The Beautiful Botanical

I went to the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden yesterday. This place makes me so happy. The above picture is in the California Native section. Wonderfully wacky I say! Behind the 'soft puffs on wobbly legs' of the Coreopsis Gigantea is its accomplice in yellow flowers; Dendromecon (whether it is D. harfordii or D. rigida I forget and dare not guess as they look pretty darn similar). I love this bush and cannot wait to have some sort of experience gardening with it. To finish off this humpy-bumpy ride of a bed, we have the Prickly Pear, Opuntia littoralis. AH-HAH! WHAT FUN! ... I have got to calm down about this picture. This garden always gets me a little hysterical.

Over in the Asia section there are some really elegant and airy Camellias with bunches of very handsome and robust bamboo. A perfectly placed table with benches sits beside/under them in a cozy corner of the garden. Next to this area is an out of place (only geographically; not aesthetically)...

CALIFORNIA BUCKEYE!!!


Gosh, (thump) if there is anything that can get (thump) me in a tizzy it's an Aesculus (thump) californica. And this is not just any! (thump) Man, i feel like the sound of my palpitating heart will be (thump) heard even over my ever-increasing volume of passionate typing! (and the internet).

Uncomfortably warm and uncomfortably beautiful. A lovely greenhouse.

Have you ever seen such color under a Coast Live Oak? This is Omphalodes cappadocica. Look out Tree! There are blue flames licking at your heels! hah HA!

One of my favorite grasses, Muhlenbergia rigens. I can't think of any other grass that has such an intangible structure. It's upright and stiff, while being wispy and- no no, that's not how it is...
SEE??

Aloe Polyphylla. My Goodness. I can't even talk about this right now.

And finally: GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!