettes to say Adieu.


UNDER CONSTRUCTION ...

"Malibu modern history begins around 1802 when Jose Tapia received a Spanish land grant that enabled him to establish the Malibu Rancho - the first large ranch in this area. "

Links to Historic Adamson House, Part I & Part II

Brilliantly Patterned Malibu Tile

City of Angels Sojourn - Adamson House

City of Angels Sojourn - Adamson House, Part I

Dombeya cayeuxii  

Adamson House gardens - Malibu, California.

On a recent City of Angels sojourn, I encountered the extravagant, dangling blooms of a mature, pink snowball tree.

 Colorful tiles from the Malibu Potteries 

adorn historic Adamson House and an expansive landscape 0f venerable trees.

A post in two parts:

On this trip I revisited the gardens of the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Getty Villa in Malibu. 

They'll soon be featured here.

A serendipitous meeting - one that would not have taken place one minute later or earlier, 

resulted in an opportunity to tour the gardens of the Adamson House:

a lovely property overlooking the Pacific Ocean that had somehow escaped my travel writer's radar.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places,

and a showcase for colorful tilework, Adamson House is adjacent to the Malibu Lagoon Museum, 

situated in the house's attached 5-car garage.

Although part of the California State Parks,

the Adamson House and surrounding gardens receive loving support from the

Friends of the Historic Adamson House & Malibu Lagoon Museum.

Link to the Adamson House on Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel Buzz 

- Column on the Right -

More to follow!

An old color chart for drawing inks ... one of my favorite things.

I pooh-poohed the West Coast for decades, taking my very first flight east to Boston at age 18.

My plan included a visit to Cape Cod, but it was April - the off-season, 

a time of year when driving was the only option. Instead, I took a train to Cape Ann on the North Shore, 

where I returned a couple months later to live and work.

On my next flight, I traveled north to Montreal, followed by an, 'if it's Tuesday this must be Belgium' trip to Europe.

Never would I have imagined living in Northern California, or looking forward to sojourns 

to sun-drenched Los Angeles, the City of Angels.

And that brings up the subject of color. 

When I lived in Chicago I preferred  black clothing, and earth tones for decor.

Since identifying a visceral need for blue skies and warmer temperatures, 

...hence the move West, I've embraced vivid hues. 

Be it personal adornment, garden ornament, or a planting scheme that juxtaposes brilliantly saturated 'hot' tones,

I now find bold colors uplifting.

 Your comments on color are invited!

Besotted in Berkeley! UC Botanical Garden

Babiana ringens - the South African baboon flower grows in the South Africa - Karoo section of the UC Botanical Garden. The Great Karoo, a region of hot, arid plains: A vast landscape where an amazing 9000 plant species appear (www.centralkaroo.ca.za/).

Photos Courtesy : University of California Botanical Garden

Arisaema sikokianum - the cobra lily grows in the Garden's Asia section, encompassing microclimates and habitats from sunny havens to shady glens. I'm besotted by the dazzling shapes and forms of these botanical treasures!

Regardless of the time of year,  a visit to the UC Botanical Garden surprises and delights.

Cornus florida urbiana ... Mexican dogwood, growing in the UCBG Mesoamerica section.

Plants from mountainous areas, as well as the cloud forests of Mexico and Central America 

appear in this area of the Garden. Gardeners in the San Francisco Bay Area incorporate many of these species into our mixed borders, from agaves and dahlias to salvias and fuchsias. Click on link for more on the University of California Botanical Garden:

http://bayareatendrils.blogspot.com/2009/11/enchanted-flora-uc-botanical-garden.html

Enchanted Flora .. U.C. Botanical Garden

Enchanted Flora

University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley - Part II

Chiranthodendron pentadactylon .. Monkey Paw or Monkey's Hand Tree,

- a relative of California Fremontodendron, the flannel bush -

this evergreen tree grows in the Garden's MesoAmerica Section.

Photos Courtesy: University of California Botanical Garden

Doryanthes palmeri, the spear lily, blooming in the Garden's Australasia Section.

On a brisk Fall Day, glowing reminders of a World of Flora. Other continents ... other seasons. The Garden's Canary Island section is located above the Garden of Old Roses, at the acme of the Garden, overlooking breathtaking views of the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. Here, a vigorous shrub, Salvia canariensis blooms in the foreground and also further back.

A detail of the Canary Island section, with the flowers of Aeonium lancerottense

taking center stage.

Click on link for more on UCBG:

http://bayareatendrils.blogspot.com/2009/11/autumn-in-east-bay-and-preview-of.html

Autumn in the East Bay and A Preview of Spring

Dawn Redwood Glade in Winter

Obata Gate to the Japanese Pool

 University of California Botanical Garden ... A Preview

Photos Courtesy : University of California Botanical Garden

Autumn in the Asian Collection  

With its hilly topography, Strawberry Canyon is a dramatic setting for the U.C. Botanical Garden in Berkeley, 

located across the Bay Bridge to the east of San Francisco. Stretching over thirty-four acres, the grounds feature a geographical arrangement of gardens, displaying plants from around the world. Rhododendrons are well represented in the Asian gardens, along with maples and hydrangeas,  witch hazels and epimediums. Pictured above in a wintery scene, the Botanical Garden's lovely grove of Dawn redwood trees,  Metasequoia glyptostroboides, are another highlight in this collection. The unusual trees are deciduous conifers:  Having been believed to be extinct, they were discovered growing in western China  some sixty-five years ago. The trees at UCBG are among the first grown outside of China.

More to follow on the U.C. Botanical Gardens.

Across the Golden Gate - Sausalito at Sunset

Echeveria species: A drought-tolerant, pass-along plant.

An octogenarian when we met, Dr. Herman Schwartz loved to walk through his Bolinas gardens giving visitors bits of succulent plants as he shared tales of plant collecting in Africa, the Americas, and Madagascar. The passionate plantsman's arrays of cacti, agaves, aloes & crassulas put on a brilliant flowering spectacle in the winter! Amid all the rarities, a Euphorbia greenhouse contained towering to tiny, spiny and spineless species: Countless plants that one could see nowhere else in the U.S. When Dr. Schwartz died not long ago, the Marin-Bolinas Botanical Gardens - as his renowned collections came to be known, were shuttered.

Golden Gate Bridge

View from the grounds of Cavallo Point Lodge, a new resort hotel within historic Fort Baker, Marin County.

San Francisco Bay

November is a great time to visit the city, although it's the rainy season, days are often dry and sunny.

Many summer days in San Francisco are cold & fog shrouded... yet each city neighborhood

has its own microclimate!

Cross the Golden Gate into Marin County and the weather shifts dramatically once you're away from the coast,

with crystalline blue skies, hot days , low humidity, and cool nights for sleeping.

View of the city from Sausalito.

Sausalito ... a ferry ride from San Francisco - often the only other town visited

by international tourists.

Intrepid travelers rent bikes and travel across the Golden Gate Bridge to explore the surrounding hillsides.

Cultural Landscapes ... Central Park, NYC

Central Park - New York City

Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr.

What are cultural landscapes? 

Stewardship through Education:

Link to The Cultural Landscape Foundation:

www.tclf.org