Last week I was in California for several reasons, but I will stay focused on the horticulture aspects of the visit. I will say that I ended up with a meeting on Route 66. Ironically, in a month I will have another meeting on Route 66, but it will be in Oklahoma City for the garden writer’s convention. There is a theme in this blog posting, and it is one of connectivity. Whether through roads, people, or plants, this country is surprisingly connected. This weekend I finished a book about a reporter who walked across Afghanistan about 6 years ago. A days walk from one village to the next sometimes showed a completely different culture.

My travels on this last week took me down near Pasadena in Southern California, so I stopped at the Huntington Botanical Gardens and Library. It is world famous for its desert garden and succulent program. I thought that the only thing better would be to have rain lilies surprising on lookers with colorful blooms intermixed with the already impressive 10 acre array.

Huntington is also known for its Italianate statuary and grand vistas. Every bed was not an abundance of color, but that is understandable when the “back 40” is what used to be a 600 acre farm in 1903. The vistas were somewhat vitiated by the fires in the foothills, but the smoke offered a unique panoramic I had not seen before. This is a picture of Pyramid Lake veiled in smoke as you cross the Grapevine from the Central Valley into Southern California.

Even with no views I would have been alright, as I spent more time looking at the ground and surveying the landscape looking for the old familiar foliage of the Crinum. I spotted them in the subtropical garden and in the Australian garden, where an unnamed Hymenocallis was in bloom. Many of the Crinum varieties were also unnamed. They can be really hard to identify and keep track of sometimes.

As we approached the library the beds took on a more formal appearance, and there was an increase in color and intensity of plantings. This was especially true in the rose garden and the herb garden. The arbors coved in wisteria and climbing roses offered a nice break from the heat of the day. By the mausoleum, a pomegranate tree was showing ripe fruit, and I was tempted, but resisted. There was a sign saying “Please do not pick the fruit.”Also darted around the garden was an assortment of amaryllis belladona bulbs. The closest we can come to them in the South is our Lycoris squamigera. I particularly liked this one that was slithering up towards the sun. The library boasts one of the first Gutenberg Bibles of which only 48 substantial copies are known to exist and only 11 of those are in the United States. Another treasure is its Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with the Prologue to the Wife of Bath's Tale shown in the casing. After checking with the security guard about photographs without flash, I took these pictures.

After Huntington, we hopped back on to Interstate 10 and headed west. In case those of you in Houston were wondering what happens to Interstate 10 once you hit the Pacific Ocean, this is what happens. You will be forced to turn up Highway 1 and have the city of Santa Monica on your right and you will come to a complete stop in traffic. However, it's never as bad as the San Diego Freeway, the 405, shown below. If you could keep going straight, I suppose you would find yourself driving out onto the Santa Monica pier. Close to Venice Beach, I spotted crinums again, this time at a community garden plot. They seemed very happy in their confined space!

Back in Bakersfield I visited with a rose breeder, Dr. Jim Sproul, that had helped me out in different ways growing up. About 10 years ago we drove up to Visalia and he introduced me to a gentleman named Ralph More, known as the "father of the miniature rose.” This time, we toured his greenhouse and I was taken back by the colors, styles, and habits of his roses. You can check out more about his breeding and selections by visiting his website, http://www.sproulrosesbydesign.com/. An interesting program he is working on right now, is taking a plant related to the rose, the ancient Persian Hulthemia sp., and using its characteristic red blotch in the center of the flower to achieve reverse color patterns in the flowers. It has been a chore to overcome compatibility issues and ensuring proper blooming and growth habits, but the results look exciting! Best of luck Dr. Sproul and we’ll be anxious to see what comes next.

In Bakersfield, a patch of Lycoris radiata was beginning to bloom. I don’t think it would survive in the area without irrigation, but it seemed to like its spot along side a house. I didn’t have my camera with me. The smoke from the fires had spilled into our valley and made a nice sunset display for the last night in the old home. My dad and I enjoyed the evening on the deck after spending all day moving boxes; it was an apocalyptic sky.In the background is the Kern River, where it stops flowing freely and is channeled throughout the valley to all of the farmers. That night we slept on the floor like we did the first night we moved in 18 years ago. Somebody asked me if we talked all night. “No,” I said, “we were exhausted.”

I arrived back at farm Saturday morning. Brad and I briefly caught up, and then he completed some more work before heading to Dallas for the evening. I saw Kelly’s mom on Sunday (Kelly is the sweet potato farmer). She said he had already started harvesting his potatoes. We’re already preparing the field for the fall planting. Before long it will be time for Thanksgiving dinner and sweet potato pie!