California is a magical place, Chris and I love it. One minute you can be in the oven of a 43C desert, a few hours later atop a snow covered mountain among giant trees. While it’s the wild areas that I love, the gardens are fascinating for the differences to those found in the UK. They seem to either be tropical or arid, extravagant or minimalist with very little in between. Oh, actually there is weird – weird is in between. It’s in a garden in Los Angeles that we first saw hummingbirds for the first time; one of those euphoric moments that last a lifetime. Below is a gallery of some of the Californian gardens we’ve visited during our trips from 2012 – 2017.
Isn’t the south west just so utterly gorgeous. We just returned from a road trip down the west coast and were blown away by the variety and attention to detail. Now you’ve given us an excuse to return to see Getty Villa. Further way up north in Seattle we were really taken by private gardens from Capitol Hill up to and around Volunteer Park (also a cute conservatory in the Park). Highly recommended!
It’s an amazing landscape, I never expect it but am always blown away. I’d love to spend more time in the US visiting gardens and their natural areas. It’s on another scale really. I’ll have to try and get to Seattle soon! 🙂