Blue Bush
Eucalyptus macrocarpa
(yoo-kuh-LIP-tus) (ma-kro-KAR-pa)
Synonyms: Mottlecah, Desert Mallee
Today’s Flowers
This plant was a highlight in a day full of botanical magic yesterday. I drove up to the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. Of all the gardens I have visited this one was one of the most stunning. On hindsight visiting on Valentine’s Day wasn’t the best idea since the garden was crowded with couples. Lucky I arrived early and had a couple of hours before the crowds started. The garden was unbelievable in many ways and the Desert and the Palm gardens were my favorite.
Blue Bush FoliageThis Blue Bush was growing in the Australian garden, which had a large collection of plants from down under. The bright gray foliage and the red flowers caught my attention right away. From looking the plant up it is a long-lived perennial that grows to 12 feet tall and produces a decorative nut (I didn’t see any on the two specimens at the garden). It is hardy to USDA Zone 9 and has low water requirements once established. They can suffer from sooty mold and the plants at Huntington were suffering a bit from that.
The Camellia Festival was going on at the garden. Their collection was amazing and some were 30 to 40 feet tall and covered with blooms. The Magnolia, Cherry trees and Azaleas were also blooming. One of the most fascinating things to me was there were a lot of plants that grow back east and all of the tropical stuff, too.
Saucer MagnoliaHere is a picture of the Cactus Collection; did I say it was amazing? It was. The paths kept circling around with more and more varieties and types to be seen.
I will be posting more Huntington pictures during the week. The camera seemed to be working well. I mostly used the D700 with the 60mm lens.
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12 comments:
I don't grow any of those things, but enjoyed your pics. Plants sure do come in lots of shapes and sizes.
What a beautiful garden! And your pics are gorgeous! I don't know any of the plants, so today I have seen something new! That is always fun!
Love to come for a visit..
A beautiful garden, we just can't grow in Toronto.
Thank you for posting the pictures.
- Cheers.
Thanks for taking us along on your visit.
I love that first image. The leaves are so pale in contrast to the lovely red bloom.
What magnificent flowers and an interesting visit to the gardens. Thank you so much for sharing them. I look forward to your others. Great shots all of them.
Although I am only familiar with a couple of Eucalyptus, I still would not expect to see those flowers on one. I love great gardens full of exotics - you lucky dog.
Those eucalyptus flowers are incredible!! Never seen anything like them! And the magnolia buds - I am assuming they get much larger as they open, given the name of the plant. What an incredible colour!
I did not realize that cacti could grow that large!
Thanks for sharing!
Boy those flowers are so stunning
Wonderful post, fantastic view of Cactus Garden!
Thanks for sharing that beauty!
Luiz
I love E.macrocarpa, we have a couple in our park and only hope they survive the drought.
Great cactus garden!
Fairchild has a pretty nifty cactus section as well. It's always amazing the kinds of plants can grow in the desert!
These are really nice pictures of flowers.
It looks like there are a lot of varieties around there to find and shoot.
Have fun!
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